[pct-l] Trail Names
J M
evilempress2003 at yahoo.com
Wed Dec 22 12:02:49 CST 2010
To quote the Bloodhound Gang, "I'm the root of all that's evil yeah, but you can
call me cookie"
"Good work. Sleep well. I'll most likely kill you in the morning."
www.explorationmonkey.blogspot.com
________________________________
From: Gary Swing <homelessontherange at yahoo.com>
To: PCT Listserve <pct-l at backcountry.net>
Sent: Wed, December 22, 2010 9:49:22 AM
Subject: Re: [pct-l] Trail Names
In response to my first post on this forum (different thread), I have had a
dispute with someone who labels me an "impostor" for proposing to use the trail
name "Pack Rat" on the PCT in 2011. My girlfriend, Rachel, wants to use the
trail name "Spill," which is also apparently not unique and original. Rachel and
I had extensive discussions this summer about possible new trail names while we
hiked the Glacier NP section of the CDT with a friend. It's taken a lot of
discussion for us to come to mutually agreeable trail names, until we settled on
"Pack Rat" and "Spill."
(Brief aside -- for the Glacier hike we named our friend "Bob McGuire" because
he asked Rachel if I'd told her about his "barbed wire" incident in New Mexico.
She thought he said "Bob McGuire" and asked who "Bob McGuire" was.)
Thousands of people have completed thru hikes of long distance trails while
using trail names. Many of these trail names are obvious, common, and simple.
When I thru hiked the AT in 2008, I met plenty of people with duplicated trail
names. I personally don't know anybody who has used the trail names "Pack
Rat" or "Spill." They are both fairly obvious trail names and fitting
descriptions of habits that Rachel and I have demonstrated while doing long
distance walks.
"Pack Rat" may be "a well known and popular accomplished hiker," but I don't
know him. I searched Trail Journals and found one listing for a "Packrat" (one
word) who hiked the AT in 2004 and the Long Trail in 2005. I didn't find any
listings for anybody named "Spill." I am not "pretending" to be a guy I never
met who hiked the AT in 2004.
Like birth names, trail names don't have to be unique names that nobody has ever
used before. I'm not the only person who has ever been named Gary. That doesn't
mean I'm "pretending" to be somebody else named Gary. How would somebody even
know if they've come up with a unique, totally original trail name? Is there
some searchable registry of every trail name any hiker has ever used? Is there a
specific list of prohibited trail names that have been officially reserved for
"well known and popular accomplished hikers?"
I don't really care what name I use on the PCT, or if I use a trail name at all.
Like anyone else, I don't want to be stuck with a dumb name like "Halitosis" or
"Stinky Feet." However, my girlfriend *insists* that we both must have trail
names, and wants us to start out on the PCT with them.
Here are some pros and cons of trail names that I've considered:
Thought Criminal: I used this trail name on the AT in 2008, the Colorado Trail
and in the Chihuahuan Desert in 2009, and on the CDT between Canada and Butte in
2010. I have used this as a nickname in various contexts since 2002 -- on
mountaineering forums, for a personal website that I had from 2003 to 2009, on a
personal profile that I had for five years, and for a "Thought Criminal Test"
that I wrote. The term is taken from George Orwell's dystopian novel "1984"
about a totalitarian society in which anyone who thinks for oneself is branded a
"Thought Criminal." On the AT, I found that most people didn't get the
reference; the name was too long and people shortened it to "TC;" and I often
had to spell out the word "Thought" when I met people who couldn't understand my
pronunciation of the word. I prefer to replace this name on the PCT in favor of
something less political and more light-hearted. I don't want to feel that I
must live up to this name.
Pack Rat: Rachel and my friend Barrett ("Bob McGuire") have made fun of my
tendency to pick up and carry useless and generally unwanted items and carry
them long distances before eventually using them, sending them home, or leaving
them somewhere else. I tend to do this particularly with hiker boxes, picking up
something nobody else wants and carrying it a long way until I eventually leave
it in another hiker box, or consuming it (if it's food) when I have nothing else
left to eat. Also, I do promotional work for the Colorado Ballet, sometimes in
costume. I wear a rat costume for promotions of "The Nutcracker." Drawbacks:
"Pack Rat" is a common, unoriginal name. It has been objected that a "well known
and popular accomplished hiker" uses the name Pack Rat.
Alien: Expresses my deep feelings of alienation from American society. I was
also amused by the "No Alien" stickers I saw posted on the Colorado Trail. I
wrote a satirical commentary about this. In 2010, Denver (where I live) had a
local initiative on the ballot to create an "Extra-Terrestrial Affairs
Commission" to study evidence of alleged extra-terrestrial visitation on Earth.
I wrote some satirical commentaries about this proposal and used an
"Extraterrestrial Affairs" themed costume for Halloween. Drawback: Folks might
assume that I'm a UFO buff, which I'm not.
Peakbagger: My hobby from 1990 to 2007 was climbing Colorado's 637 mountains
over 13,000 feet. Drawback: I don't plan to divert from the PCT to bag peaks,
except for Whitney and Muir.
13er: See Peakbagger.
Winston Smith: Lead character from George Orwell's novel "1984." The original
"Thought Criminal." Less obvious trail name than "Thought Criminal," sounds like
a real name. Most people probably wouldn't get the reference.
Crestone: The name of my favorite Colorado 14ers (Crestone Peak and Crestone
Needle).
Green: I was a Green Party candidate for Congress in 2010. Rachel was "Red" on
the AT in 2008. Could be part of a "couples' name -- except Rachel doesn't want
to be "Red" again.
Sequoia: I have a Specialized Sequoia road bike. Rachel briefly considered being
"Redwood" on the PCT before rejecting it. Possible couples' name.
Ecotopian: Obscure literary reference to Ernest Callenbach's novel "Ecotopia" in
which northern California, Oregon, and Washington secede from the United States
to build a new society based on principles of ecological sustainability. Seems
appropriate to me since we'll be walking the length of "Ecotopia."
Drawbacks: Most people won't get the reference, and it's too many syllables.
Swingman: This was my nickname in high school, but I haven't used it since 1985.
Doesn't seem meaningful to me anymore.
Rachel used the name "Red" on the AT. We met in North Carolina and walked to
Maine together. Red was her nickname from trail crew in the White Mountains (NH)
for her hair color. I thought it was a boring, unoriginal name, so I tried to
give her a different name. She rejected my proposals. I suggested "Lumber Jill"
because she was a competitive Lumberjack. I later proposed "Redblaze" because
she kept falling and blazing the trail with her own blood. For our Glacier
National Park hike, I proposed to name her "Pandemic" because she works in a
medical laboratory at a hospital. At the time, the people in her lab were
playing a fantasy game called "Pandemic" in which they try to design a highly
contagious disease capable of wiping out the entire human race. On the AT, we
also debated the idea of calling ourselves "Misery" and "Company" -- with some
uncertainty as to who would get which name. For the PCT, she considered
switching to "Redwood" with me as
"Sequoia." I proposed the name "Spill" for her on the PCT because she always
seem to spill her food, and often spills herself as well. She tumbled down a
rock stairway on the AT. Another time, she tripped over her own feet, stumbled a
few paces, and fell on the only stickerbush in the area.
So... in non-conclusion, I don't really care what name I use on the PCT, as long
as it's not "Halitosis" or "Stinky Feet." Rachel thinks we should stick with
"Pack Rat" and "Spill" -- even though other people have used those names.
Cheers,
Gary
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