all over
most any time
4
the “rules” of trail names
– You don’t pick your own trail name. Traditional hiking culture dictates that names are earned or bestowed upon you.
– You can say no: While the humorous name is meant to be in good fun, you are entirely allowed to reject a nickname if you don’t particularly take a shine to it.
– It’s a mirror: hikers often believe that trail names strip away everyday pretenses, revealing exactly who you are when you’re out in the wilderness.
5
trail names, from my travels
– Lightweight
– Earplug
– Hiker Box Annie
– Yogi Master
– Looksdown
– Thumper
– Old Man
– The Old Gray Goose
– Itchy
– Scratch My Itch – Itchy and Scratch My Itch were hiking partners
– Mighty Thor Freyda Strackeljahn
– Cassie the Wonderdog
– The Bird Man
– No Pepsi
– JASH (which stood for “Just A Section Hiker”)
– Southern Man
6
trail names I found with attached stories
– Soggy Bottom – earned by a hiker who accidentally ruptured his water bladder inside his backpack, soaking the back of his pants
– Yardsale – given to a hiker who tripped and scattered all the contents of her backpack across the trail
– Uzi – not a tough-guy like-the-gun Uzi but rather a hiker whose poison oak blisters began to ooze voluminously, you know, “Oozie”
– Triple Zero – given to a hiker who took three zero mile days in a row (no hiking)
– Princess – a hiker who meticulously packed personal care items: a makeup kit, perfume, eyeliner, two types of deodorant
– the Jet Boil Whisperer – the hiker in your group who always gets the camping stove roaring when no one else can get it to light
– Squirrel – the hiker who, whenever the group stops, would frantically dig through his bag to find some item or another, sometimes even a nut
– Little Debbie – guess what the main course was in her trail diet
– Turtle – a slow-and-steady, deliberate hiker
– Mouse King – how does this hiker always find the mice-infested shelter!
– Banana Split – the hiker who split her pants on day three revealing yellow shorts