What's in a name?

On trail, people adopt totally new identities.....or at least new names. Almost every person we've met so far has introduced themselves with their trail name instead of their "real" name. Trail names are usually bestowed upon the name-ee based on something that happens on the trail.

Nolan and I didn't want to give each other names initially, since we thought that might be cheating, but since we don't hike much with other people we figured it would only make sense. Here are our stories:

Nolan earned his name weeks ago, on a long hard day. We realized we still had a long way to go before we'd get to a spot flat enough to camp, and although he was tired, he kept up the same consistent rhythm both uphill and downhill. I decided he was like the rabbit who sets the pace in a race, and Rabbit he became.

My love of correct spelling is nothing new, but I've taken it to a whole new level on the trail, pointing out misspellings on trail signs (Balden-Powell? Try again.), city signs (Cemetary? Nope.), and postcards (Forrest?! Come on!). Joking about my middle school dream of being in the national spelling bee, Nolan dubbed me just that: Spelling Bee.

It took a little while to get used to, but now it just comes naturally to introduce myself as Spelling Bee. After all, it's easier for people to understand than my real name anyway.