Trail Name Question

imported
#41

I’m a two-time offender. Named myself twice. In 86 I was The Yankee Slackpacker. Slackpacking meant something a lot different than it does today. The following year I renamed myself Lone Wolf. Had it ever since.

Wolf

#42

Wife Sisu gave herself her trailname because she’s Finnish and “Sisu” means strength, guts and courage in Finnish. It’s also a national motto for that country. Raru is a childhood nickname I’ve had since I was 4. I was called “Booger” in high school and didn’t want to take a chance of getting a bad trailname. Plus, Raru and Sisu works well together.

raru

#43

See, now the person with the screen name of Bonehead is going to HAVE to be called Bonehead out on the trail. He (she?) is putting up way too much resistance to ignore.

Happy trails, bonehead!

nobody

#44

yeah, cap’n and i were talking about snotrocket and a woman at the register asked if that was a brand of gear or something. we told her it was a person and she just kind of smiled and backed away.

trail names are fun.

my brother gave me mine.

grizzly adam

#45

Sorry to belabor the topic, just givin my 2 cents as always. I named myself before I left. The name was important to me and i thought it was a good represntation of my personality. I thought it to be a big plus to be pre-named. People from the internet were familiar with me when i met them on the net, and everyone on the trail knew my name in a snap. It can be incredibly tough with the bunches of folks you meet the first couple days trying to ask chris err…john or steve? if he wants the rest of your noodles. Everyone has one after a week, and i thought IMO! that a lot of the names were kinda stupid, people were just takin anythinig because they didnt have one. Of course by the middle of your hike its not stupid anymore, its your identity.
Yogis right. We tried to name this kid Shovel at Low gap shelter. Ran around in tights wearing his shorts on his head. He refused to be underpants and eventually hiked big miles to get away from everyone calling him that. Eventually came to the name Shovel and that stuck to katahdin

A-Train

#46

Is it uncommon for hikers to use different trail names for separate hikes? I mean, I imagine most people would use one name for life, so to speak, but some might change trail names each hike for whatever reason.

Mike

#47

So, I guess it’s a bit up in the air. Some say the trail is the place to be named. Other’s name themselves before hand. I can see good in both scenario’s. Guess it’s up to the individual. I’m swaying toward waiting for mine. Like a few of you said, it’s great to have a story or situation associated with your trailname. My AT2001 trailname was “Ramen”. Really unimaginative but was named, by my buddy, due to the content of my foodbag (all ramen). I’ve gone right off it now.

I love the whole Trailname thing. It’s not something we do in England. That’s what makes it an appealing idea i suppose. The A.T is a cool place, in every way.

Ross :cheers

Ross

#48

In case anyone’s been curious I did not choose to be called “Mindless Mariachi.” (long story.)

watch out though, you may not be able to change trail names! '02 thru hiker Valley Girl (who was a guy, and did not pick his name) tried to change his name, but his hiking companions refused to allow it!!!

He later came to embrace it, however

mindlessmariachi

#49

Ha ha! We didn’t know til Harper’s Ferry, no maybe even Duncannon (that guy Sedentary Steve who had pics) that Valley Girl was a guy!! The way he signed his name was kinda girly with curly cues and a circle over the “i”. I remember shouting out “Valley Girl is a GUY” and we all laughed about that one. I heard a story about some guy in 2000 I think who was signing registers as a girl on purpose and talking about how lonely he was, every guy behind him was trying to catch him. Then he’d sign in himself and talk about “her”. I guess it was pretty funny. :girl

Bluebearee

#50

has anyone read “Mutant Message from Down Under” ?
I like how the aborigones changed names as they progressed through life, based on things they were good at. It seems like a good way on a walkabout.

Tha Wookie

#51

man, that book… talk about a pile of lies :slight_smile: better to stay away from that book than to put money in the hands of the woman that made it all up then peddled it as ‘truth’ when it was alll… non-truth…

Bloody Cactus

#52

Yes, I read it.
BC-I suppose you think the Holocaust was a hoax and Saddam’s capture is propaganda too?

Bluebearee

#53

um… her book is ALL lies. that is fact. i spose you beleive Carlos Castaneda’s books as factual truth??

as an australian and whos uncle is also aboriginal, i, and a lot of other australians can tell you its all crap that she has written. (google for it, you will find it).

check amazon ratings, every australian rates it 1 star. all americans rate it 5 stars. its all new age spiritualist bullshit tapping into an american vein. her take on australian culture is all wrong. her take on aboriginal culture is all wrong. this is proven fact.

apparently before she came to australia, we didnt have airconditioning or knew what flyscreens were on windows. uh. right on! save me now.

do some research into aboriginal culture, if your that interested. its not hard.

her book really is all lies, for her to profit on.

Bloody Cactus

#54

I believed Carlos Castenada’s books? If you ate as much peyote as those guys ate, you would to :lol

I’ve read all the Castenada books. Whether true or not, I love the sentiment. You can take alot from his books. George Lucas did anyhow. Where do you think the force comes from and all that stuff about “quieting your mind” and of course…the balls of luminous fibres.

Wasn’t the discussion about trailnames?

Ross

Ross