[pct-l] Slackpackers and other myths...

[Jeffrey Olson]

Jim and/or Ginny Owen wrote:
>
> The "original" slackpacker was, as defined by O.D. Coyote, someone who 
> carried enough gear, food, etc to stay on the trail for extended 
> periods of time - and take the time to enjoy the trail, the 
> country and the lifestyle. 
I also think it describes an archetype that formed the early to late 
1970s.  It was a lifestyle, not just a way of hiking.  The slackpacker 
was the mobile counterpart to the "Shed Boys" found on the Olympic 
Peninsula of Western Washington State.  In the mid to late 60s the Shed 
boys found outbuildings and lean toos and built platforms with walls and 
a roof!  Work was not an issue, and women came and went depending on 
looks, or so the shed boy thought.  Relationships never lasted - 
commitment never lasted.  There was something he was aligned with no one 
else saw.

The homely shed boy hung in the background of his boistrous, more 
attractive friends ongoing party, but mostly hung out alone.  But he's 
had a couple relationships too...  He made being-a-shed-boy a viable 
role for more visible and effusive characters.  He found deep love, but 
once the honeymoon was over he'd already left... 

The mid-to late 60s was a time for mid- teenagers.  13 was too early, 
and 16 was too late.  The Slackpacker's identity emerged as a "cohort" 
during this time.  14 and 15 are the power years.  The 70s 14 and 15 
year olds were overwhelmed.  They had negative press in their lives 
during that period.  But the 14 and 15 year olds that thrived during the 
mid-sixties developed a global perspective that is stronger in this age 
group than any other.  The is a core of values of persons in their 
mid-fifties that is both our legacy and future - the Slackpacker intuits 
this. 

However, all this understanding did was to create a deep confusion this 
age group masked during their rise to adulthood.  This confusion formed 
the nucleus of a new social order - one that becomes a bit more visible 
every day.  It's here, and the Slackpacker is one of the first social 
identities to live it. 

The slackpacker is most adept at being-in-the-moment in the world.  One 
foot in front of the other is the routine, and anything different is 
interesting - hah, another brother!!!

He leads the rest of us on in vision, acting, and glory because we are 
part of community. 

The slackpacker is the embodiment of balance and harmony - balance.  Not 
self-destructive in part because of hiking everyday.  Not creative in 
part because it's really a matter of "just hanging out." 

Both extremes are yet to be explored for the slackpacker.  He hugs the 
middle, his spot in the universe, always a little bit apart, and yet so 
yearning to be part of...

Enough gear, food, and knowledge to stay on the trail for an extended 
period of time, enjoying being-in-the-moment alone... 

The slackpacker is always alone.  He may share his life with a partner, 
but there is always a place inside that's private, that no one knows 
about.  He doesn't worry much about this space, and functions pretty 
well in work-a-day life.  But inside this space is empty somehow, 
hollow, an ache that doesn't have a location. 

The slackpacker has an internal life richer and deeper and more active 
than most people.  He realizes this is not a gift, because he wasn't 
given business sense, or relationship sense, or any sense that touches 
the deep confusion he constantly feels. 

One of the reasons he is a "Slackpacker" is that he refuses to give up 
being-confused.  He intuits, or groks, or understands in his body that 
he'll never make sense of the confusion.  Others interpret this 
according to norms that make us conform to materialist goals and 
dreams.  The Slackpacker has never bought into this perspective and 
hence doesn't really look like the rest of middle America - and upon 
reflection, never really did.  He always had a certain awkwardness...

The 14 or 15 year old is a driving force in how the Slackpacker makes 
meaning in his world.  His face is alive with it - the 14 year old.  It 
is the life of realizing and understanding, and catching up with the 
speed of the world.  16 has most of us filter out and find little 
pockets of identity within the social network.  WE inhabit them in 
pods.  The Slackpacker was never unconscious enough to hover in a pod.  
He inhabited his roots, which at 14, didn't have much currency in the 
teenage world. 

And finally, this is it, isn't it - the Slackpacker is still finding his 
place in the world, inhabiting one of the few social roles that promotes 
individuality and creativity as a lifestyle.  And this is what the rest 
of us miss...  The lifestyle of the Slackpacker, moving through the 
moment, alone, alive, conscious and humming with a rapacious and 
undulating feeling - living!!! 

The rest of us have little world goals and objectives, and never give 
ourselves the opportunity to understand, to understand where the 
Slackpacker comes from.  We may know someone who's a Slackpacker in our 
mundane lives, and never know it.  WE are blind and ignorant to one of 
the truly hardest won social roles a person can fill.  Why are we so 
blind and ignorant???

Slackpackers have tried to share with us their wisdom, but without the 
larger perspective, their words couldn't be understood.  They knew what 
they meant, and felt, but the rest of us could only gaze at the 
Slackpacker with a glazed shine to our eye.  Man, just drifting from one 
place to another, "on the trail he says..."  HAH...  He's just looking 
for two weeks to let his toe heal cause he kicked something...": 

The Slackpacker has a presence recognized by only a few.  My brother's a 
monk, and he wouldn't recognize the essence of the "Slackpacker."  Those 
who recognize his essence share his confusion and openness to what the 
world gives.  The Slackpacker's community shares with him an allegiance 
to larger perspectives, personal responsibility for actions and 
feelings, and a living sense that the world is unjust... 

That last part is never really very foreground for the Slackpacker.  But 
he embodies the free spirit that the rest of us admire, but easily hides 
his confusion with being-in-the-world.  So many surfaces sliding along 
one another - it's really hard to make sense of it the Slackpacker 
thinks!!!  The rest of us don't even see it... 

Jeff, just Jeff, just playing around... 
11-30-2007