Help Me To Choose My Trail Name:

[Kookork]

I plan to thru hike the AT in 2014 and I want to choose my trail name. some of you know me from my posts and some don't but all of you can help me choose the trail name that fits the bill.

Here are my suggestions:

One and a half men :
Because I hike with my dog and he is male.

Whirling Dervish:
I look like Dervishes when I grow a long beard and I am Iranian originally where is a land of Dervishes.

Peach Black:
I just like the meaning it conveys , it seems kind of profound to me.

Ronin:
Ronin (浪人) is the word used to describe a kind of samurai without a master.
I lost my friend and climbing master and partner in a rock climbing accident while he was opening a new route on a very notoriously famous vertical wall in Iran years ago. I still miss him.

[treesloth]

I'm confused. I thought Kookork was your trail name. :-)

"Ronin" is cool, but if used, prepare to explain many many times how this name came about when you are asked. If it helps you to remember and honor your friend, then so be it. If it's a bit painful to talk about, well, then I'm sure you understand how many times the wound may be re-opened.

Why not let it be given to you?

Either way, sorry to hear that about your friend.

[Kookork]

I'm confused. I thought Kookork was your trail name. :-)

"Ronin" is cool, but if used, prepare to explain many many times how this name came about when you are asked. If it helps you to remember and honor your friend, then so be it. If it's a bit painful to talk about, well, then I'm sure you understand how many times the wound may be re-opened.

Why not let it be given to you?

Either way, sorry to hear that about your friend.

Thanks for your response. I have the same concern about the Ronin .
I was mourning for him for quite some times but then I found out the best way to honor him is remembering his free soul and his achievements than the way he died. We never expected him to live long. He was pushing the envelope too far all the time . RIP

I am open to given name either but till that moment I prefer to have a trail name.

Ps: Kookork is my Iranian trail name if you wish . Kookork means "Mountain Bird" in one of the Persian Dialects. My friends gave that name to me after a solo long climbing trip when I was 24 years old.

[BuckeyeBill]

Canadian Iranian

[flemdawg1]

I'd keep Kookork. Of course it will prob be mangled in use to Coo-coo. If you can live with that, go w/ it.

[MuddyWaters]

I'd keep Kookork. Of course it will prob be mangled in use to Coo-coo. If you can live with that, go w/ it.

Most would just call you Kook or Kooky or KooKoo

[Kookork]

I'd keep Kookork. Of course it will prob be mangled in use to Coo-coo. If you can live with that, go w/ it.

In another forum some call me Korky !! Here some called me kookoo

I had no problem with Coo-coo if I was like that bird. I am a loner though but I don't use other bird's nest to lay my egg there!!! kookork is very difficult to remember.

[Dogwood]

There are no set rules for obtaining a trail name but IMO it's most often bestowed to you by others. Be careful of what trail name you allow yourself to take on. It is up to you what trail name you finally adopt. I've had more than a few people call me Dagwood as in the cartoon character. I usually tell people how I got my trail name if they look at me in an odd that doesn't compute way when I say it. I'm a plant geek(Landscape Architect, Horticulturalist) who explained to more than 100 AT thru-hikers the trees they were inquiring about were dogwoods. Some one started calling me that and since my personality is similar to the traits of dogwood trees and dogwoods always have been one of my most beloved native trees I allowed myself to be labeled with this trail name. For example, Ronin can sometimes be defined as being a paid mercenary. Ever see the movie Ronin starring Robert DeNero.

One and a Half Men is going to garner comparisons to Two and a Half Men and maybe having some questions your sexuality

Whirling Dervish has been taken by other hikers and is also the name of a musical group.

Peach Black is an original.

[Kookork]

There are no set rules for obtaining a trail name but IMO it's most often bestowed to you by others. Be careful of what trail name you allow yourself to take on. It is up to you what trail name you finally adopt. I've had more than a few people call me Dagwood as in the cartoon character. I usually tell people how I got my trail name if they look at me in an odd that doesn't compute way when I say it. I'm a plant geek(Landscape Architect, Horticulturalist) who explained to more than 100 AT thru-hikers the trees they were inquiring about were dogwoods. Some one started calling me that and since my personality is similar to the traits of dogwood trees and dogwoods always have been one of my most beloved native trees I allowed myself to be labeled with this trail name. For example, Ronin can sometimes be defined as being a paid mercenary. Ever see the movie Ronin starring Robert DeNero.

One and a Half Men is going to garner comparisons to Two and a Half Men and maybe having some questions your sexuality

Whirling Dervish has been taken by other hikers and is also the name of a musical group.

Peach Black is an original.

Thanks for the post Dogwood. It is funny hearing about the sexuality thing but I am not worried about it. I do not look like gay people especially when I grow a long beard!!!. I am actually a little scary with beard( Osama Bin laden type).

I am a wood enthusiast too. I know many types of North american trees also . My character is more like a hickory but I love the black cherry wood. My favorite exotic wood is Jobillo.

I have a YouTube video about my wooden model A-frame cabin I made couple of years ago. It was my first wooden project and I fell in love with woodworking:



Here is the link( it is boring and lengthy and if I make it today it will be very short and to the point) but it has had 25000 viewer so far.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4eMRUEQZIY

[moytoy]

..Mountie..

[Kookork]

..Mountie..

nice but my friend has a Golden Retriever who bought it from Vermont and named him Mountie!!!!

[moytoy]

So you would be named after a dog. There are worse things

[Feral Bill]

Canadiranian?

[treesloth]

In another forum some call me Korky !! Here some called me kookoo

I had no problem with Coo-coo if I was like that bird. I am a loner though but I don't use other bird's nest to lay my egg there!!! kookork is very difficult to remember.

Don't be so sure that it's difficult to remember. Personally, I'd stick with it; it was bestowed upon you on your home soil, it's totally unique, and if I might say so, kinda cool. Definitely more original than 'Treesloth'... I just happen to like them a lot, so I use that name on forums and for other online guises. Or, stick with that until someone bestows one on you that you like better. You can always come back to Kookork if you don't like any assigned names. I plan on getting mine bestowed.

I'm also no stranger to losing friends to high-risk activities. Or what some consider high-risk... Years back one of my skydiving mentors died on a base jump when his canopy opened off-heading and he slammed into a rock wall. He'd almost definitely still be with us today if he just stuck to skydiving.

[Kookork]

Don't be so sure that it's difficult to remember. Personally, I'd stick with it; it was bestowed upon you on your home soil, it's totally unique, and if I might say so, kinda cool. Definitely more original than 'Treesloth'... I just happen to like them a lot, so I use that name on forums and for other online guises. Or, stick with that until someone bestows one on you that you like better. You can always come back to Kookork if you don't like any assigned names. I plan on getting mine bestowed.

I'm also no stranger to losing friends to high-risk activities. Or what some consider high-risk... Years back one of my skydiving mentors died on a base jump when his canopy opened off-heading and he slammed into a rock wall. He'd almost definitely still be with us today if he just stuck to skydiving.

Sorry about your friend. Skydiving is relatively safe but base jumping is truly high risk. The same is about climbing which is relatively safe but rock climbing is high risk especially opening a new route. I prefer hiking which is safest and doable for longer years if not till death.

[treesloth]

Sorry about your friend. Skydiving is relatively safe but base jumping is truly high risk. The same is about climbing which is relatively safe but rock climbing is high risk especially opening a new route. I prefer hiking which is safest and doable for longer years if not till death.

Agreed on all points - especially about skydiving. The dangerous part of skydiving was always driving to and from the drop zone. These days, I echo your mantra about hiking. Peace!

[Spirit Bear]

My trail nameis pretty gay but it fits and once yours fits you will know it.

I encountered 6 black bears last year hiking the GA section of the AT. Whenhiking this was one of 3 fears. the other two were getting bitten by acopperhead or rattlesnake, the 3rd was and is lime disease. But getting mauledby a bear was on the top of the list. After encountering my 6th bear I overcamethe fear and realized these creatures are magnificent and it is such a wonderto see one on the trail in the woods. Why the Indians put bears so high up ontheir list of great creatures.

Then I was watching national Geographic’s top 10 photos of 2012 and one of themwas titled the spirit bear. It is a rare white bear that lives in British Columbia,they are black bears but are white. I'm a an old middle aged white guy withwhite speckles in my beard and I took on the spirit of the bear once I overcamemy fear of them.

The name stuck. My girlfriend called me spirit bear after the show as we wentout for a bite to eat as a joke, it stuck and I feel good with the name.

I am also a dorky guy too kind of like a napoleon dynamite level at times, Ifeel I am and it sounded like some name he would give himself if he werehiking. I could see him with a tee shirt of a bear looking up at the moon andhe says yea I’m spirit bear.

So it fits for me.

You will know your trail name when it comes, it fits your personality weatheryou give it to yourself or not.

Most say a hiker must name you but my take your trail name is whatever you wantit to be, it is who you become when hiking on the AT.

Peace.

[Spirit Bear]

The woman who currently holds the world record for hiking the AT gave herself her name, Odyssa. So that theory of a hiker must give you your name, take it with a grain of salt.

[rickb]

Don Cherry. Sort of like Don Juan, only completely different.

Hungry, eh?

Tried, eh?

Big ****ing bear, eh?

But I like the one you have now, too.

[Kookork]

The woman who currently holds the world record for hiking the AT gave herself her name, Odyssa. So that theory of a hiker must give you your name, take it with a grain of salt.

Jennifer Pharr Davis is the current record holder of AT and she is a nice woman. She is not the ambassador of AT nor her points of view decides about the things like trail name for me. I guess Trail name has been around when JPD was not even born. I respect her record and her personality but will not dismiss things that she does not believe.

The problem with given trail name is when it comes from some incidents that has no meaning and does not convey the personality of the hiker. For example there was a guy with trail name "Rat Bucket " in one of the AT videos who was named rat bucket when he found a dead rat in the bucket(his bucket??) one morning in a shelter or Trauma who was named trauma since he encountered a series of incidents ( not self inflict) for a short period of time.

Actually Trauma is a very cautious and considerate hiker with great knowledge to avoid any trauma.

For me a trail name should convey something about my personality or something deeper than a dead rat in a bucket and does not matter it is a given name or a chosen one.

Ps: I love your trail name. It is spiritual and is given to you for good reason.