What is your trail name story?

My trail name is Dadhi (In North Indian languages, it means beard). When I was in a college in India, approximately 50,000 years ago, I never trimmed or shaved my beard for the entire five years. All my buddies started calling me “Dadhi”. The name stuck.

Long beard clearly has some advantages. I can hide a snicker bar there, showing off as a health-conscious hiker. In a desperate situation with no water, there is always some trickling water left in the beard that I can suck out. When bugs and mighty mosquitoes attack me, luckily my face will be shielded. My weight is pretty much the average east coast black bear weight (Please, please do not ask me how I am going to do thru Appalachian Trail in 2021 with that body weight). In the wilderness, I hope that bears will respect me as a professional colleague when they see my beard. While homo sapiens professional colleagues almost kill each other in their competitive environment, I am hoping that tranquil wilderness will inspire bears to hug me before both of us proceed on our own way. I will not carry a razor (15 gm) and shaving cream (40 gm), reducing my backpack weight. In the end, the most important thing is that I can create a façade of a very tough hiker, even when I am really scared.

So, what is your trail name story?