What is a Trail Name?
What’s in a trail name? A story. And it is bound to be a good one! Trail names are nicknames bestowed upon long distance hikers, often due to personality traits or unfortunate incidents. Some trail names are given based on where the hiker came from: Chicago and Texas. Others are adopted because of food and beverage choices: Fireball, Snickers and Taco. Trekking qualities morph into nicknames such as Roadrunner, Speed Racer, Swift Scout and Fast Freddy. Big emotions transform hikers into Meltdown and Cry Baby. Hiking mistakes inspire hilarious names: Red Eye, Carrot Top, First Blood and Sh*t Foot.
Falling in step with an unknown hiker or meeting at a camp site generally begins with an introduction, an exchange of trail names. The reason behind the name often follows. Hikers, who are walking storytellers, love to spin the tale! Sometimes, just imagining the story is enough to make me chuckle (consider poor Sh*t Foot’s predicament).
Part of the Family
Having a trail name is like a right of passage. It means a hiker has been on the trail long enough to be adopted into a new family of distance hikers.
For my first 2 years of section hiking the AT, I did not have a trail name. While some “nameless” hikers choose their own, I wanted mine to be granted to me from another trail mate. During my multi-day hike through Georgia, a crew of 20 something folks dubbed me, quite simply, “Mom”. I tried out my name for a few weeks, and although it felt natural, as I am a mom, it wasn’t very unique. I quickly defaulted back to using my real first name.
My New Name
Weeks later, I was christened a new name. Since the New Jersey portion of the Appalachian Trail traverses private land, hikers must camp at designated locations. For this reason, the shelter areas resemble little tent towns, and hikers often move en masse to the next shelter or camp site. I met Lamb Chop, a school teacher from California, early in the day at a watering hole. While we filtered the stream water into our bottles, we exchanged names and chatted about our hiking goals for the day. I offered my birth name and she asked if I had a trail name. I shrugged and I shared that I had been recently named “Mom” but that it didn’t feel quite right. After a day of hiking close by each other, she said that “Mom” was a good start, but that it needed to be finessed.
That night at camp, I set up my tent, ate my food and got ready for bed. As I walked to the privy one last time, Lamb Chop spied me and exclaimed, “You are Pajama Mama!” After a long sweaty day of hiking, I change into lightweight pjs. It is my one luxury item that makes climbing into my sleeping bag feel a little more like home.
The next day, I used my new trail name for the first time, signing it after my brief journal entry in the shelter notebook. Thanks, Lamb Chop, for christening me with a unique and fun name! I truly doubt that there are others with this moniker, as I have yet to meet another mothering hiker sporting pink pajamas!
