Trail Slang...

I know that I always feel out of the loop when people throw out words and acronyms and I have no idea what they mean. I still don’t know what LMAO stands for--I think someone spelled lame-o wrong.

For your reading pleasure, here are a few terms may be unfamiliar to some, that you will see in our future posts!

Blazes: are painted, 2-inch by 6-inch, vertical white rectangles that are placed at eye height on trees and other objects, in both directions, to mark the official route of the Trail.

GAMER: normally I would use this term to refer to my addicting Sim City habit, but out on the trail its meant to describe a person traveling from Georgia (GA) to Maine (ME).

Hicker: is a person who is still trying to figure out the whole hiker/gear thing while on the trail, most definitely Jason and I.

Hostel: An establishment along the trail that has bunks, showers, and sometimes cooking and mail drops, for AT hikers. Hopefully the hostels on the trail have no relation to the 2006 horror film of the same name.

LNT: not the former mecca of sheets and sham wows, Linen N Things - means 'Leave No Trace', a philosophy and skill used to pass as lightly as possible when backpacking.

Maildrop: Anytime we receive a package from home it’s considered a maildrop. It can be anything from maps to extra food. Feel free to send some cookies :)

Mountain Money: Toilet paper. We cool mox.

NoBo: Northbound thru-hiker, unfortunately it doesn’t have anything to do with my favorite sales campaign from payless, BOGO.

PUDS: is thru-hiker shorthand for "pointless ups and downs", referring to the less interesting sections of mountains thru-hikers encounter from time to time; several PUDS in a row are MUDS, which is shorthand for "mindless ups and downs"-- hello Georgia!

Stealth: a manner of camping where there is no indication that you are there, and no trace of your being there is left when you've left. When Jason and I stealth camp we will be using code names.

Thru-hiker: a person who is attempting to hike the entire trial in a single, continuous journey leaving from one terminus of the Trail, and backpacking to the other terminus. Yes we will smell.

Trail Magic: Unexpected, but welcome, help or food. Feel free to show up at a random road crossing anytime! We prefer Miller Light.

Trail Name: A nickname given to a hiker- you don’t receive a trail name until you start the trail---no friends, I will not be making my own as I have been notoriously known to do :)

Zero day: is a day in which no miles are hiked, usually because the hiker is stopping in a town to resupply and/or rest. Or we can refer to these as “Kristen gets a pedicure and massage day”