Trail Names

[SkeeterPee]

So I came up with SkeeterPee because it sounds kind of like a trail name. Combining skeeters and Pee, Both common along the trail. But really Skeeter Pee is a name of a fermented lemonade that home wine makers make. I'll ferment 18 gallons of this stuff at a time.

So I was out backpacking in PA with my son and I kept catching my toe on rocks and flipping them over, so he said I should change my trail name to Rock Flipper. Its got a nice ring to it and it is certainly there are worse trail names someone might make up for you. I might switch since he came up with it and I'm new to this anyway. How's Rock Flipper sound

How many trail names have you had? Share if you want.

[RoamingGentile]

Sounds to me

[runt13]

SkeeterPeeRockFlipper

don't think it will ever be duplicated

RUNT ''13''

[MtDoraDave]

I don't think there are any "rules" to trail names, but it is my opinion that one shouldn't name himself (or herself).

My hiking partner tried to call me "adjective Dave" because I can be friendly Dave, grumpy Dave, patient Dave, helpful Dave, etc... I told him that I refuse such a cop-out of a name and that the word Dave doesn't even have to be in the trail name - preferably not.
When telling this story to a girl who worked at Amicalola, she said "we'll call you Professor"... which didn't stick.
Last trip, when I told one bubble of thru's that I didn't have a trail name, that I was just Dave, they called me Just Dave. Another group I met with called me Slippery Dave, because I slipped and fell on the ice several times.
None of these names has stuck... throughout my life, nicknames don't stick. I said I should go by Teflon because trail names don't stick...

Some day, perhaps not until I start a thru hike, I'll be with a group long enough for someone to hit me with a trail name that sticks. Shrug - I'm not in a hurry to get a trail name. To me, it's like a tattoo; just because I want one doesn't mean I should get the first one that comes along. If it's going to be permanent, some careful consideration should go into it.

...or perhaps I'm overthinking it.

My hiking partner is slow to get moving in the mornings. Up at sunrise, but not on the trail until close to 10:00... and he smokes a lot. I asked myself, what's slow to get moving and smokes a lot? A train... a steam engine train. I came up with "Steamer"

[Lnj]

I don't have a trail name either, but I am still very much a newbie so there's lots of time. On our last weekend trip, my husband called me Outback because the Outback cheesefries were calling to me as I walked. But it was just us, so not sure that's a very good one. I move very much like an inchworm on the trail.... short burst of steps on the up-hills, then stop, then another short burst, then stop...but out of respect for the recently deceased inchworm, I don't think that's a good one either. I want one but... Nick names never stuck to me growing up either. I only ever had one person who used to call me Elle. Since my name is Ellen, that's not a big jump. So I willw ait around til the right one hits me.

[AfterParty]

I will go with after party cause I can't go till my dog party dies.

[CamelMan]

I was named by a triple-crowner I met, because I carried lots of water in metal 1L bottles and my gear was all rolled up (wet tent and ground tarp) into a hump.

[Greenlight]

One trail name for me for the rest of my life. Picked up Greenlight at Mount Collins Shelter in GSMNP earlier this spring. On purpose. I went deliberately, with one of my intentions being to pick up a trail name. It was windy, cold, and getting dark when we got to the shelter, and people were walking around with their head lamps on, cooking and getting ready to rack out. I had my lamp on bright and noticed it was hurting peoples' eyes so I switched it down to the lowest setting, which I hadn't realized until that point was green. Everyone else running around doing chores had red "low lights". One of the thru-hikers (who made and tended a fire as best they could in the fireplace all night) said, "I really like your green light." I didn't think much about it at the time but when I woke up in the morning and was making breakfast, we were talking and I said that wouldn't be a bad trail name. It had multiple layers of meaning that apply to my life. I did press him a little, like "so are you giving me a trail name?" He laughed and said, "yeah, it's either that or Green Lantern" and I barked out my disgust for that particular DC Comics character. "Greenlight it is."


So I came up with SkeeterPee because it sounds kind of like a trail name. Combining skeeters and Pee, Both common along the trail. But really Skeeter Pee is a name of a fermented lemonade that home wine makers make. I'll ferment 18 gallons of this stuff at a time.

So I was out backpacking in PA with my son and I kept catching my toe on rocks and flipping them over, so he said I should change my trail name to Rock Flipper. Its got a nice ring to it and it is certainly there are worse trail names someone might make up for you. I might switch since he came up with it and I'm new to this anyway. How's Rock Flipper sound

How many trail names have you had? Share if you want.