Or what does it mean?
I'll start:
"Wildcat" was from a fork of a trail my dad and I hiked near Priest Lake, ID, near the Hills Resort where we were staying the week on vacation in fall in 1992. Or I think so, anyways, we were doing a lot of hiking in the early 1990s and I know we did the Wildcat Falls and Siouxion Creek trail system around that same time so it might have even been inspired by that one. Anyways, because of it (and because I just thought it sounded cool) I assumed the name "Wildcat" and simultaneously used it as my CB radio callsign which it still is to this day. (Yes, at 9 years old I was playing with CB.)
It would have been my fifth-grade camp handle at Camp Melanoma circa 1995, but somebody else in my class had already grabbed it. The rule was everybody's handles needed to have something to do with nature, so at the last moment, not being able to come up with anything better, I decided on the lameass cop-out "Mister Semiconductor" because I was an even bigger computer nerd than I am now ("but semiconductors do come from nature! They're made of sand! Miss Winegard took the handle 'Denim'...") I recalled that admittedly very stupid handle at the end of that disastrous week-long field trip and never used it again. Not in trails, anyways; I did continue using it for some time into the early 2000s on bulletin boards/Usenet and voice mail systems where it seemed more appropriate.
Okay, let's have yours.
What's your trail handle/name and how did you get it?
What's your trail handle/name and how did you get it?
Last edited by wildcat on March 8th, 2022, 7:32 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Life in Chacos
nwhikers.net: thewildcat
nwhikers.net: thewildcat
Re: What's your trail handle/name and how did you get it?
I don't have a trail name/handle, mainly because I hike solo almost exclusively, try to find places to hike and camp where I will encounter the fewest other hikers, and when I do see other hikers I exchange brief but friendly greetings as we pass and almost never stop to chit-chat beyond that. As far as anyone else I meet on the trail is aware I have no name at all.
Re: What's your trail handle/name and how did you get it?
my trail name is Water. In 2006 I was backpacking in South America and a friend from the states who was into the Rainbow Gatherings was with us and had packed along some collapsible buckets, 5gal, 25gal, I think he maybe even had a 50gal for some reason.. anyways I was impressed with them.
In 2007 my gf (now wife) headed out on a childhood dream to thru-hike the Appalachian Trail. I got her a Seattle Sports 12L collapsible bucket cause it seemed like a cool thing to have. Well, the first few days of her hike North from Springer Mountain, a few people thought it humorous she had a bucket, so she was dubbed Bucket. A few more days and people loved the bucket, instead of .4 downhill from a shelter, squatting in mud with bugs, the water filter intake resting in silty water, pumping away--Bucket often brought up 2.5 gallons of water and had it hanging off a nail or the side of the picnic tables, comfortable to filter the water, use to boil, or simply wash up.
I joined her ~600 miles later in Southern Virginia and was in search for a trail name. When we'd get to camp Bucket would want to relax and I'd run around like a fervent squirrel, and especially found myself responsible for getting the water. An older guy from Vermont with the Northeast accent to match hiked with us for a few days and said hey, you should be called Water Boy! Well.. we hiked another day or so and I told Bucket, hey I really am not feeling Water Boy..what about if I just go by Water? Well it really resonated, or absorbed with me.. so hence forth I'm Water. I love the name for all it represents, literal and symbolic (I'm a bit steeped in Jungian psychology). I consider the name as much my identity as my birth name tbh.
In 2007 my gf (now wife) headed out on a childhood dream to thru-hike the Appalachian Trail. I got her a Seattle Sports 12L collapsible bucket cause it seemed like a cool thing to have. Well, the first few days of her hike North from Springer Mountain, a few people thought it humorous she had a bucket, so she was dubbed Bucket. A few more days and people loved the bucket, instead of .4 downhill from a shelter, squatting in mud with bugs, the water filter intake resting in silty water, pumping away--Bucket often brought up 2.5 gallons of water and had it hanging off a nail or the side of the picnic tables, comfortable to filter the water, use to boil, or simply wash up.
I joined her ~600 miles later in Southern Virginia and was in search for a trail name. When we'd get to camp Bucket would want to relax and I'd run around like a fervent squirrel, and especially found myself responsible for getting the water. An older guy from Vermont with the Northeast accent to match hiked with us for a few days and said hey, you should be called Water Boy! Well.. we hiked another day or so and I told Bucket, hey I really am not feeling Water Boy..what about if I just go by Water? Well it really resonated, or absorbed with me.. so hence forth I'm Water. I love the name for all it represents, literal and symbolic (I'm a bit steeped in Jungian psychology). I consider the name as much my identity as my birth name tbh.
Last edited by Water on March 8th, 2022, 10:23 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Feel Free to Feel Free
Re: What's your trail handle/name and how did you get it?
I got "OneSpeed" on the PCT when some people commented how I seemed to go the same pace, no matter the terrain -- "like a guy on a one-speed bike," is how they put it. I think they were going to call me PaceCar, but that was apparently taken. They left me behind on an uphill, then left me behind on a downhill, but at the end of the day, when they were getting tired, I was keeping up with them both up and down.
Re: What's your trail handle/name and how did you get it?
I hereby decree that henceforth, this hiker shall be called "Naimless" (with an "N")!I don't have a trail name/handle, mainly because I hike solo almost exclusively, try to find places to hike and camp where I will encounter the fewest other hikers, and when I do see other hikers I exchange brief but friendly greetings as we pass and almost never stop to chit-chat beyond that. As far as anyone else I meet on the trail is aware I have no name at all.
Life in Chacos
nwhikers.net: thewildcat
nwhikers.net: thewildcat
Re: What's your trail handle/name and how did you get it?
OK, if I do another long PCT section hike and another hiker asks, I'll toss out that one and see if it floats.
- MarkInTheDark
- Posts: 220
- Joined: August 11th, 2008, 3:58 pm
- Location: Portland, OR
Re: What's your trail handle/name and how did you get it?
I used to be a late night DJ in Miami back in the 70s/80s, my air name was Mark In The Dark... the name stuck, so I've used it as my trail name, whenever I come across humans on the trail... normally I'm backpacking solo.