View Full Version : Trail Names?
Unclegorb
05-08-2009, 15:56
Hey everyone, just a quick question...
My hiking partner and I will be leaving next wednesday for our thru-hike and one thing we've been joking around about is possible trail names.
Is it "customary" to choose a trail name BEFORE you leave for the trail or wait till you get on the trail to receive one? or is it even a big deal?
- Mike
HikerRanky
05-08-2009, 17:15
Hey everyone, just a quick question...
My hiking partner and I will be leaving next wednesday for our thru-hike and one thing we've been joking around about is possible trail names.
Is it "customary" to choose a trail name BEFORE you leave for the trail or wait till you get on the trail to receive one? or is it even a big deal?
- Mike
Most trail names are given to you by someone else.... Mine came from a friend that misspelled my name, and the significant other liked it a bunch and so did I...
Randy
TJ aka Teej
05-08-2009, 17:36
Wait to you get on the trail, and then give each other a trail name. And hope you're still friends when it happens!
Blissful
05-08-2009, 19:11
It doesn't matter how or where you get them. Some people name themselves, some name other people. There is no set rule at all.
sheepdog
05-08-2009, 20:16
Send in an application along with a picture to the Association of Trail Names in the great state of Georgia. For a small non refundable fee they will issue you a trail name. The name is good for one year or 2300 miles, which ever comes first.
warraghiyagey
05-08-2009, 21:15
It doesn't matter how or where you get them. Some people name themselves, some name other people. There is no set rule at all.
Pretty much Blissful has stated all there is to know about trail names here. . . :):)
Most trail names are given to you by someone else.... Mine came from a friend that misspelled my name, and the significant other liked it a bunch and so did I...
Randy
The "D" and "K" are both typed with the middle finger. Is your friend dyslexic? :-?
HikerRanky
05-09-2009, 01:54
The "D" and "K" are both typed with the middle finger. Is your friend dyslexic? :-?
I don't think he is...... Of course, I could be wronh :D
You can tell a lot about a person by their trail name.
You can tell a lot about a person by their trail name.
not always, but you can tell alot from the story about how they got it....
trail name isn't what you're called its what you respond too, so if someone tries to give you one you don't want, then don't respond to it
Pacific Tortuga
05-09-2009, 17:29
not always, but you can tell alot from the story about how they got it....
trail name isn't what you're called its what you respond too, so if someone tries to give you one you don't want, then don't respond to it
Just ask Privywinks :rolleyes:
Just ask Privywinks :rolleyes:
or Mudbutt
Always better to start out with your own choice of a trail name and save yourself the danger of being hung with one that is less than complimentary!
Met a sweet girl on the Trail a few years ago who went by the trail name "Timber" and I thought how original, until I found out that she was given the name because of the number of falls she had suffered! Go figure!
aufgahoban
05-10-2009, 08:54
I love to hear stories about how people got their trail names. Most are so fitting too! Cabot got his name because he was carrying 2 or 3 lbs of Cabot cheese on him. Lightning left the hotel room to go to the store and was back in a flash.. Thus, Lightning. Downhill was running down a mountain trying to catch a trail angel for a ride.. Sawtooth carries 2 sticks, one that is a blow gun and one that is a make shift bayonet type thing. Trust me, Sawtooth fits! We don't need to discuss why Stink is Stink I don't guess. :-) (Actually, I think he smelt good or something.) Armageddon named Blondie. He said "Hi, I'm Armageddon, do you have a trail name yet Blondie?"
Any other cool 'how you got your name' stories anyone wants to share??
NCYankee
05-18-2009, 08:04
Odds are that even if you pick your own trail name you'll end up with numerous other trail names that others bestow upon you.
On our recent section hike of GA I was called "Wrong Turn" (for getting lost coming down Blood Mountain), "Gimpy" (for blister problems), "Yankee" (I wear a Yankee hat all the time), and "Big Guy" (I'm not tiny).
The people we met all got names, because most of the people you don't know their real name. A thru-hiker with a Texas tattoo became East Texas, a guy who did Yoga as he got ready to resume hiking we called "Yoga", and some kids who ran down mountains and planned to get to ME eating nothing but the calories from Moon Pies became known as the "Moon Pie Twins".
You can pick your own trail name but just like in the real world, different people will call you different things :)
Enjoy your time out there, whatever you call yourself or others call you.
For a current example about a hiker fighting a trail name, go to "Wags" trail journal (Trail Journals : Backpacking and Hiking Journals (http://trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?trailname=7553) ) and read about a month in to see how she fought her given trail name and finally succumbed to the force.
It's a riot!
Sleepy the Arab
05-24-2009, 20:02
I wish I had a trail name.
What, Sleepy the Arab? That's my real name. What kind of weird parents give "the" as a middle name, I ask you?
Lone Wolf
05-24-2009, 20:16
Is it "customary" to choose a trail name BEFORE you leave for the trail or wait till you get on the trail to receive one? or is it even a big deal?
- Mike
i chose my own and it definately ain't no big deal
johnnybgood
05-25-2009, 17:42
i chose my own and it definately ain't no big deal
Exactly. Self appointed names are sometimes personal and have special significance.
Although...
Met a young gal a few weeks ago hiking SNP on her way to Maine and I was curious about her trail name of " Stunned Mullet ".
With large eyes and a small mouth and a blank expression on her face when deep in thought her best friend thought she resembled a stunned Mullet.
I do believe that's the best story I've heard yet.
not always, but you can tell alot from the story about how they got it....
trail name isn't what you're called its what you respond too, so if someone tries to give you one you don't want, then don't respond to it
...and in that light- Everyone- chooses their own trail name.
"Most" don't get it. A big deal it's not.;)
Rockhound
05-25-2009, 21:53
A few hikers were invited to A steak and potato dinner earlier this year by a "trail angel" who was a bit drunk and not all there to begin with. During the meal she took one of them in back and propositioned him to put it delicately. Shorty after he declined the offer she became quite upset and kicked them out in the middle of their meal. On the long walk back to the shelter one of them realized he had left one of his gloves back at her house but was not inclined to go back and retrieve it. In that moment he earned his trail name. He will now and forever more be known as O.J. for leaving a glove at the scene.