Re: [pct-l] My first mesg

[BLISTERFREE@delphi.com]

Sly wrote:
<<I don't see why we should be be so formal to use both first and last names?

"Ya I camped with Charlie last night.  Which one?  Charlie Jones!  Which one,
the one from California or the one from NY?"

On a long distance trail, on where hikers run into each other more than
several times, I don't see why trail nicknames can't be adapted or adapted?
Not everyone wants a trailname, but when you run into six Jeffs  or  two
Charlies, it doesn't hurt for the others to figure just whom you're speaking
of.

Like "Sly,k the wise guy',  had to get off the trail cuz he ran out of dough"!

What's the big deal?         <<

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I agree with you, Sly, in that trail names are most helpful in identifying
and helping to remember the people we meet along the way. While it's true
that social circles sprout fairly quickly on thru-hikes, and that one could
therefore argue that real names are more personable - and just as easy to
memorize - compared with trail names, we also meet many folks only in passing.
With these folks, we may talk awhile and move on, hoping to see them again
up the trail, or in town. If nothing else, we will likely refer to them as
we meet other people along the way, as in "such and such is only a few hours
ahead," or "have you met such and such yet?" Before we know it, we have
a fairly large list of fellow hikers, folks met only in passing, up in our
mental address book. For me, at least three or four of the hikers I met early
on this year were Daves. Dave who? Who knows, only met him briefly and he
didn't give his last name. Dave with the lightweight pack? Well, there's at
least two of those. Dave, the thin guy with the beard? You get the point. 
Well thought out, imaginative, descriptive trail names would have made the
mental imprint much more easily facilitated. 

That said, I would never tell a trail-nameless hiker that he or she should
consider coining one, or that they owed it to me, us, or other such nonsense.
Trail names make my life a little easier, but if it doesn't fit anothers
mode of thinking or personality, then that's perfectly okay. And if a person
has strong convictions against having a trail name, so much the better since
that person is exercising his rights to freedom and independence. The law
of society concerns what is best for the group. Thankfully we have the ability
to follow our own law of the land when on the trail, and to uphold what is
best for us, individually.

As for the PCT phenomenon of trail names begin less in vogue, I think I'd
have to conclude that the phenomenon more concerns the AT, since it is the
only trail I know of where trail names are the accepted norm. Trail names
are the by-product of a social hiking scene. Newbies entering the distance
hiking world via the AT have a lot of tradition staring them in the face. One
might even call it indoctrination, from the very moment they recieve their
thru-hiker packet from ATC. And especially if they attent ALDHA-east. All
it takes is a few opinionated, influential veteran thru-hikers telling us
this or that about the "rules" of hiking, and soon we're conforming to
certain perceived standards. Suddenly we're part of the Class of 'xx waling
down those sacred halls...

- Blister
PS - Sorry for the typos. Anyone familiar with VAX VMS' editing features
will sympathize.
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