View Full Version : Why a Trail Name?
BSquared
05-19-2005, 11:46
Surely this is practically a FAQ, but I can't find anything with "search." Why do AT hikers use trail names? I hiked for years and hundreds of miles in the Sierra Nevada and Rocky Mountains, but it's only in the last couple of years that I've run across anybody who used something other than their own, parent-given name in the west (they were PCT thru-hikers). Why do AT hikers typically use trail names? What's the history of using trail names?
-BSquared (which I suppose could be my trail name :rolleyes: )
kentucky99
05-19-2005, 12:18
well the AT is alot more of a social trail compared to the pct and the cdt but i have met
people who use their own name i think people like trail names because its a journey and somtimes people transform into their name :bse ky
trail names are simular to nick names people give each other in the so called real world,to me trail names add color and personality,plus i think they are very cool
think about it:cool: neo
Surely this is practically a FAQ, but I can't find anything with "search." Why do AT hikers use trail names? I hiked for years and hundreds of miles in the Sierra Nevada and Rocky Mountains, but it's only in the last couple of years that I've run across anybody who used something other than their own, parent-given name in the west (they were PCT thru-hikers). Why do AT hikers typically use trail names? What's the history of using trail names?
-BSquared (which I suppose could be my trail name :rolleyes: )
My trail name is also my "real" family nick name. People in "real life" call me Mags. At work there are two Pauls. Guess what I am called? In my outdoor group I am called Paul Mags or simply "Mags".
As for why other people use trail names it is a tradition of sorts now. New identity, new life , taking on a new persona, etc. etc.
Paul "Mags" Magnanti (third generation of Magnanti to have this nickname)
)
LIhikers
05-19-2005, 15:21
With the AT being a "social" trail, having a trail name let's you have both anonimity and an identity at the same time.
With the AT being a "social" trail, having a trail name let's you have both anonimity and an identity at the same time.
thats a great way of putting it:cool: neo
I don't know where it started but I found this posted in 2001 somewhere on the net:
Subject: [at-l] Origin of Trail Names
From: daveh@psknet.com (daveh@psknet.com) (Dave Hicks)
Date: Sun, 18 Nov 2001 21:10:59 -0600
References: <d7.f3d3b02.2929d2dd@aol.com (http://www.backcountry.net/arch/at/0111/msg00982.html)> <3BF888E2.E1AD7078@home.com (http://www.backcountry.net/arch/at/0111/msg00983.html)>
I think Turtle has a good point. I don't know the "real" reason -- albeit I've heard a lot of explanations. The ones I like have some element of Turtle's "a personal moment shared" and "because it speaks of the person. "Most (but not all) folk hike at a transition point in their life -- between school and the service or career, after a job change, after a relationship breakup, as part of mid-life change, after retirement, etc. At such a point, their official name come to represent the old "me."
OTOH, a trailname is not connected to the old life. This is the setting for Turtle's"personal moment shared" with new friends, in a new setting, engrossed in anew activity/vocation/identity. Because it speaks of the "new" person the trail name becomes a signpost the new "me" -- or it has the appeal of doing so. Then again, it might just be that as the number of hikers increased, the need to distinguish dave xxxxxx from dave zzzzzz was easier when dave zzzzz, who snored, became Chainsaw as a shorthand -- rather than "Do you mean the young dave from wherever or the old guy that snored so bad?
"OTOH, before we get too serious about the growth of trail names, remember it was at this time that CB "handles" and entertainers and music groups w/equivalent names came into vogue. So trail names might just be a subset of a wider phenomenon.
Chainsaw
MedicineMan
05-19-2005, 23:23
its just easier to remember trail names...i can remember hikers i met years ago by their trail name but there is no way i would ever remember their real name....
as far as extensions of personalities, i doubt it. trail names are usually given after a specific event, and usually an event that easily into a 'kewl' name, an event that sticks out as either funny or prophetic and often imposed as an extension of a personality.
maybe after reciept of the name many will try to live up to it....
honestly i used to hate trail names thinking it a game but now i like them for the use mentioned above.....
I believe the trailname originated as a result of someone making fictitious entries in the logbooks at shelters and not wanting to identify themselves with it. I always enjoyed reading the funny fictitious stuff, and I think others did too. Eventually people began to use a fictitious name themselves because they associated that with being cool, like the other entries.
Alan Strackeljahn
During a thru-hike, you're likely to meet two dozen people named Jim, but you may only meet one guy named Skyline or Gonzo or Twilight. It's just easier to remember that way, and there's no need to remember a first AND last name.
Besides, a trail name often coordinates with a hiker's personality or where they lived before/after the Trail--which not only helps you remember the person better but within that one or two word trail name starts to tell a story about that person.
Of course if you become "Blister Sister" or "Screaming Knees" you'll have to find some other way to differentiate yourself from all the others over the years with the same names--these IMHO are akin to being a Smith in the USA or a Wong in Asia.
BlackCloud
05-20-2005, 13:53
With the AT being a "social" trail, having a trail name let's you have both anonimity and an identity at the same time.Be honest, did you read that one somewhere?
And Skyline is right, way to many imaginitive souls out there naming their kids John & Mike (no offense) to remember/differentiate them all.........
Too many out there regardless of name.
Tha Wookie
05-20-2005, 14:47
A trail name identifies someone who has left their identity behind at the doorstep to the forest.
because anyone can be called John, Alice or Henry. You are named for the way you act, sleep, eat, hike, look, character defects and so on.. It is better to have someone else trail name you and then you should go thru a good ole ritual to get it implanted in your brain. I like to have the hker that I am naming get down on their knees while I take my right handed leki and slap them across the face "whoops" I mean tap them on the shoulder and have them do some "polly woo woos" and a little jig so they'll know who they are and who it was that trailed named them...wanderer
i think that's a bit of anthropology i say. i do...wanderer
I believe the trailname originated as a result of someone making fictitious entries in the logbooks at shelters and not wanting to identify themselves with it. I always enjoyed reading the funny fictitious stuff, and I think others did too. Eventually people began to use a fictitious name themselves because they associated that with being cool, like the other entries.
Alan Strackeljahn
been beating up any more hikers?
I believe the trailname originated as a result of someone making fictitious entries in the logbooks at shelters and not wanting to identify themselves with it. I always enjoyed reading the funny fictitious stuff, and I think others did too. Eventually people began to use a fictitious name themselves because they associated that with being cool, like the other entries.
Alan Strackeljahn
LIhikers
05-24-2005, 08:56
Be honest, did you read that one somewhere?
And Skyline is right, way to many imaginitive souls out there naming their kids John & Mike (no offense) to remember/differentiate them all.........
Did I read it somewhere? I really don't know, I may have. I'm not claiming it as an original thought, just something that came to mind in regard to this thread.
theyre just "FUN"...& like everyone says...they set you apart from the "rest-of-the-crowd"...
origination? who knows...
AND, while we're on this subject....
i'd just like to state...that I AM THE ONLY "REAL" JAYBIRD....
there's a FAUX Jaybird out there....but I AM THE ONLY "REAL" JAYBIRD (thats right..the one on WHITEBLAZE.NET & TRAILJOURNALS.COM) :D
p.s. "Hi" to SKYLINE...i met him on the trail during my recent section-hike to Pearisburg,VA
theyre just "FUN"...& like everyone says...they set you apart from the "rest-of-the-crowd"...
origination? who knows...
AND, while we're on this subject....
i'd just like to state...that I AM THE ONLY "REAL" JAYBIRD....
there's a FAUX Jaybird out there....but I AM THE ONLY "REAL" JAYBIRD (thats right..the one on WHITEBLAZE.NET & TRAILJOURNALS.COM) :D
p.s. "Hi" to SKYLINE...i met him on the trail during my recent section-hike to Pearisburg,VA
Hi back at ya...About 15 hikers and six dogs hung out in Thomas Knob Shelter during a really severe thunderstorm--lightning literally hit about 50 feet away...but I felt sorrier for hikers like you, Jaybird, who weren't so lucky to be under the roof. As I descended to Deep Gap after the storm, I encountered numerous soaked, muddy wanderers and do remember meeting you.
--The "real" Skyline