View Full Version : Solo hikers and trail names
ADVStrom14
10-28-2016, 19:52
Just curious - those of you that solo hike, do you have and how did you get your trail name? I have heard stories from people earning or receiving their trail names while out with their group or meeting other groups on the trail, etc. I don't have a trail name and I'm wondering how I'll get one as a solo hiker.
la.lindsey
10-28-2016, 20:09
Yes, and I solo hike as a section hiker. I fell in with a group for two days and they gave me a trail name.
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I started backpacking in 2006, hike by myself a lot, and didn't acquire a trail name until 2014. A hiker going the opposite direction in the San Juans on the Colorado Trail gave me a name and it seemed appropriate to me, so now I answer to it.
GoldenBear
10-28-2016, 20:46
I chose my own trail name, because I happen to like it.
Sarcasm the elf
10-28-2016, 21:02
Just accidently choose an online username that sounds like a trail name. Then start to hike with people who know you online and assumed it was your trail name. Before you know it you'll be stuck with it. :p
ADVStrom14
10-28-2016, 21:31
Lol! Good! I was beginning to worry I would never have a trail name! ;)
there's a Martin Sheen movie called "The Way", where he's doing some hiking and this younger lady refers to him as Boomer - cause he's a member of that baby boom generation. I liked that name, and it fit - so I adopted it for myself.
AfterParty
10-28-2016, 22:07
I have a 12 year old dog named party. After she goes so do I from GA.ME I love my dog
Uncle Joe
10-28-2016, 22:35
I still don't have one. Some guys at camp 2 weeks ago wanted to call me "Cable Guy" they said because I was making them laugh. Should I keep it? I don't like it. My long-time nick is "Javelin" because I used to drive a '71 Javelin.
Fireplug
10-28-2016, 23:37
Gave me myself a trail name before I did something stupid and get a name. FIREPLUG. I'm a retired firefighter. Kinda fits.
ADVStrom14
10-29-2016, 07:13
there's a Martin Sheen movie called "The Way", where he's doing some hiking and this younger lady refers to him as Boomer - cause he's a member of that baby boom generation. I liked that name, and it fit - so I adopted it for myself.
I love this movie. I stumbled on it by accident and have watched it twice. Thanks Boomer!
Jes
ADVStrom14
10-29-2016, 07:15
Gave me myself a trail name before I did something stupid and get a name. FIREPLUG. I'm a retired firefighter. Kinda fits.
I like that one.
I still don't have one. Some guys at camp 2 weeks ago wanted to call me "Cable Guy" they said because I was making them laugh. Should I keep it? I don't like it. My long-time nick is "Javelin" because I used to drive a '71 Javelin.
Yeah I don't want to get stuck with one I don't like. I like Javelin. It sounds BA. [emoji2]
Jes
Old Hillwalker
10-29-2016, 07:45
I was "given" my trail name in 1989 while spending a month hiking in Scotland's NW Highlands. At the time I was staying at an old shooting lodge located high up in the Kinlochleven mountains. It was a great basecamp because a number of trails begin right behind the lodge. After about four or five days of leaving for a hike in the morning and returning in the late afternoon the lodge staff started expecting me back. One afternoon as I approached the lodge from above I heard a young woman who worked in the lodge yell "here comes the hillwalker, draw him his beer". When I reached the bench outside the lodge entrance to take off my boots, there was my pint waiting for me. Even though "hillwalker" is a common title used for many hikers in Scotland, I liked the title and have used it ever since.
36737
Nice Story, Old Hillwalker!
We here don't have the habit of trailnames, but one Bedouin guide gave me a name: Nimr, that translates into Tiger.
I didn't take this name though, as I'm rather the opposite of a tiger.
Mine is really a nickname given to me by two different non-hiking people. One in TX, one in GA. Neither one knew the other, but they both always called me Maydog or Maydoggie. I used to HATE it. But it stuck, at least in GA. Now that I don't see those folks much any more, the name doesn't bother me. Don't sweat the small stuff, right?
Hangfire
10-29-2016, 12:26
there's a Martin Sheen movie called "The Way", where he's doing some hiking and this younger lady refers to him as Boomer - cause he's a member of that baby boom generation. I liked that name, and it fit - so I adopted it for myself.
I have to say if I hadn't of seen this movie I would have never walked the Camino and definitely wouldn't have hiked the AT. As for my trail name when I was on the Camino all of the French and Swiss kids called me Heisenberg because my last name is White and Breaking bad was still popular and I guess I bare some resemblance to the character. On the AT I became Walter White almost instantly when I mentioned my Heisenberg nickname on the Camino...funny how that worked out, I was expecting some sort of hiking equipment nickname or something trail related like everyone else. You can kind of tell early on who picks their own name and who doesn't, proper trail names usually require some sort of explanation that you would have never figured out on your own. A lot of times I liked to try and tweak self made names to give it a little trail flare, like jpolk says his nickname used to be Javelin I would trailize it into Javelina...but names always come best from a group of hikers who just met one another sitting around a camp fire laughing and having a good time, fond memories of Hawk Mountain.
A few years ago while section hiking in NC/TN I fell into a group of northbound thru hikers. My name, “Mark S” was written on the inside, lower corner of my tarp was readable (backwards) from the outside of the tarp (when backlit). So “Mark S” read as “S kraM” from the outside. SkraM became my trail name.
theinfamousj
10-29-2016, 19:22
Just because I hit the trail without going with others, doesn't mean that I don't meet others on the trail. That said, I have had my trail name since high school, where I was a trail runner (cross country).
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ADVStrom14
10-29-2016, 19:22
I have to say if I hadn't of seen this movie I would have never walked the Camino and definitely wouldn't have hiked the AT.
I know! When I watched the movie I instantly decided I wanted to walk the Camino. It seems almost magical.
Jes
I have to say if I hadn't of seen this movie I would have never walked the Camino and definitely wouldn't have hiked the AT.
I know! When I watched the movie I instantly decided I wanted to walk the Camino. It seems almost magical.
Jes
That trail -- or, at least the way it's depicted in that film -- seems like a whole different kind of experience from what I normally think of as hiking. I know one can say, "well, the PCT is a totally different experience than the AT, and the CDT is totally different than either of those. But still it seems to me that they all have more in common whrn compared to the Camino. It just seems like it's "something different". Cant quite put my finger on it, but I'd love to do it one of these days.
MuddyWaters
10-29-2016, 20:05
Just curious - those of you that solo hike, do you have and how did you get your trail name? I have heard stories from people earning or receiving their trail names while out with their group or meeting other groups on the trail, etc. I don't have a trail name and I'm wondering how I'll get one as a solo hiker.
pick one.
any thing you like
or
wait for some to suggest something you like
Others see you DIFFERENTLY than you see yourself often
the name they might thrust on you, may or may not have sublime meaning thats perfect
but, you is always free to change. Lots of people do.
But for petes sake, be uncommon and sort of unique, or its pointless. There are overused names like Hiker XXX, nature XXX, strider, etc.
Hangfire
10-29-2016, 21:36
That trail -- or, at least the way it's depicted in that film -- seems like a whole different kind of experience from what I normally think of as hiking. I know one can say, "well, the PCT is a totally different experience than the AT, and the CDT is totally different than either of those. But still it seems to me that they all have more in common whrn compared to the Camino. It just seems like it's "something different". Cant quite put my finger on it, but I'd love to do it one of these days.
It's hard to describe the Camino when talking AT, the best I can say is it's more of a extended day hike that lasts 30-ish days and always ends in towns. You cover several different regions with various terrains and people and constantly surrounded by incredible history...for 1200 years people have walked that path, pretty amazing.
The Camino would be a great unwinding trek after an AT (or any long trail)thru.
DuneElliot
10-30-2016, 00:19
My name came to me off trail...it was an oft repeated comment regarding my life.
"That sounds daunting...."
"Don't you find that daunting...?"
Etc etc. So one day as one more person yelled something along along the lines of "you don't find anything daunting do you?" as I'm climbing boulders, and as got to the top I just yelled "I am Dauntless"...it kinda stuck
ADVStrom14
10-30-2016, 07:45
My name came to me off trail...it was an oft repeated comment regarding my life.
"That sounds daunting...."
"Don't you find that daunting...?"
Etc etc. So one day as one more person yelled something along along the lines of "you don't find anything daunting do you?" as I'm climbing boulders, and as got to the top I just yelled "I am Dauntless"...it kinda stuck
That's cool!
You cover several different regions with various terrains and people and constantly surrounded by incredible history...for 1200 years people have walked that path, pretty amazing.
I think that is one of the things that attracts me to the Camino- the history.
Jes
yes, I agree - the history. Also, the diversity of the folks you would meet along the way.
Starchild
10-30-2016, 19:32
Nobody hikes the AT solo, maybe once upon a time they did, but not anymore, it's a traveling community.
Like it or not that's what it is, and communities will give out names.
My favorite is my friend hansolo, who's real name is Hans and he hikes alone.
Finished the AT twice; once each way.
I use a nickname from other facets of my life, I pulled 'Wiki' as a name in basic training after knowing all the answers to the US citizenship test when helping a fellow trainee study. Been using it ever sense, I've tried other nicknames and they don't even register.