I'm sore this as been asked before.
But I thought it would make some good reading wile I'm home doing spring cleaning this weekend.
What is the store of you trail name?
I'm sore this as been asked before.
But I thought it would make some good reading wile I'm home doing spring cleaning this weekend.
What is the store of you trail name?
In 1999 I was doing my first long hike. I was a rookie and it showed.
I was going from Amicaloa to Franklin,NC planing on a two week trip
Had a really nice and new pack but that was it jeans,cotton shirts tree sets of each a walmart tint and so on.
my pack weighed about 70lb. with the 3 litters of water I thought I needed to carry at all times.
My first night I camped at Stover Creek Shelter where about ten other people where camping.
shortly after I took my boots off a guy asked if I would mind if me moved my pack. Which started a good hour of raging, every one picking up my pack, and some good advice on getting the wight dawn.
At one point someone said I must have used a Mac truck to get it that far by the next day that comment had had people calling me (Trucker) which is the trail name I use to this day.
I cuss ALOT! Maddog is my "go to" word spelled backwards!
"You do more hiking with your head than your feet!" Emma "Grandma" Gatewood...HYOY!!!
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AlphaPig: My son used to watch a show called Super Why! which was all about reading. There was a character on there who was his favorite and when I was telling my family about trail names, he told me I should be "Alpha Pig"... it stuck.
My favorite one too. Being from the south that catches a lot of flak.
So what's the deal with trail names? Are they only for long distance hikes like AT or PCT or once you have one do you use it anywhere you hike? Would it be weird on a four day trip to run across a group in a camp ground and say "hi, I'm (insert trail name here) instead of my real name, or is it something common to the whole hiking experience?
Please don't read my blog at theosus1.Wordpress.com
"I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference. Thank God for Search and Rescue" - Robert Frost (first edit).
It's the nickname of my college's sports teams.
> So what's the deal with trail names? Are they only for long distance hikes like AT or PCT or once you have one do you use it anywhere you hike?
> Would it be weird on a four day trip to run across a group in a camp ground and say "hi, I'm (insert trail name here) instead of my real name,
> or is it something common to the whole hiking experience?
If you want to use one at any point, fine; if you don't, just as fine.
It's just that trail names (1) can sometimes help establish your trail persona or image, (2) allow some degree of anonymity to anyone outside the trail community, and (3) conversely, allow those within the trail community to quickly know someone even with the passage of months (if not years) and hundreds of miles. I may have no ability to remember all the Joes I've met on the trail, but I will recognize some of the trail names.
I write my trail name and a couple sentences into the trail log book of every shelter I pass by, even if I'm on a four hour day hike and just stopping to catch my breath. If someone gets a smile from seeing my name after meeting me five years ago, well, great. If not, no worry.
Mine was given to me buy my son. I used to joke that dogs and cat were nothing but stir fry on the hoof, 1.2 billionn chinese could not all be wrong. He said I should go bu Stir Fry. It stuck.
If it do'nt eat you or kill you it makes you stronger
'The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him.' G. K. Chesterton
So what's the deal with trail names? Are they only for long distance hikes like AT or PCT or once you have one do you use it anywhere you hike? Would it be weird on a four day trip to run across a group in a camp ground and say "hi, I'm (insert trail name here) instead of my real name, or is it something common to the whole hiking experience?[/QUOTE]
Like Golden Bear it's so much easier to remember a trail name then Sam Jack or Ted,
after ten years I still remember Bear cat, Sandal Foot and Rope Burn.
I'm a newbie and received my on the way up Springer this year from my Niece. My trail name is Believe. I got into the habit of chanting I believe, I believe, I believe he's cancer free when my husband went through cancer treatments (both times) and that habit has followed me into other parts of my life... when I was looking at a rough, icy patch on Springer my Niece heard me start to chant I believe, I believe, I believe and she was sitting at the top of that nasty patch with a grin and my trail name.
-Believe
I picked Turtlefast for Whiteblaze because I am fast as a turtle...or so my wife says. I was asked where I got good trail info from and I said Whiteblaze and I was Turtlefast there...the name stuck...
Sometimes, the story can be sad. Here on WB, I go by Smokestack. That was my CB handle for years, thanks to my (former) career as an environmental engineer. However, my trail name is jimbey. It was given to me by my long-time girlfriend / domestic partner. I used that name for hiking, and for my eBay camera business for a dozen years.
About two years ago - just as a possible AT thru bug started to bite - Michele started forgetting things; started to get confused; started to die. About a year and half ago, she was diagnosed with early onset dementia. She is deep into it now; and as her mind deteriorates, the world diminishes.
It may take years before I can start - but I vow to hike the trail in her memory, and to use the name she gave me.
Jimbey... I like that. My thoughts are with you.
-Believe
Jimbey, I'm so sorry. My Dad died of Alzheimers and it was truly a hard thing for him and us.
I spent so much time planning my first hike on the AT that I was never at home. Every time someone would ask my better half were I was she'd always say "not here". So between that and my love of learning knots, I ended up as KnotHere.
-I'm not a hiker, but I will walk for days for the right campsite!
I've been taking my children with me starting at 9 yrs old and I inevitably end up with a heavier pack at the end of the hikes than at the start. One hike I had to literally take my daughters pack, strap it to the front to me to help her get to the next shelter. My br-in-law saw me coming down the hill with both packs and the name El Burro stuck.
I'll do just about anything to keep my children interested in this and make sure they enjoy it and the extra weight is not that big a deal.
My last name.
Kirby
I once used old bamboo ski poles.
Everything is in Walking Distance