PDA

View Full Version : Trail Names - who decides?



grrickar
08-19-2004, 18:13
So, who decides what your trail name is - you or the people you are hiking with? Everyone here seems to have a trail name, and I'm sure there are some stories behind them. Since I don't have one yet, I may just use SHWAIN (section hiker without an interesting name). :-?

Lone Wolf
08-19-2004, 18:37
I picked my own. It's the nature of the Lone Wolf.

Brushy Sage
08-19-2004, 19:12
I picked my own. It means more than it says.

Streamweaver
08-19-2004, 19:16
Trail names thread (http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/showthread.php?t=3083&highlight=Trail+names) Heres a past thread on trail names -there are at least a few more -just type trail names into search. Like LW and Bs I picked my own. Streamweaver

Mags
08-19-2004, 19:39
The "trail name" is actually a family nick name that goes back to at least my grandfather. Having an unusual last name of Italian origin (Magnanti***) leaves many English speakers stumped. So my grandfather was Domenic "Dom Mags" Magnanti, dad is Steve Mags, my brothers are Steve and Joey Mags and many people in "real life" call me Paul Mags. All of us are often called just Mags for short.

On the AT, was nicknamed Magaroni...guess what? That was shortend to Mags as well by other people!

So, I proudly use a 80+ year old family nickname on trail and in "real life".

Kinda cool!

***(In Italian is is pronounced Mon-nyan-tee, like lasagna. "Americanized", we pronounce it Mag-nan-tee. Rhymes with bag-fan-tea).

Big Guy
08-19-2004, 21:23
My son gave me my name well before I began hiking. Used it eversince If you saw me you would understand why I'm Big Guy

Jeremy
08-19-2004, 23:30
My trail name is KindMan. It was given to me on my first section hike. I had just finished a section going south from Fox Creek to Kincora, when I met a thru-hiker named Red B. He had just finished his hike, his girlfriend picked him up at Katahdin, and they were travelling to all of his favorite hostels. We chatted and ate breakfast, we later decided to take a hike north to Laurel Falls, I was going to continue to Watauga Lake to check it out afterward. We hung out at the falls, took pictures, ate some snacks, and smoked a few bowls of some herbs.(If anyone is offended, I appologize) Just then, nature called and I had to go take care of some buisness. When I came back, they were gone. I waited for a minute or two, and they appeared a hundred feet away down the creek. They came up and sat down by me, and they asked if I had a trail name yet, I said no. They said my new name was KindMan, because of my manner, generosity, and the fact that I had smoked the last of my herb with them. We hung out a little more, then they hiked back to Kincora. When I got to the next shelter that night, I found tons of granola bars, cereal bars, candy, gorp, and other goodies that were neatly stacked in the middle of the shelter. There was no one else there, and no note or clue as to who left it there, but I am guessing that while I was taking care of buisness, Red B. and his girlfriend were hikin' it to that shelter to leave that for me. Talk about a good first experience on the trail, I am very grateful.:D

TakeABreak
08-19-2004, 23:38
Trail names were traditionally given to hikers by other hikers, outfitters along the trail or similar type of people. I was given mine by The Outfitter while visiting at Harpers Ferry just Prior to starting my hike. She said so you are taking a break from life huh, a couple of minutes later she was calling me Take A Break, by the time I left the store I had a new name. I think hikers should not give themselves names, Its against tradition and the spirit of the trail.

foodbag
08-20-2004, 07:27
I agree with TakeABreak. It's also a lot more fun when somebody else picks your name. I earned mine from using this enormous red stuff sack for a food bag at the beginning of the trail in Georgia. This thing was huge and heavy, in the days before silnylon. Somebody yelled out "Hey, look at that big red foodbag!" The next minute I was Big Red Foodbag, which eventually got shortened to Foodbag. :jump

Teatime
08-20-2004, 09:07
I haven't picked a trail name yet nor have I been given one, though my wife would probably most identify me with the south end of a horse:D . My son's friend calls me "Mr. Ed" . Say, wasn't there a famous horse with that handle?

SargeAT
08-20-2004, 10:32
Personally, I developed more of a rapport with my trail companions through being given a trail-name based on your disposition, famous or infamous adjustments to the trail. Don't take yourselves too seriously, having someone give you a trail-name puts yourself in perspective. But then again....you could wind up with a name like, "Butthead", or "Lightning Rod".

Furlough
08-20-2004, 10:47
Mine is a trail name in waiting. I am active duty military (19 years and counting), every time I want to go out for more than a weekend I have to put in for leave. The last time I submitted a leave form to go backpacking the Admin NCO said something to the effect of my getting a furlough from the nut house to recharge in the woods. Not too far off the mark. So, I dubbed myself Furlough until a trail experience renames me.

Furlough

sgtjinx
08-20-2004, 13:21
So, who decides what your trail name is - you or the people you are hiking with? Everyone here seems to have a trail name, and I'm sure there are some stories behind them. Since I don't have one yet, I may just use SHWAIN (section hiker without an interesting name). :-?
Grrickar what does that mean? Did you take that name from South Park? I like SHWAIN different but:cool: .

Sgt Jinx

Chip
08-20-2004, 14:39
I changed mine. "Stickman" is used by several others. My hiking stick is a long spiral staff. Thus "Twisted Walkingstick". ;)

Peep
08-20-2004, 15:16
My trail name I gave to myself after 2 section hikes without one.

Peep - spelled the same way forwards and backwards - NoBo or SoBo.
Tiny little marshmallow Peep at a campfire..yummmm... Moves along quite insignificantly on the awesome Long Trails.

Trail names are fun. Once you do the Trail you are into a whole new experience that keeps drawing you back - and that experience becomes a part of you forever - trail names are a way of labeling that part. (at least that's how I see it)

(SHWAIN - very interesting - I like it)

Hey Lone Wolf - I take it you're an Alpha Wolf since they are usually the to initiate a group howl. :jump :clap

Frosty
08-20-2004, 16:38
Go - not knowing where. Bring - not knowing what.
-Russian Proverb I don't think this worked very well for the Russians, though it pretty much describes their military plans of operations up to about 1993 :)

Kerosene
08-20-2004, 17:20
I've found that it's difficult for section hikers to obtain "given" trailnames. Unlike thru-hikers who become part of the trail culture and establish many new relationships, section hikers tend to be "here and gone" or not hiking with the throngs since they've selected a time of year that works for their vacation schedule (or in my case, they like to hike in the Fall). My trail name was given to me, but not by other hikers. So far, no one has decided that I merit a better one!

weary
08-20-2004, 18:54
The summer I retired I walked 280 miles of the trail in Maine with a nine-year-old grandson, who had difficulty reading, so he communcated mostly by talking.

He heard thru hikers talking about trail names and demanded of every thru hiker he met that they give him a trail name. One did. He suggested, "The Weary Wanderer."

Since my grandson had even more difficulty writing, I had to make the register entries. The two of us became the Weary Wanderers.

When I decided to walk home from Georgia I just naturally became the Weary Wanderer, which wiser folks than me, quickly shortened to Weary.

Weary

steve hiker
08-20-2004, 22:01
I think hikers should not give themselves names, Its against tradition and the spirit of the trail.
I think the same way, but the internet has destroyed that tradition forever. Today, hikers logging onto Whiteblaze and other hiking sites have to chose a name, and they chose their trail name that they stick to forever. Trail names, in the true sense, are one of the casualties of the internet age.

grrickar
08-21-2004, 12:05
Grrickar what does that mean? Did you take that name from South Park? I like SHWAIN different but:cool: .

Sgt Jinx
Its my network login at work. Not too interesting, eh? My initials are GRR, and some people at work thought I was irritated at them because would sign things with 'GRR'. One lady said she thought I was growling at her. Several weeks went by before someone got the nerve to approach me and ask. Funny thing is, I'm a mild manner guy....

The Scribe
08-21-2004, 12:12
Way back on my first email account, like in '96 or something, I ended up with pcm25. I have just continued to use it for any login I have control over ever since. About the only place it doesn't work is at my work. When I signed up here, it was an automatic for me to use it. But the more I hike, the more I hope I get a real trail name.

pcm25

Footslogger
08-21-2004, 13:08
I guess I go more with the "name yourself" approach than the other alternatives. When my wife hiked the AT in 2001 I started out with her and didn't have a trail name. By the second day it seemed as if everything I ate turned into methane gas that made for rather loud exhaust. As a result, I was dubbed "Toot" by the other hikers.

When it came time for my own thru in 2003 I wanted something that meant something more to me and was not about some behavioral characterstic or bodily noise. I also was interested in a trail name that I could retain from that point forward, regardless of when I hiked or what trail I was hiking at the time. I did some research regarding the history of hiking and marching and located the word "Footslogger". I liked the sound of it and the historical meaning and decided to take it as my trail name. I truly didn't care what others might think or say about it ...because it was MY trailname.

I suppose in the end if it doesn't really matter much to you how you get your trail name or it's significance, as long as you're willing to accept what ever you get. But I'm glad I chose my own.


'Slogger
AT 2003

Tractor
08-21-2004, 16:41
hmmmm. I can understand why thru hiker trail names have a higher "stick" value than those for us section hikers. We come back year after year, with (perhaps) different gear, different attitudes, older, etc.... and walk for a week or three. I have been pegged as: juan1, gordon, blind faith for instance but my daughter pegged me as tractor last year when we were heading north from Fontana. It shall remain so, for as long as it takes me to make the remaining 1600 miles north. it's all relative;)

MedicineMan
08-26-2004, 01:18
She did Unicoi to Dicks Creek Gap with me and give me the name, I didnt mind, could have been far worse, it reminds me of work though in one sense but of some old indian brewing herbs over a kettle in another. It will do.

neo
08-26-2004, 02:30
my old trail name was given me years ago by a fellow hiker,because i had that military look he called me RECON.i ditched that name this year in favor of NEO
i am bullet proof and unstoppable,really no kidding:banana :jump :clap :bse

MedicineMan
08-26-2004, 02:59
when i met you warren aka 'skipper' called you Rekon and that was the first one that took with me, though I can see no reason why you cant have two trail names?

sgtjinx
08-26-2004, 11:55
I picked my own name. I ride a Harley and I used to ride with the US Military Vets chapter 7 about five years ago. So I started to use my road name Jinx, I had some bad luck for awhile. Also I was a NCO in the Army and Sgt Jinx was born.

Sgt Jinx
Disabled Vet and proud of it!

eyahiker
08-26-2004, 20:47
I picked my own name. I ride a Harley and I used to ride with the US Military Vets chapter 7 about five years ago. So I started to use my road name Jinx, I had some bad luck for awhile. Also I was a NCO in the Army and Sgt Jinx was born.

Sgt Jinx
Disabled Vet and proud of it!I'm proud of you too. Thanks for being there for the USA.;)

grrickar
09-17-2004, 00:01
My section hike with Reefer is coming up in less than two weeks, and I can't very well go on the trail with a name like 'grrickar', so I think I have settled for RedBeard. I had really dark red hair when I was younger, but now it is turning gray fast. My goatee is still very much red though, so if that name it not too cliche I think it at least fits. I had also considered RedDawg since my wife tells me I'm getting hairier each day. I kinda like RedBeard. I should get an eyepatch and wear it while hiking. I'll be hiking SOBO from Hot Springs, NC to Fontana Dam, possibly further starting on Oct 5th. Hope to see some of you out there! I will be easily recognizable - look for a big red haired/bearded guy with buckled knees and his tongue hanging out - that'll be me :)

Texas Dreamer
09-17-2004, 17:28
I consider mine purely a computer "handle". After all, when I finally get there, I won't just be dreaming anymore.

Nightwalker
09-17-2004, 20:18
I never intended on having a trail name.

However, after a few days of sleeping late, leaving late, and hiking late, folks started calling me "Night Walker."

I think that's a pretty cool nick, but I still just use "Frank" most of the time.

I think trail names are partially because folks can't easily remember your real one, but one given due to habits and happenings on the trail "sticks" better, as it's easier to remember.
:cool:

bunbun
09-17-2004, 22:39
Contrary to some of the opinions here, traditionally one picked their own Trail Name. If you go back to the first thruhiker, he called himself "The Lone Expedition" for his first thruhike. Earl Shaffer later became "the Crazy One" - also by his own choosing. Takoma Tedd sings about him now -

Some of us came to the Trail with Trail Names from other venues - some were CB handles, some were radio call signs from Vietnam, some were biker names, some from other places. But they were self-chosen.

If you allow others to choose your Trail Name, then you're allowing others to control your life and your mind. And for some of us, thruhiking is about being free of that kind of control.

YMMV

LIhikers
09-20-2004, 15:33
My wife and I are day and section hikers of the AT as well as other trails. A good friend of ours who we've hiked with quite a bit gave us our trail names. I'm Fallsdownalot, and I bet you can figure out why. My wife got named Hacky Sack. Our friend wanted to call her Sacagawea, after the guide of the Lewis and Clark expedition, because my wife is so good at navigating on and off the trails. Of course none of us knew how to spell Sacagawea and so the name kind of mutated to it's present form of Hacky Sack.

Gonzo!
09-21-2004, 11:23
The Appalachian Trail Museum society has a section on it's website that invites hikers to explain their trailname and become part of the historical record of the Appalachian Trail. http://www.atmuseum.org/trailnames.htm
Other pages are waiting for your stories as well.

Lilred
09-21-2004, 19:13
The Appalachian Trail Museum society has a section on it's website that invites hikers to explain their trailname and become part of the historical record of the Appalachian Trail. http://www.atmuseum.org/trailnames.htm
Other pages are waiting for your stories as well.

Are you the Gonzo that wrote a trail journal back in '83?

Gonzo!
09-22-2004, 08:12
Yes, I am the one that your corresponded with last year as I was putting up my journal. After going to the gathering last October, I met some of the folks who were involved with forming the Appalachian Trail Museum and volunteered to redo the website they had at the time. I know there is no museum at this time, but it is a good cause, and everyone is working hard to make it a reality. Pass the word, and soon it will be. See you at the gathering this fall. Gonzo!

Captain
04-24-2008, 06:35
personally i chose "captain" for myself however being named on the trail is an honor and will change it if anyone does name me..in the mean time have to have something to go by

Chef2000
04-24-2008, 08:41
I arrived on the trail using my own name, The first month or so I was around the same group of hikers. We started giving each other our names, in that we all agreed, a trail name should be given on the trail, by other hikers. Even those that wanted to pick their own name, had to have it "approved" by the rest of us. I remeber one kid wanted badly to be ######## but we all insisted he be @@@@@@@ and that who he was.

Oh and then there are all those secret trailmanes that are given to other hikers and never spoken to them directly, only used amongst your close group. IE, Joneshiker, might become in secret SnorerJones.

Lellers
04-24-2008, 08:50
The boy scouts I hike with are fascinated by trail names. One kid was dubbed Dumb Butt with the greatest of affection. And he walks right up to people, puts his hand out and says, "Hi, I'm Dumb Butt". We also have an "Iron Hide", "Wrong Way on a Bike", "Father Time" (for one of the "old" adults). But, they tend to change names a lot. They tried to pin me with "Strawberry Shortcake" but I was having none of that. When I'm on the trail with them, my name is "Mrs. Shields".

taildragger
04-24-2008, 08:55
So, who decides what your trail name is - you or the people you are hiking with? Everyone here seems to have a trail name, and I'm sure there are some stories behind them. Since I don't have one yet, I may just use SHWAIN (section hiker without an interesting name). :-?

Got mine at 16 four wheeling in a jeep, everyone called me by it since taildragger is a nickname for scramblers, so I adopted it to the other trails.

Before that it was schlockinz (name that I race under), or Uncle Remus.

If a trail name picks you, it might be due to something really stupid that you do...

Captain
04-24-2008, 08:57
like "runswithguns" sorry cross over from another thread

Bare Bear
04-24-2008, 10:13
Some Trail Names just fit..........ask Stinky Pants

skeeterbait
04-24-2008, 18:23
I picked the Long Trail for my AT "dress rehearsal" hike. Awesome hike! Unfortunately I picked early July for the start of my hike, and in northern VT that's bug season... so the name was self assigned, and of course shortened to "Skeeter"...

As for having a trail name thrust upon you... I need only mention "Brain Dead" as among the worst.
And if you're picking your own, I would suggest avoiding "Big Foot", (or almost anything with 'Big" in it, Big John, etc), anything with "Just" or "Juz" (ie "Just John". Just because there are so many Big Foots out there if you expect to be remembered it won't happen. I've heard of three Big Foots in the same year...

Erin
04-24-2008, 23:20
Our little section hike group fiddled with names but knew they were not real. But two of our people got real names because of what they did on the hike. One was 'Lick" because she licked her bowl after eating and told us "Lick before it sticks." The other was "Dr. Gumby." Skinny, knockneed and flexible, she could trip, fall, bend over anything and just jump up, or stetch out of it and keep on going. Both names fit these people .So I will wait and earn mine. I just hope is is not too embarrassing.

minnesotasmith
04-25-2008, 01:47
When I thruhiked in 2006, there were two guys with the trail name of Squirrel. They met at Kincora. They briefly planned to arm wrestle to see who would have to give up their current trail name, accepting one given by the winner.

The higher-class of the two hikers decided not to go through with this plan. When I talked with him, he told me he had two reasons:

1) The other guy had larger arms, and was favored to win.

2) The other guy was a bit on the sadistic side, and the HC hiker didn't want to hike the remaining 4/5 of the AT with a trail name along the lines of "Short Diseased Weenie" or the like. ;) Can't really blame him IMO... :D

Old Hillwalker
04-25-2008, 17:23
During one of my first 9 trips to hike the Western Highlands in Scotland I lodged at a Victorian Hunting Lodge (Google Mamore Lodge). Since the lodge was at the terminus of several trails and up on a mountainside, I often would drag in at the end of a long hike, hot, dusty and tired. I began noticing that when someone would spot me coming down the trail they would yell "here comes the Hillwalker" draw him his pint. Five minutes later I would plop down on the garden "view" bench to take off my boots to look out over the valley and Loch Leven, and there would be a cold Tennant's Lager at my elbow. Seems that Hillwalkers are what hikers are called in Scotland. I liked the sound and liberated the moniker.

The Devil's Ridge is one of the local hikes. A meter wide in places and over a thousand feet down. A hoot traverse in wind and blowing fog:p

http://www.munromagic.com/MountainInfo.cfm/51

undergrace
04-25-2008, 20:45
For your many years of service and sacrifice - thank you!!!
May you enjoy the trail in times to come.

Bulldawg
04-25-2008, 21:28
I sort of kinda picked my own. As someone said, section and weekend hikers are rarely with a group long enough to be "named" by the group. PreacherMansWife over on Hammock forums made me some gear and I ordered it all in Red and Black. She asked "Why Red and Black?" When I told her I bleed red and black, I had to explain. I am a season ticket holder down at the good old University of Georgia and have been a Bulldawg from and early age. She immediately told me with all my red and black gear that my trail name should be Bulldawg. I thought on it for a month or so, and then decided "Yep, Bulldawg it shall be"

Montego
04-25-2008, 21:30
For your many years of service and sacrifice - thank you!!!
May you enjoy the trail in times to come.

Welcome to WhiteBlaze undergrace :welcome

paradoxb3
04-25-2008, 22:18
Got mine at 16 four wheeling in a jeep, everyone called me by it since taildragger is a nickname for scramblers, so I adopted it to the other trails.

i always assumed you were a pilot :D

i'm just a sectioner myself, and have never been given a trail name. A coworker started calling me Captain Caveman a while back (because i got into caving for a while) so i go by that. Of course, as the trail rarely accepts multi-word names, i've been shortened to Caveman. I believe there is another Caveman hiking this year as well.

Pokey2006
04-26-2008, 04:32
When you pick your own trail name, I think you miss part of the point of HAVING a trail name, which is to have a name that other hikers remember you by. When you're talking to a group about Bill and Bob, they don't know who you're talking about. It could be anyone. But when you say "Dogwood," everyone goes, "oh, ya, that's the guy who's always talking about plants! I know who he is!" Or, they go, "Oh, ya, McEnroe, he's the guy that looks like that tennis player!" Having a "nickname" helps hikers identify each other, because it's more of a description than a name.

Some people are able to come up with good, self-descriptive names. But, for the most part, I don't think we see ourselves quite the same way that others see us. I think the names others give us better describe the way we are seen, and remembered, by other hikers.

Kirby
04-26-2008, 08:04
Crazy legs is a popular one as well, I have met one crazy legs and one big foot this year thus far.

I have been responsible for the trail names "Por boy" and "Tarzan", who later became "meltdown".

Kirby

Philippe
04-26-2008, 09:30
Got mine at 16 four wheeling in a jeep, everyone called me by it since taildragger is a nickname for scramblers, so I adopted it to the other trails.

Before that it was schlockinz (name that I race under), or Uncle Remus.

If a trail name picks you, it might be due to something really stupid that you do...

To me a "tail-dragger" is an aircraft adjective that means you don't have a tricycle landing gear. Just shows that meaning varies with one's background. :-?

The good news with trailnames is: you may be given one, but they can't make you answer to it, if you don't like it!

Bear Cables
04-27-2008, 19:58
I haven't been given a trail name yet so I just call myself noname. Last summer a thru hiker gave my two son's their trail name. My older son was names FireBreather because he could start a campfire with just one puff after artful construction. My younger son was christened Ranger for his friendly demeanor. My son's gave my friend her name after she had issues that day with leaking water bladders and a couple of falls....Waterfall! Maybe this summer my name will find me.