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What is your trail name story?
My trail name is Dadhi (In North Indian languages, it means beard). When I was in a college in India, approximately 50,000 years ago, I never trimmed or shaved my beard for the entire five years. All my buddies started calling me “Dadhi”. The name stuck.
Long beard clearly has some advantages. I can hide a snicker bar there, showing off as a health-conscious hiker. In a desperate situation with no water, there is always some trickling water left in the beard that I can suck out. When bugs and mighty mosquitoes attack me, luckily my face will be shielded. My weight is pretty much the average east coast black bear weight (Please, please do not ask me how I am going to do thru Appalachian Trail in 2021 with that body weight). In the wilderness, I hope that bears will respect me as a professional colleague when they see my beard. While homo sapiens professional colleagues almost kill each other in their competitive environment, I am hoping that tranquil wilderness will inspire bears to hug me before both of us proceed on our own way. I will not carry a razor (15 gm) and shaving cream (40 gm), reducing my backpack weight. In the end, the most important thing is that I can create a façade of a very tough hiker, even when I am really scared.
So, what is your trail name story?
GoldenBear
06-30-2020, 11:03
I chose it myself, in honor of my university's sports nickname.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WgGdXiwHpmA
So you went to college with the Indian fred Flintstone? And if you're thru hiking next year that beard will make a great locust catcher. Oh my trail names echo because I don't hear so well and you usually have to repeat like a echo. ( I know we just did this)
So you went to college with the Indian fred Flintstone? And if you're thru hiking next year that beard will make a great locust catcher. Oh my trail names echo because I don't hear so well and you usually have to repeat like a echo. ( I know we just did this)
Hahaha. Locust catcher !!
Slo-go'en
06-30-2020, 15:40
Them: "How's it going?"
Me: "Slowly"
I was taking videos of the ponies in grayson highlands when two of them decided to do what animals do in the spring. I showed it to some people in camp and we all laughed. Over the next few days I kept seeing entries in the registers about somebody named "pony porn". I never put two and two together until about a week later. I was sitting around a fire with a different group of hikers and they started talking about this dude named pony porn. At some point it clicked that they were talking about me. I said, "hey guys, let me show you a video". Everybody died laughing. Since my trail name preceded me and I wasn't getting away from it, I decided to shorten it to Pony... for obvious reasons.
I decided to shorten it to Pony... for obvious reasons
because at some point in your hike, someone would just use the initials and you didnt want to be called "Pee Pee"?
(this is gold though)
cneill13
07-02-2020, 08:37
My trail name is Carl. That is the name my parents gave me.
I actually think trail names are silly but to each his own.
Pringles
07-02-2020, 09:19
A long time ago, I did my hikes with a lady who hiked at a different speed than myself. So, we spent nights at the same campsites, but didn’t hike together. As the day progressed, and we’d see other hikers, we’d ask about each other. I used to carry crackers in a Pringles container, to keep them from getting broken. At one point, my friend asked about me, and a respondent said, “Oh, she was eating *Pringles* a little ways back.” It stuck. I find that just the word Pringles makes hungry hikers smile.
Apollo117
07-02-2020, 09:30
I backed into a cactus whilst lighting a stove. My lovely wife spent 30 minutes picking thorns out of my buttocks. And that's how I came to be called Prickles.
BlackCloud
07-02-2020, 11:47
Because it rains or threatens to do so whenever I want to camp outside
Born and raised in NW Wisconsin.
Watched the Green Bay Packers as a kid win the first super Bowl and a fan ever since, even though left the state after college and retired in GA.
So instead of Backpacker, Packbacker seemed a good fit.
barefoothiker
07-02-2020, 19:56
My trail name evolved a bit though my WhiteBlaze name was the last version of the original. Originally, when I was a kid and into teen years, it was barefoot/barefootboy. Reason being, I never wore shoes when I lived in Florida. Moving to Maine, never got used to them so in the summer time they were gone. I was like a 1980's version of the comic "Wallice the Brave." In the comics, Wallice always throws his shoes into the Altantic and goes barefoot all summer. That was me. So living/vacationing in Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine I usually hiked around without something on my feet most of the time. Barefoot Hiker was the last evolution into my late teens through my 20s. Later it turned into Anselm the Seeker, which has been by D&D name since I was a teenager. Names is from one of my favorite Saints and there is a pun built into it. While hiking on the AT or other trails, my friends would call me by my D&D name (as I was also the map guy) so that one stuck and what I go by. Some who knew me back in my childhood/young adult years will still call me by one of the older names. And yes, the shoes still go off first to this day!
Odd Man Out
07-03-2020, 16:24
When I am not hiking I am the odd man out.
When I am hiking, I am the odd man, out.
ChrisMek
07-06-2020, 12:02
My trail name is Gadget.
I am a section hiker and the guy I always go with gave me the name because before every section that we've hiked, I find a way to make some part of my hike just a little easier, usually with some sort of small gadget.
Land_Shark
07-07-2020, 16:49
A 928 Porsche.....cheers
colorado_rob
07-08-2020, 09:25
I'm "Rocket", simple enough, it was my job for 30 years, plus I can hit a frog between the eyes at 10 yards with my snot rockets. My trail name has nothing to do with my hiking speed though, as many have assumed.
I'm "Rocket", simple enough, it was my job for 30 years, plus I can hit a frog between the eyes at 10 yards with my snot rockets. My trail name has nothing to do with my hiking speed though, as many have assumed.
Lol, that's impressively disgusting.
One Half
07-08-2020, 10:28
I have never had a trail name but decided to pick one for myself this year, or maybe late last year? I am going by One Half, as after 26 years of marriage I truly feel like I am only One Half. I call him The Other Half.
I'm "Rocket", simple enough, it was my job for 30 years, plus I can hit a frog between the eyes at 10 yards with my snot rockets. My trail name has nothing to do with my hiking speed though, as many have assumed.
This is really really funny!
turtle fast
07-15-2020, 01:55
Turtlefast...pretty much means I’m going at my own steady pace. Comes from the Story about the race of the tortoise and the rabbit (hare) where the tortoise won with a steady measured pace while the hare had to take frequent breaks from running and lost. I also got my trail name from Whiteblaze that had carried over to the trail.
k2basecamp
07-15-2020, 20:52
The Bamaman - Ate 12 Mini Bama Pecan Pies in one sitting.
I do acupuncture, which involves trying to get Qi moving in the body or the person I'm treating. So I'm a Qi Wiz (hopefully). But QiWiz actually began as a nice unique short online poker handle, then it made sense to use it as a nickname in the venerable Northeast Ohio Backpacking club (now defunct), then I used it on trail on the AT and other trails, and now it's been my backing business name for the last 10 years. Who knew?