View Full Version : Trail Names...
Last night I sat here with a friend at a remote mountain ranch just outside Yellowstone NP... snow was flying, but our satellite internet and TV was still working at our remote, 6,000' location. My friend has never BP'd the AT, and I have... mostly. Back in the 1970's I'd hiked over 1,000 miles of it before my 17th birthday.
Anyway, my friend was mystified by "Trail Names"... I told him "back in the day" I never met anyone with a trail name... he found the whole thing a bit bizarre.
I understand the desire to escape and create an alternate reality... and obviously "trail culture" and "trail names" are part of that.
Still, the names strike me as sort of contrived. Not a judgement of personal character, just a detached observation.
How did this phenomenon start? I'm genuinely curious... Never met anyone with a "trail name" in the 70's...
Meant to relate we were watching the NG special on the AT...
Ron Haven
01-13-2011, 01:57
Meant to relate we were watching the NG special on the AT...If you come back to hike the A T again I will give you a trail name to get started with :: Never Never :D
"Brad" would work fine for me :D
MedicineMan
01-13-2011, 02:08
tell me someone's real name and i'll never remember it.
Met a guy with trailname 'unknown' near Franklin 7-8 years ago doing a thru....fast forward 6 years and I'm doing a loop in Mt.Rogers nat.rec.area. I see this guy, and 'unknown' pops into my head. Trail names you can remember :) Unknown was a ridgerunner for the ATC when I last met him. And of course sometimes, rarely, they might give a clue as to what that hiker is all about.
My first introduction to trail names came at the beginning of my PCT hike. The trail angel in San Diego that picked me up at the airport had two other hikers in the car with him.
I said "I'm Matt pleased to meet you". Then "Shootout" introduced "Minnie" and we were off down the highway.
It was explained to me by my two AT veteran friends to be a tradition started on the AT.
The gist of it is you are giving up your home life, your job, leaving familiar things behind to hike this big unknown trail. So why not have a new name and one chosen by your new friends on the trail. Something related to you, something you do on trail, and idiosychrasy, whatever.
This was particularly strange to me at first.
That is when we got the the angels house and "Nobody" arrived. (Nobody is this hikers trailname) He takes one look at my pack and says Iceaxe!
I actually had my iceaxe already.. a mere 700 miles pre-mature for the Sierra snow but anyways..
The trail angel said it was the first time in a long time he had seen anyone bring an iceaxe to the desert.. Yea well he should have seen the security dudes at the airport when i inadvertantly dropped that thing off my pack!
So they started calling me Iceaxe and it stuck.
Besides if the had found out I sometimes eat Milkbone dogbiscuits before they named me.. well :eek: imagine the name i would have gotten then!
Anyhow the trail name thing is also a way easier method of remembering people you meet on trail.
You might meet ten people named Matt but not many named Iceaxe.
In fact Shootout and Double Barrel are also Matt's.
I mean it's easier to remember a guy named: Vagisil than his true name(Nathaniel?).
Actually it is hilarious when you finally discover peoples true names.
mweinstone
01-13-2011, 02:13
hiked the AT since there were only 150 thruhikes.gonna be fifty march 4th.id say the % of folks who hike long distance without a trailname is 1%.
trailnames didnt "get started".
they allways were.
fancy town names got started.
cant imagine why.
fiddlehead
01-13-2011, 06:16
When i hiked 1100 miles of the AT in '77, most thru-hikers had trail names.
We didn't and were the exception.
Maybe you hiked in the early 70's and they came about in the middle or something.???
fiddlehead
01-13-2011, 06:16
When i hiked 1100 miles of the AT in '77, most thru-hikers had trail names.
We didn't and were the exception.
Maybe you hiked in the early 70's and they came about in the middle or something.???
Trailnames are nothing more than nicknames used in a hiking context.
Growing up, a lot of people I know had (still have) nicknames...myself included. It also happens to be the name I use on the trail and what people call me in 'real life'.
Don't no stinkin' separate name for the trail and off-trail. :banana
If your fortunate u will have one that everyone can remember. Case in point---Chuck Wood's trail name is Woodchuck --lol--imagine that!! lol
Hiker named--Cope---told me while at Springer on 12-31-10--that he wants to get a dog to join him on the trail and its trail name is going to be --Hagan----thus Cope an Hagan!! lol
You just gotta love it!
Cookerhiker
01-13-2011, 10:38
My first introduction to trail names came at the beginning of my PCT hike. The trail angel in San Diego that picked me up at the airport had two other hikers in the car with him.
I said "I'm Matt pleased to meet you". Then "Shootout" introduced "Minnie" and we were off down the highway.
It was explained to me by my two AT veteran friends to be a tradition started on the AT.
The gist of it is you are giving up your home life, your job, leaving familiar things behind to hike this big unknown trail. So why not have a new name and one chosen by your new friends on the trail. Something related to you, something you do on trail, and idiosychrasy, whatever.
This was particularly strange to me at first.
That is when we got the the angels house and "Nobody" arrived. (Nobody is this hikers trailname) He takes one look at my pack and says Iceaxe!
I actually had my iceaxe already.. a mere 700 miles pre-mature for the Sierra snow but anyways..
The trail angel said it was the first time in a long time he had seen anyone bring an iceaxe to the desert.. Yea well he should have seen the security dudes at the airport when i inadvertantly dropped that thing off my pack!
So they started calling me Iceaxe and it stuck.
Besides if the had found out I sometimes eat Milkbone dogbiscuits before they named me.. well :eek: imagine the name i would have gotten then!
Anyhow the trail name thing is also a way easier method of remembering people you meet on trail.
You might meet ten people named Matt but not many named Iceaxe.
In fact Shootout and Double Barrel are also Matt's.
I mean it's easier to remember a guy named: Vagisil than his true name(Nathaniel?).
Actually it is hilarious when you finally discover peoples true names.
Good points. On a winter section hike a few years ago, I shared a shelter with a young weekend hiker who introduced himself as Stavros. Asked him how he got the "trail name" - that was his real name! I told him he had a built-in trail name.
CrumbSnatcher
01-13-2011, 10:58
If your fortunate u will have one that everyone can remember. Case in point---Chuck Wood's trail name is Woodchuck --lol--imagine that!! lol
Hiker named--Cope---told me while at Springer on 12-31-10--that he wants to get a dog to join him on the trail and its trail name is going to be --Hagan----thus Cope an Hagan!! lol
You just gotta love it!
2 other hikers i know with dogs that you made me think of
Herbie and I (herbie is the dog)
2X4 (this one is self explained):D
Still, the names strike me as sort of contrived.
Like screen names BradMT? Perhaps contrived to reflect you are from Montana? ;)
Earl Schaffer, first to complete a thru hike, was called "the crazy one" on his 1948 hike. Because everyone thought....well.
They can be contrived but they also come about organically. Me and a buddy met this dude in the smokies. We never even got his name which happens a lot in shelter conversations so whenever we'd tell the story about him we'd call him either River Rat or Blaze On. He was a river guide who loved the gaja.
When i hiked 1100 miles of the AT in '77, most thru-hikers had trail names.
We didn't and were the exception.
Maybe you hiked in the early 70's and they came about in the middle or something.???
Hmmm. I started doing longish (100+ mile) hikes on the AT starting in 1975.
I hiked 650 miles of the AT in 1977 starting at Springer Mountain... course I am younger than you and only had my HS summer break to do it... I don't remember any "trail names"... but as they say, "if you remember the 70's you probably weren't there!" :D
Seriously, I'll take your word for it... I just don't remember it. We used our own names.
77' was an amazingly hot year on the southern trail temp-wise. We started at Springer Mountain around the 10th of June... I remember 65lb packs on some sections due to water shortage. I get a kick at the tiny packs now... much better no doubt, but a lot act like a 40lb pack is some ordeal.
We had a great time...
Like screen names BradMT? Perhaps contrived to reflect you are from Montana? ;)
Nope, tried to register as "Brad" and that was taken...
StormBird
01-14-2011, 06:12
Trail names are not necessarily an AT thing or distance trail thing, it's a hiker thing. As long as i have been hiking, I've had different trail names given to me by my friends. Not because they felt like we all needed one, but b/c it was endearing. For example, my trail name amongst my hiker friends here in washington is "manhands." (no seinfeld references, thanks). But when i hit the AT, I was dubbed "Cerveza". I think it is less about escaping reality then finding camaraderie on trail. ;)
Trail names are not necessarily an AT thing or distance trail thing, it's a hiker thing. As long as i have been hiking, I've had different trail names given to me by my friends. Not because they felt like we all needed one, but b/c it was endearing. For example, my trail name amongst my hiker friends here in washington is "manhands." (no seinfeld references, thanks). But when i hit the AT, I was dubbed "Cerveza". I think it is less about escaping reality then finding camaraderie on trail. ;)
So question... do people introduce themselves with their trail names and, if so, are they addressed as such for as long as contact is made on the trail?
So question... do people introduce themselves with their trail names and, if so, are they addressed as such for as long as contact is made on the trail?
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
Well, if the idea is it's part of the camaraderie of the trail, how does not knowing a person's name, the one that their friends and family use, lend itself to any meaningful fellowship? I always thought good relationships were built on truth, not some fad of a few mo's on a trail in the mountains.
Still seems pretty contrived... but I'm still listening :D
Nope, tried to register as "Brad" and that was taken...
My point it that trail names are much like screen names. If it's contrived to have a trail name, it seems logical that a screen name is contrived unless you are using your real name. Likely your full name was available to use as a screen name, but you followed tradition to select your own screen name, projecting something of your choice. I'm Brad from Montana, in your case.
Personally, I think trail names are great, IF people want to use them. It's much like hike your own hike. Do what makes you happy, and don't let other people define you. I know people who didn't want to use a trail name. People called them Danny or Anne or whatever they liked.
Well, if the idea is it's part of the camaraderie of the trail, how does not knowing a person's name, the one that their friends and family use, lend itself to any meaningful fellowship? I always thought good relationships were built on truth, not some fad of a few mo's on a trail in the mountains.
Still seems pretty contrived... but I'm still listening :D
For the people you want to stay in touch with after a hike, you share your full name and address. I still have several friends I stay in touch with who primarily use just my trail name.
In fact, I'm heading to Southern Ruck in a few minutes at Nantahala Outdoor Center. Pretty much every one there knows me primarily as Bearpaw. Last year, my wife referred to me as "Shawn" at the Ruck. The entire room lit up with joking jabs of "Shaaaawn?!" I'm Bearpaw to the hiking crowd, period.
The idea doesn't hold a ton of appeal to me either, but...
I kind of assumed the idea was that it goes along with the idea to sort of escape from the "real world" for a while. You leave your "normal life" behind for a little bit, and that includes your name.
It might also have an origin with so-called "Indian names."
The idea doesn't hold a ton of appeal to me either, but...
I kind of assumed the idea was that it goes along with the idea to sort of escape from the "real world" for a while. You leave your "normal life" behind for a little bit, and that includes your name.
It might also have an origin with so-called "Indian names."
That's pretty much the way I see/have seen them.
As Colter points out however, it's a "hike your own hike" sort of thing... nothing in the world wrong with that for sure.
I just know I'm not calling anyone "Moonbeam" :D
My first hike on the AT and the guys I was with told me I NEEDED a trail name. Well, it happens that it was cloudy and quite foggy that day....and I was a bit on the gassy side...thus I was donned 'Foghorn'....go figure.
Jim Adams
01-15-2011, 15:34
I get mail addressed to geek...alot of people have no idea what my real name is.
Trail names come from all kinds of places. Some people make up their own but I think most
are given to them by fellow hikers.
For example last June on a section hike in GA., I hiked a few days with a guy I think his
real name was Matt.
One night at Low Gap shelter Matt stepped on his glasses when he got up in the middle of the night.
The next morning he told me what he did, so the rest of our time together I called him “Spec’s”.
I don’t know if he still uses that name but we had fun telling the story of how he got it.
My trail name is “Fred” take a look at my gallery here & you will see where that came from.:D
mweinstone
01-15-2011, 20:57
Well, if the idea is it's part of the camaraderie of the trail, how does not knowing a person's name, the one that their friends and family use, lend itself to any meaningful fellowship? I always thought good relationships were built on truth, not some fad of a few mo's on a trail in the mountains.
Still seems pretty contrived... but I'm still listening :D
wait, he just called us all a few mo's on a trail in the mountains. ***?
"William Clark’s contributions to the Expedition are those of a captain. The map he created as they traveled was, at the time, the most accurate map of the trans-Missouri West. His stable personality balanced Lewis’s moodiness. And when Lewis’s pen fell silent during many months of the journey, Clark’s words, straightforward and creatively spelled, became the record of the Expedition.
William Clark also left his mark along the Trail. On July 25, 1806, Clark scratched his signature into a sandstone formation along the Yellowstone River in Montana. Recording the event in his journal, Clark noted that “[t]his rock I ascended … had a most extensive view in every direction...I marked my name and the day of the month and year." He called the formation Pompey’s Tower, using a nickname Clark had bestowed on Sacajawea’s son Jean Baptiste, or Pomp."
Thats taken from the history of the Lewis and Clark expedition. Sacajaweah's son is about as an orignal Montanan as you can get.
Anyhow.. I know what a MoFo is but what's a Mo?
Cookerhiker
01-15-2011, 22:10
My daughter served in the Peace Corps in a small village in N_i_g_e_r When we visited her and spent 2 nights in the village, the natives gave me a name which phonetically sounded like "Zobro." Don't remember at all what it meant or why they gave it to me.
Trail names often incorporate hikers' first names (e.g. Baltimore Jack) but I can also think of several whose trail names incorporate their last names including some here on WB.
Got a wife and kids in Baltimore, jack
I went out for a ride and I never went back
topshelf
01-15-2011, 22:30
So do you all accept self given trail names?
Sarcasm the elf
01-15-2011, 22:31
So do you all accept self given trail names?
Only if the name is acceptable! :p
I come from the biker community and my name was bestowed on me there. I assume the hiker community enjoys the same anonymity. The common ground is what is importaint not who you are in your home life. You may be conversing with a doctor, lawyer, sanitation worker or cop. Nobody talks shop. It's understood that anyone is excepted as long as they don't judge others so the nicknames are convenient and fun. now please explain what a Mo is.
I'm thinking possibly "Modus operandi"?
mweinstone
01-16-2011, 08:06
i added the 'athsma boy" to ab barakkus's trailname. more of a modification.
i named xavier, "professor x"
i gave "ferrel human" her name
there was a hiker once, who was from the united states. the hiker had spent two summers teaching in england. the hiker was always asking wheres the luve and breaking into a brittish accent every few words. the hiker never knew it, but i had another name i used."fba". fake brittish accent.
some trailnames are so vulger and inapropriate to use in towns, the hikers have to have another trailname for towns. as in the case of names containing curse words or describing exsplisit acts.
i keep a few spare trailnames for folks shopping around to concider. one of my biggest new names im trying to give away is:" premptive shhh" its from the austin powers movies and must be pronounced with a noise not a word for the "shhh".i imagine "pre" would be the short. but "shhh" could be for the diehard.not that it matters but their allready is a hiker named pre.
whey you teach folks my name, you have to duck cause if they leave out the "hew" in matthewski, witch they allways do,...then they have a tendency to spit . my names not matuski!
English Stu
01-21-2011, 10:27
I still like one group of mature ladies I met out for a few days they called themselves Chicks with sticks.
You need a name you can stick with in life .Heard of one guy being called Itchy Balls ,a hostel owner advised you might want to get a new one as in 30 years time someone in a hotel lobby,meeting room might shout out "Hey Itchy Balls is that you ?"
AndyBees
01-21-2011, 10:52
Although I've known about the AT for many years as well as many other trails, travelled all over North America including 7 trips to Alaska via the Alaska Highway, up the Dempster Highway in the Yukon and North West Territories to Inuvik (250 miles north of the Arctic Circle), and hiked (walked) short distances on numerous trails at campsites, parks, etc., I'd never heard of Trail Names until stumbling into TrailJournals.com.
Well, I got introduced to the Trail Names only a couple of months ago when I began reading journals trailjournals.com.
As for me, the Jury is still out!
At first I thought it to be very silly (lack of a better term). Many "journalist" failed to Capitalize the "trail names" as they were writing their journals which made it difficult to follow the flow of their writings! The other amazing thing is how hikers/journalist make such an effort to try to remember all those trail names (and the real name that goes with them)! In reading the Journals, trail names seemed to be the focal point of most individuals' adventures. On the contrary, describing the trail, the flora, fauna, the weather, their experience, etc., is lacking......... lots of detail about the trail towns!...LOL And, I'm sure those breaks to a nice bed, shower, and good food was well worth boasting about!
Maybe I will acclimate to the Trail Name thing. But, right now, as far as I am concerned, if I do a Trail Name, I will bestow it upon myself!
Cookerhiker
01-21-2011, 16:20
....In reading the Journals, trail names seemed to be the focal point of most individuals' adventures. On the contrary, describing the trail, the flora, fauna, the weather, their experience, etc., is lacking......... lots of detail about the trail towns!...LOL ....
But for the existence of trail names, hikers would otherwise write about the trail, flora, fauna, weather, experience, etc in their trail journals? I don't think so.
One of the most influential (for me) early books on AT thruhiking, written when very few people did such, was Ed Garvey's Appalachian Hiker - Adventure of a Lifetime. Garvey remains one of my heros for all he did for the AT - not just hiking it, but his work on behalf of the Trail - and I picked up many valuable tips on backpacking.
But the day-to-day section of the book detailing his hike was disproportionately about the people he met. He made a point of getting everyone's name he could and mentioning them in his book. And of course in 1970, these were real names, not trail names. Other people I talked with about the book reacted similarly: why did he spend so much ink space telling us who he met?