Hiking the Good Hike

Hiking the Appalachian Trail is a foreign concept to many. Explaining to our friends and family that we were basically quitting our jobs and leaving our normal daily lives was no easy task; I'm pretty sure no one believed us. But then again, those that know us best probably knew that we were the couple crazy enough to go through with some childhood dream/far-fetched idea. As this idea became reality and the planning began, we received several strange yet warranted questions. Hopefully by now most of those initial questions have been answered leading to our current topic of trail lingo.

I hope this post will help explain some of the abbreviations and terms commonly used along the trail and within the trail community. We've received several questions asking for explanations to particular words or references used in our blog so I've compiled a brief list of those words that you will probably see us use, if we haven't already, with their accompanying definitions/explanations. Please remember that these are my rough-cut, made up, edited definitions but I hope this helps.

AT - Appalachian Trail
NOBO - North Bounder, hiking from Georgia to Maine
SOBO - South Bounder, hiking from Maine to Georgia
Thru-hike - hiking the entire trail in one season
Section-hike - a series of section hikes over time; may combine to hike the entire AT over many years
Flip Flop - hiking one direction then driving to a different location to hike back in the opposite direction i.e. say a person hikes from Georgia to Virginia but an injury/job takes them off the trail for a couple months so to ensure they get to hike the trail in its entirety they skip ahead to Maine and hike back to where they got off the trail
Yoyoing - a back-to-back thru-hike, once in each direction
Slack packing - hiking with only a day pack while the rest of your gear is held or shuttled
White Blaze - standard trail markers, painted white, along the AT
White Blazer aka Purist - a hiker who completes the entire AT; who wants to pass every white blaze on the trail
Blue Blazer - a hiker who takes alternate routes; substitutes a blue blaze trail in place of a section of the white blazed AT
Yellow Blazer - a hiker who "cheats" by hitch hiking, following the yellow center line on roads
Aqua Blazing - opting to float down a waterway that runs along the trail instead of hiking the actual white blazed trail i.e. kayak
LNT - "Leave No Trace"
Triple Crowner - someone who has thru-hiked the AT, Pacific Crest, and Continental Divide
Hiker Trash - an affectionate term used to describe thru-hikers
Yogiing - attempting to look sad enough to get free food and drinks without actually asking for it
AYCE - All You Can Eat i.e. restaurants, buffets
GORP - Good Old Raisons and Peanuts
HYOH - Hike Your Own Hike; make your own decisions
Taking a Zero - a zero mile day where you do no hiking, pretty self explanatory
Nero - a nearly zero mile day; a low mileage day
Resupply - a trip into town to get more food, drink, fuel, pick up mail drops, etc.
Mail Drop - boxes prepackaged/sent to post offices, hostels, or outfitters along the way; another method of resupply
Hiker Box - a box where hikers may give extra/unwanted food and equipment to other hikers; everything is free game and I mean everything; box is found at hostels and outfitters
Register - a log book kept in shelters and trail heads to account for hikers and a way of communication between hikers
Shelter - a 3 sided wooden/stone structure, usually by a water source and hopefully a privy
Privy - glorified outhouse for solid waste
PUDS - Pointless Ups and Downs
Switchback - 180 degree turn in the opposite direction; a zig zag of trails up a mountain, easier, and longer, than hiking straight up the mountain; prevents erosion
Vitamin I - ibuprofen
Trail Name - the name you go by on the trail; an adopted nickname
Trail Magic - hospitality/help freely given; unexpected joys/gifts found along the trail, frequently near road crossings i.e. candy, food, soda, beer, etc.; thru-hikers LOVE trail magic of any kind, seriously not picky
Trail Angels - the givers of trail magic; truly, angels sent by God to give gifts and blessings when needed most/when you least expect it

Cassandra

"Go confidently in the direction of your dreams! Live the life you've imagined."
Thoreau