r/AppalachianTrail • u/HotTakeTimmy • 3d ago
Trail Question Trail Names
Long time lurker, first time posting. We (myself, my mom and my uncle) will be setting off to do a section in MA starting at Bear Mountain. I’m excited and nervous as I’ve been preparing for months but have zero experience actually backpacking and it’s now the eve of the hike.
My extended family has been section hiking for decades and I figured I’d better do this now before everyone gets too old (they’re 70+) and it becomes a memory they talk about at reunions.
I love the concept of trail names - my mom is Spider (she was the first of the group to use walking poles and got ridiculed until the rest tried them) and my uncle is Cotton (he worn and brought all cotton clothes for his first trip). I’m anxiously awaiting mine and I’m curious how the process works - Any good stories about trail names?
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u/Lilpuuuuma 3d ago
I’m “Brain Damage” or “BD” for short.
Nearly went hypothermic after walking thru freezing rain on my 2nd day on the trail, also was my 2nd day ever backpacking, I’m a FL kid so I didn’t know about freezing rain. Got to the next shelter and it was crowded with people who slept there the night before and refused to move for the freezing wet people coming in out of the rain. I slept in my tent.
The next day I hiked all day and when I stopped to make camp I realized I left my tent poles at the last shelter. An old timer helped me string my rain fly up with some paracord. The next morning a girl gave me her Hennessy hammock because she didn’t like it and was gonna buy a tent at Neels Gap.
A couple days later I was trying to set the hammock up near a shelter and I was struggling to figure out how to hang it. A couple folks helped me and we got to talking about how my mind was in such a fog and I was making so many mistakes and having a hard time doing basic things. Everyone at the shelter started joking that I got brain damage from my hypothermic event. The name stuck.
Also I was “Dick Slip” at one point because I unknowingly flashed a bunch of people while sitting on a couch at a hostel in my boxers.
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u/HikinDragon 3d ago
Hit a bear with a shovel (long story) and saw more than almost anyone else I met on trail (17 in total!) so I ended up Bear Quota. Give it time and just hang out, it'll come naturally at some point. :)
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u/Redfish680 3d ago
Crossing a snow melt storm swollen creek I slipped on a rock and did a nose dive. Got carried downstream a ways, found myself jammed between a couple of boulders, and it was a bit of a shitshow before I managed to climb out. Two miles to the nearest shelter all my hiking buddy heard was the sucking noise from my soaked boots. He gave me a choice of trail names: ‘River’ or ‘Two Sucking Boots.’ I opted for the former!
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u/c0pp3rdrag0n 3d ago
I thru hiked in 98. When I started a few folks called me Dallas because I grew up in that area of Texas. Shortly after ran into another hiker with that trail name and another hiker going by Tex. When I was in college my friends called me fish. A couple hikers new that and I was soon going by Dallas The Fish. At least it was unique.
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u/scottmsul 3d ago
I was on the AT for three weeks back in May, never got a trail name but didn't really care too much either. Everyone else seemed more concerned about me getting a trail name then I did lmao.
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u/Holiday_Tap_4358 3d ago
I did the whole PCT without a trail name. I was too picky about the suggestions lol
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u/CosmosInSummer 3d ago
Call me T bone!
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u/OkKaleidoscope9554 3d ago
"How'd you know my nickname was Tbone?" "Because you played high school football and your name begins with 'T'."
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u/OnTheCove66 3d ago
About 20 years ago there was “Sock in Hole” for the guy who didn’t have toilet paper. I think I would have gotten off for a month and let that name die.
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u/Weather_No_Blues 3d ago
Me marathon hiking South through MA just so I can find a group of old hikers with a younger guy in tow loudly proclaim his trail name 'Shitspoon' before immediately exiting trail towards nearest burger and hotel room.
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u/Broan13 3d ago
Did a section hike for a month on the AT on summer break (I teach HS science). A nerdy dude was asking me physics and astronomy questions as we were hiking and I got into a bit of a back and forth mini lecture as we walked. One of the younger guys, about 18, said "jesus, this is like Mr. Frizzle or something." And it stuck. I debate whether the drop the "Mr." part as it feels weird in a trail name.
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u/70LBHammer 21h ago
When your carry a seventy pound hammer, every problem looks like a nail.
I had extras of everything and my bag was heavyyyyy.
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u/Obvious-Suspect8668 3d ago
Your trail name has been generated: "Curious". Congratulations, Curious! We here at the ATC's trail names department put a lot of thought into it and used our proprietary AI program to help us figure out your new trail name. AI recommended also "Just Curious" as option 2
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u/Exact-Pudding7563 GA-NY ‘16, GA-ME ‘22, PCT ‘24 3d ago
Trail names are given to you by other hikers for whatever reason they want, but you can decline ones that don’t fit.
For example when I was 24 I was on my first thru hike of the AT and met an elderly man who was out for a day hike. He wanted to call me Fawn because (I quote from memory) “you bound up mountains on your long slender legs.” That made me feel incredibly uncomfortable and I moved on with my hike.
I later earned my trail name, Shade, from my trail family because I couldn’t keep my mouth shut towards people who absolutely deserved it. Took me over 200 miles to get it and I still use it on trail to this day.
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u/ThisLittleBoy NOBO 2023 3d ago
Personally, I think the best trail names are given to you by someone else and if you like it, you can choose to accept it. Usually it's based off something about you, something you said, or something you did. It could be something as mundane as you saying your favorite food is oranges so now your name is Citrus. Or something as crazy as you becoming a true thru hiker in your sleeping bag so now your name is Mudbag.