[SaggyDoomSr]

He was a legend, for sure. I hiked with him a bit during my 2001 thruhike. By that point he was already... uhhhmm... not really "hiking" the trail as much as "hanging out on the trail, walking a bit, sometimes".

I didn't realized until earlier this year that he passed away back in 2016. https://appalachiantrail.org/leadership/jack-tarlin/

[wyclif]

I was really saddened when he died. I was sorry that he never got the help that he needed. What Jack needed was an intervention by his friends. He allowed the thing he loved the most in life (the AT) to kill him instead of being resigned to a boring "normal life" in the "Other World."

His first three thru hikes pretty much destroyed his knees, especially since he was the furthest thing from an "ultra light" hiker that existed at that time. I'd never want to carry a pack that heavy, but whenever I go into Harpers Ferry Outfitters and see his pack hanging above the front door like a relic, I smile.

https://youtu.be/hxh8rIkjzog?si=b7IIdnI8gEC9vBOY

This brief interview is how I prefer to remember him at his peak. The way his eyes light up when he talks about the outdoors. "Get out of the city. There's a whole wonderful world out there, and it's not concrete and glass." https://youtu.be/nAd6rlO2C-8?si=aCfvpLg-yGiNYjEv