View Full Version : Quick! Someone give me a trail name so I can tell my folks!
Crawbear
06-19-2007, 12:02
This might sound a little odd but I would like to be given a trail name before I leave (12 days from now starting in Maine). I don't want to think of one for myself. I know this goes against tradition, but I'm going to be sending out a bunch of info to my friends and family this week and I'd like to include it in case they need to find me.
Ok, here's some random stuff about me that might help. I identify, probably alongside many hikers, with MacKaye's original vision of a community of villages on the AT where people share everything in non-industrial workcamps. Studying MacKaye was my intro to the AT and what motivated me to get ready for a thruhike. I look forward to the sense of community that I will find on the trail, even if MacKaye's plan was not fulfilled. I know it will be an inspiration to continue developing my idealistic dreams further.
Also, I'm from Austin Texas and my name is Chad...I'm in North Carolina right now because I just finished seminary and got ordained as a minister. I'm hiking during a transition between school and full-time ministry.
Here goes...suggestions?? Both serious thoughts and unserious are totally acceptable!
I'm no where near prepared yet to start my hike on July 2! Yeeeehaw!
Crawbear
06-19-2007, 12:07
I'll add a couple more things. I'm a vegetarian and my hobbies are brewing my own beer and going to jamband concerts. HAHA!
I dub thee.............Padre
Home Brew
Vegan Preachin'
MacAuTx (pronounced Mac Attack) (from MacKaye, Austin Texas)
Texas?
Bugbait.
And then for those of you with a pollen induced twisted humor:
Wetback.
TeeCh N Preach (Texas, Chad, minister...)
Tha Wookie
06-19-2007, 12:17
This might sound a little odd but I would like to be given a trail name before I leave (12 days from now starting in Maine). I don't want to think of one for myself. I know this goes against tradition, but I'm going to be sending out a bunch of info to my friends and family this week and I'd like to include it in case they need to find me.
Ok, here's some random stuff about me that might help. I identify, probably alongside many hikers, with MacKaye's original vision of a community of villages on the AT where people share everything in non-industrial workcamps. Studying MacKaye was my intro to the AT and what motivated me to get ready for a thruhike. I look forward to the sense of community that I will find on the trail, even if MacKaye's plan was not fulfilled. I know it will be an inspiration to continue developing my idealistic dreams further.
Also, I'm from Austin Texas and my name is Chad...I'm in North Carolina right now because I just finished seminary and got ordained as a minister. I'm hiking during a transition between school and full-time ministry.
Here goes...suggestions?? Both serious thoughts and unserious are totally acceptable!
I'm no where near prepared yet to start my hike on July 2! Yeeeehaw!
Crawbear-
Mackaye's vision will be fulfilled with support. Thanks for bringing it up. I mentioned it to some ATC people recently and they looked at me like I was crazy. After I studied trails, now I'm studying the camps. keep in touch if you need any help after your hike manifesting your own visions.
As far as a trail name, I say "asker"
peace
Grumpy Ol' Pops
06-19-2007, 12:18
How about Rev. Hike?
How about Rev. Brewmeister?
or
Holy Jammer?
or
Brew-haha?
or
Rev. Brew-haha?
tekiechick
06-19-2007, 12:37
Restless Reverend
Impatient Devil-Dodger
Holy Hiker
tekiechick
06-19-2007, 12:41
meandering missionary?
tekiechick
06-19-2007, 12:42
climbing cleric?
Time To Fly 97
06-19-2007, 12:44
Holy Scat (sounds like holiest cat) ?
Happy hiking!
TTF
tekiechick
06-19-2007, 12:46
I do like "Padre" though. Simple.
big_muddy
06-19-2007, 12:52
Emmaus
I went to Seminary too . . . in Chicago
Chaco Taco
06-19-2007, 13:29
Tarpreacher
I'll third "Padre." Short and sweet.
Isaiah52:7
06-19-2007, 13:58
I like the suggestions already given.
Find a verse you like?..
Your trail name should be Bearbait because these fellas (http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p200/woodsy2007/scan0005-1.jpg)can smell a Texas Longhorn from miles away. Good luck on your hike!
The Weasel
06-19-2007, 14:19
Why not "Chad," until you get a trail name? You sort of sound like you don't understand the concept. You don't pick a trail name; one picks you. It might pick you before you leave, or after, or never. You'll know it when it happens.
It's a little like prayer, Rev. You wait for God to answer it. Sometimes you wait a long time.
Sorry.
The Weasel
Crawbear
06-19-2007, 14:32
That's very insightful. And poetic. I do understand the concept, and I know that times have changed, and these days many thruhikers are picking their own trailnames like it's a handle. I knew I didn't want to choose mine, so I thought this might be a variation on tradition. This way, the hiking community still bestows the name, and the name still "picks" me, if you will, only it happens before I leave, so I can let everyone know that are meeting me out there.
But your wisdom is well received. I think I have been too hasty.
Lone Wolf
06-19-2007, 14:37
That's very insightful. And poetic. I do understand the concept, and I know that times have changed, and these days many thruhikers are picking their own trailnames like it's a handle. I knew I didn't want to choose mine, so I thought this might be a variation on tradition. This way, the hiking community still bestows the name, and the name still "picks" me, if you will, only it happens before I leave, so I can let everyone know that are meeting me out there.
But your wisdom is well received. I think I have been too hasty.
there is no tradition. i picked my own 20 years ago.
taildragger
06-19-2007, 14:49
My trail name comes from my days of four wheeling jeeps (its like camping with a really really big pack right?)
Personally the idea of a trail name is odd to me, but then again I already have about 8 nicknames that come from different traditions (Uncle Remus being my favourite).
The Reverend Horton Heat?
The Cheat
06-19-2007, 15:45
It's a little like prayer, Rev. You wait for God to answer it. Sometimes you wait a long time.
Sometimes the answer is "no."
The Weasel
06-19-2007, 16:08
That's very insightful. And poetic. I do understand the concept, and I know that times have changed, and these days many thruhikers are picking their own trailnames like it's a handle. I knew I didn't want to choose mine, so I thought this might be a variation on tradition. This way, the hiking community still bestows the name, and the name still "picks" me, if you will, only it happens before I leave, so I can let everyone know that are meeting me out there.
But your wisdom is well received. I think I have been too hasty.
Chad, it's not even "the hiking community" that bestows names on the trail. Names just happen. Sometimes from something that you hear, or you think of, and it can happen before the trail (mine did, when I called a trail friend's daughter and she recognized me as, "Oh, you're the weasel my Dad told me about.") or on it. But it happens, rather than is spoken, and if you have any comparative religion in your background, you'll see the Zen in it...as I've said before, that's why there's a Buddha in every backpack. And if you don't like that background, well, Saul his trail name when he throughhiked from Jerusalem to Damascus. Kind of blinded him, in fact.
Let it happen. It's not baptism, it's discovery.
The Weasel
The Weasel
06-19-2007, 16:09
Sometimes the answer is "no."
Very true. And sometimes you don't even know there's been an answer.
The Weasel
leeki pole
06-19-2007, 16:18
Very true. And sometimes you don't even know there's been an answer.
The Weasel
Respectfully, there's always an answer. Yes. No. Wait.:D Hey, how about Answer?
Crawbear
06-19-2007, 16:20
Let it happen. It's not baptism, it's discovery.
Well said.
The Weasel
06-19-2007, 16:20
Respectfully, there's always an answer. Yes. No. Wait.:D Hey, how about Answer?
Didn't say there isn't always an answer. Just said, sometimes you don't know it.
The Weasel
The Weasel
06-19-2007, 16:24
Wolf (and the current small survey) have a good point, too. Nothing wrong with self-selected names. It's what works for each person. Still, I think the beauty of letting it happen is something unique and very special. So if you need a trail name (not sure why anyone needs one, but OK, HYOH works fine on that too), make one up. But I bet, a few weeks into your thru, you'll know what your real name is, and it will be worth it.
The Weasel
"Johnny B" - the voice of one crying in the wilderness - "prepare ye the trail as the founder envisioned it."
It is true that your trail name picks you. However, the method, timing, and location of that pick is as varied as the names themselves. In 2005 I hiked most of The Long Trail with a guy named "Fish Outta Water." He was a seaman in the merchant marine and his crew named him before he went. Somebody one time just told him that a sailor hiking was crazy, like a fish out of water.
My trail name picked me on the same hike. Check out my trail journal if you care to see the story.
If ever I meet you "out there" you'll be "Johnny B" to me.
Crawbear
06-19-2007, 17:02
But it happens, rather than is spoken, and if you have any comparative religion in your background, you'll see the Zen in it...as I've said before, that's why there's a Buddha in every backpack.
It's funny. My impatience reminds me of the Buddhist story of Ananda. He was Buddha's first cousin and his closest companion. He knew all of Buddha's teachings by heart, meticulously compiling them and waiting on Buddha hand and foot. When Buddha died, the monks who had obtained enlightenment called the First Council, but Ananda wasn't invited because he had not yet achieved enlightenment. It seems that he kept himself so busy waiting on Buddha that he never had time to meditate.
As the First Council approached he badly wanted to achieve enlightenment so he meditated day and night, but it did not come.
Then he resolved to just wait until it came, even if it came after the First Council. Then, as soon as he laid down to catch up on some sleep, he obtained nirvana.
It will find me. I'll just wait.
Crawbear
06-19-2007, 17:08
"Johnny B" - the voice of one crying in the wilderness - "prepare ye the trail as the founder envisioned it."
ha....I like it.
tekiechick
06-19-2007, 17:25
Soul Trine
The Weasel
06-19-2007, 17:35
ha....I like it.
Yeah, but taken already.
Keep waitin'.
The Weasel
Your trail name should be Bearbait because these fellas (http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p200/woodsy2007/scan0005-1.jpg)can smell a Texas Longhorn from miles away. Good luck on your hike!
And of couse you know Chad that I am just a kidding about these fellas;)
The Bears in these parts are shy and leary of men and dogs due to the bear hunt every fall.:)
SPIRIT--- It takes in the Beer and god thing
I am suprised no one suggested Aggie. I mean, really, you are from Austin.
The Weasel
06-19-2007, 19:50
Kinda hard to give a name to someone you don't know, at least for me.
Best 'came to him on the trail' name I think I recall from '00 was Webmaster. First outta the shelter each morning. So he broke all the night's spider webs across the trail for the rest of us. Just came to someone. Stuck. Fit, too.
Not sure how Steve got his, but since he sort of hung around big time in the Smokies, hiking, driving, ridgerunning, more, it just kind of IS him. I think it just happened to him, too. Self-congratulatory names kind of seem a little rich for me, as in saying how fast you walk or things like that, but if that's what someone wants, I guess it's their name, not mine, so it's up to them.
The Weasel
Programbo
06-19-2007, 20:39
I say you go against this modern tradition and just call yourself Chad...But if you insist on a name try something unusual like a number..."438" sounds nice..If you decide to use a hammock "Hanging Chad" would be funny though
Trillium
06-19-2007, 20:46
I am suprised no one suggested Aggie. I mean, really, you are from Austin.
the Aggie's are from College Station. Teasippers are from Austin.
But if you insist on a name try something unusual like a number..."438" sounds nice..
You may want to avoid using "666." ;)
Keep in mind you don't have to have a trail name. Many don't. Some go by their first name..others just use a name they have had for years anyway.
My "trail name" also happens to be my nickname (My last name tends to trip up many people; easier to say Paul Mags or just Mags than Magnanti). For me (and I emhpasize "for me"), the outdoors is such a large part of my life that I don't feel the need fo a seperate nickname for both off-trail and on-trail.
Works for me...you may be different. And that's OK, too.
As Weasel said, rather than ponder a trail name, just go out and hike. See what happens.
you logged onto the site as "crawbear", why not go by "crawbear"
you logged onto the site as "crawbear", why not go by "crawbear"
I was also thinking along that idea myself. Is there some significance to Crawbear where you wouldn't want to use it as a trail name? You could always start out as Crawbear and if another name suites you more, no rule or law says you can't change it. You could advise people that you are now known at "X" and f/k/a Crawbear.
On the other hand, you could just wait and see what happens on the trail. For the time being you could be known as "Nameless" or "Wannaname."
SawnieRobertson
06-20-2007, 12:00
Since you want it Quick!, how about wiki-wiki?--Kinnickinic
the Aggie's are from College Station. Teasippers are from Austin.
Humor. Did some time in TX. Hanging Chad was supposed to rise to the bait...
Crawbear
06-20-2007, 12:32
Humor. Did some time in TX. Hanging Chad was supposed to rise to the bait...
I caught it. ;) The aggies of other names for Austinites, like freaks and treehuggers.
If you "did some time" in Texas you musta been in Huntsville! hehe
sarahjean211
06-20-2007, 13:03
You could be "emanon" which is no name spelled backwards.
Dances with Mice
06-20-2007, 13:22
I caught it. ;) The aggies of other names for Austinites, like freaks and treehuggers. You mean the ShortHorns?
You'll need two trailnames, of course. One for the trail, the other fit to tell your parents and future congregation.
Speaking of church, the ast time I was in Huntsville it was to worship (http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/07/28/sunday/main565492.shtml)at the Church of the Open Pit. (http://www.texasfoodtv.com/news/?id=3162)It's been a few years. I hope they're still open, the congregation wasn't too young back then.
I'm overdue to make a pilgrimage back to Mecca, I mean Lockhart (http://www.lockhart-tx.org/web98/visitors/bbqcapitaloftexas.asp). I need to cleanse my soul of stain after speaking to someone who boils meat.
Crawbear
07-18-2007, 15:58
I decided to wait and see what name, if any, I got after I started my hike. The guy I've been hiking with gave me the name Leftfoot because the same foot kept slipping and getting caught in bogs. It's now been shortened to Lefty. Thanks for all your ideas/comments!
I started hiking just over two weeks ago and now I'm hanging out at the Stratton Motel. I'm looking forward to Mahoosuc Notch and the Whites coming up soon. It's getting pretty challenging but I'm enjoying it all!
mweinstone
07-18-2007, 16:01
your name is officialy quicky. for being quick about your trailname.i matthewski proclaim it.
mweinstone
07-18-2007, 16:02
lefty sounds dumb. booooooooooorrrrrrrrrriinnggggg.
This might sound a little odd but I would like to be given a trail name before I leave (12 days from now starting in Maine)
"Twitch"
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Shutterbug
07-18-2007, 16:31
This might sound a little odd but I would like to be given a trail name before I leave (12 days from now starting in Maine). I don't want to think of one for myself. I know this goes against tradition, but I'm going to be sending out a bunch of info to my friends and family this week and I'd like to include it in case they need to find me.
Ok, here's some random stuff about me that might help. I identify, probably alongside many hikers, with MacKaye's original vision of a community of villages on the AT where people share everything in non-industrial workcamps. Studying MacKaye was my intro to the AT and what motivated me to get ready for a thruhike. I look forward to the sense of community that I will find on the trail, even if MacKaye's plan was not fulfilled. I know it will be an inspiration to continue developing my idealistic dreams further.
Also, I'm from Austin Texas and my name is Chad...I'm in North Carolina right now because I just finished seminary and got ordained as a minister. I'm hiking during a transition between school and full-time ministry.
Here goes...suggestions?? Both serious thoughts and unserious are totally acceptable!
I'm no where near prepared yet to start my hike on July 2! Yeeeehaw!
You can't use Circuit Rider. That one is taken. How about "Thumper"? .. short for "Bible Thumper."
Tennessee Viking
07-19-2007, 13:03
Padre. Father, Pastor, Tex, Father Tex, favorite verse, favorite Book of Bible, saint.
Go with your internet username if its unique.
My experience, hikers usually give themselves their first name until some others start noticing habits or encounter an eventful story.
For me my username kind of fits though its very unique. Buliwyf is a play off of Beowulf, from a Michael Crichton book (Eaters of the Dead/13th Warrior). The viking meaning translates into the charateristics of a bear.
While day hiking on Bays Mtn in NE Tenn, I encountered a mother bear and her two cubs. Though I was about a mile from my car, I decided to try another trail thinking it would send me around the bears. Nope I ended up taking an old jeep trail down the mountain and a long walk to the park entrance, and I only had an 20 minutes to get back to my car before close when I got to the bottom.
the Aggie's are from College Station. Teasippers are from Austin.
Hmmm....another instance where aggie intended insults make absolutely no sense :)
Moon Man
08-20-2007, 16:12
How about "NO CLUE" Seems to fit. Good luck to you. Moon Man:sun