More on People Who Hike the Trail

The median age is supposedly 47, though the distribution is more of a dumbbell shape than a standard bell curve, as everyone is either 25 or 65. Naturally, these are the most common times in people's lives where they can devote 4-6 months to a hike, having just graduated or just retired. They're 90% men and 90% white. But I did meet a black female thru hiker yesterday, so they're out there.

"Hey have you seen my friend? His name is Tom/Tim/Jim/John/Joe/Jeff/Whatever, he's about 6' tall, white male with a beard and a backpack." Umm, that describes 90% of the people I've seen the last few months, so you'll have to be more specific. "Have you seen my friends Space Cowboy, Duff Man, and Sundowner?" Oh yes I saw them the day before yesterday. Thus trail names.

Trail names work kind of like email addresses. You pick something, and even if it's kind of silly like StarCore5 or MixMasterMike446, you're sort of stuck with it thereafter. And most people believe you have to be given your trail name by someone else. But it's easier to remember goofy trail names than interchangeable unoriginal white male American proper names. And there's usually a fun story to tell in association with your trail name. The 3 above are all real examples. Space Cowboy was of course caught singing "The Joker" at the top of his lungs when he thought he was alone, Duff Man hikes with a large Dufflebag (and likes the Simpsons and beer), and Sundowner infamously arrives at camp very late, usually at, yes, Sundown.

You rarely call people by their trail name directly, just like their email address. They're used for distinguishing people and for tracking them in the logs. Most of the shelters of a simple notebook, full of no-nonsense entries " 8/2/11: Jaws and Dragonfly, in for lunch", random ruminations, advice/reports "No Water at the Next Shelter! Fill up here" and the types of innate conversations you find in online forums. Though "conversation" isn't the right word, since you can only read the entries of the people ahead of you, and only write to the people behind you. Which is fascinating for a Communication scholar such as myself. Someone might be perpetually a day behind you and you don't know they exist, but the person perpetually ahead of you you feel like you know very well, but they might not know you exist. It's also fun to meet someone going the other way (in my case, a Northbounder, as I'm going South. And most thru-hikers are Northbounders), talk to them for 5 mintues, and then see their experience in reverse order as you read through the logs. I met someone a month ago 400 miles north of here, and he was here 2 months ago. Good stuff.