Overused trail names

[jdc5294]

Anything to do with Lord of the Rings
Turtle
(Pack) Mule
(Jack) Rabbit
Snail
Sloth
Bigfoot
Sasquatch
Sherpa
Maverick
Charlie
Iceman
Goose
Ulysses


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[Kerosene]

Anything from The Lord of the Rings
Strider
Cosmo
Gonzo
Birdman
Just "fill in a given name"

[max patch]

Bear
Wolf
..

[Firefighter503]

Chainsaw (or other variation of snorer's name). Sorry Don (Chainsaw, 2011).

[max patch]

Goat

And while we're at it, every Grateful Dead lyric has already been written in the shelter registers.

[Sarcasm the elf]

Goat

And while we're at it, every Grateful Dead lyric has already been written in the shelter registers.

Same goes for Robert Frost, Henry David Thoreau and anything written about Christopher McCandless

[david_1]

is it just me who does not understand the need for a trail name ?

[Sarcasm the elf]

Half Pint
Bookworm
Moonbeam
Doc (Though the Docs I've met on the trail were all retired Physicians, so I think they deserve dispensation)
Any Team or Mascot name.
Any though sounding animal
Anything that sounds tough or macho (Dragon, Bear, Mountain Man Etc.)

To paraphrase a thru hiker I spoke to a few years ago: If you meet a guy named something like Mountain Wildman, you know he gave himself the name. If you meet a man named *****break, you know that he earned it on the trail.

[Sarcasm the elf]

is it just me who does not understand the need for a trail name ?

It's just a nickname plain and simple. The same as you would probably get on a highschool sports team or in the military.

I like trail names because they're much easier to remember, I've met thousands of people named David or Kristen or John or Tom, etc over the years, I've only met one Bullet, one Country Gold and one PB&A.

[SCRUB HIKER]

Maybe it's just coincidence, but I met two Pebbles(es) on the AT and two Siestas on the PCT. Both Pebbleses independently told me, "Well, I'm just going to have to kill the other Pebbles." One Siesta started writing in the journals calling herself Siesta La Mona (Siesta the Cute) and the other one Siesta La Fea (Siesta the Ugly). Siesta La Fea didn't really take to that and was heard insinuating that the other Siesta was a b****. They were actually both really nice people. Fun times!

I met one Lieutenant Dan on both trails, although the AT one was perfect (he looked EXACTLY like Gary Sinise) but the PCT one didn't make sense.

Any conceivable thing with Bear _______ or Coyote has been used. Also any major character from Lord of the Rings. Also,

- Jug or Jugs (Wow! Look at that guy! He drinks out of a milk jug! Amazing!)
- Banjo (Wow! He's carrying an instrument!)
- Sherpa (He walks! And carries stuff!)
- Anything about how big your pack was at the start (primarily an AT thing)

But even if all these are relatively unoriginal by trail-name standards, they're still a lot more interesting than Bill or Bob or Paul or John. Can't complain too much.

[gsingjane]

He was a nice guy but I was still a little hinky around Gunrunner.

[Sarcasm the elf]

He was a nice guy but I was still a little hinky around Gunrunner.

This could be coincidence, but the only Gunrunner that I heard about earned his name when some other idiot hiker misplaced a pistol on the trail and the soon-to-be-named Gunrunner found the gun, picked it up and returned it to it's rightful owner.

[johnnyjohnson2043]

Mountain Goat. I was given that nickname years ago but I feel that it's too common to keep as a trail name anymore.

[apd07c]

To paraphrase a thru hiker I spoke to a few years ago: If you meet a guy named something like Mountain Wildman, you know he gave himself the name. If you meet a man named *****break, you know that he earned it on the trail.

Are you implying one choice is better than the other? I don't understand the perceived negativity about choosing your own trail name. Most people don't get to choose their birth name. Why not use this opportunity to pick something you actually want to be called? Because some other people think that you shouldn't? Forget that. Do what makes you happy out there. I've never heard someone say that a trail name is illegitimate because an 18 year old section hiker, you just met, gave it to you. But I have heard several times, "you gave yourself that name? That doesn't count." It seems one faction prefers you do it the way they did. And the other doesn't give 2 mountain house dumps about how you got your name. Just be happy in your own decision.

[DocMahns]

...and one PB&A...

Peanut Butter and.....?

[capehiker]

To paraphrase a thru hiker I spoke to a few years ago: If you meet a guy named something like Mountain Wildman, you know he gave himself the name. If you meet a man named *****break, you know that he earned it on the trail.

Very true. Years ago I met one hiker who went by Farts Like A Dog and he hated it so he changed it to Dogfart. He felt it had a better ring to it.

[Sarcasm the elf]

Peanut Butter and.....?

Peanut Butter and Anything. She was the hiker that taught me to just carry a full jar of peanut butter on the trail, after a while it seems to go well with almost any meal or snack.

[4eyedbuzzard]

is it just me who does not understand the need for a trail name ?

There's a couple of good reasons/explanations already posted. Add to them, the idea of the AT/other trails being a different world, hence a different name than the in "the real world". There is also the issue of anonymity, especially for thru-hikers. If you sign a trail or shelter register with your real name, anyone stopping by can read it and see that you are out hiking and track you (for good or bad). From there all sorts of things can happen more easily: auto theft, emptying your home of all your belongings, identity theft, etc. In my experience, trail names are used more on registers than in face to face conversation. Most other hikers you meet tell you both their trail name and real name if you hang out and talk.

[DocMahns]

Peanut Butter and Anything. She was the hiker that taught me to just carry a full jar of peanut butter on the trail, after a while it seems to go well with almost any meal or snack.

lol, I already do that

[takethisbread]

so many lone wolf's out there , Bigfoot and striders too.


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