As part of their pilgrimage, most thru-hikers assume a new identity—a trail name. Trail names on the A.T. go back at least to the early seventies, but they caught on in the late seventies, when the number of hikers increased dramatically. Now trail names are almost mandatory. Examples of actual trail names are included as chapter headings in this book. Some fit so well that after a while it's hard to recall the hikers' given names. Trail names reflect a sort of split personality, in which one's trail identity is far removed from one's other life in, say, the corporate world. Trai1 names are so widespread that one can hike with someone for weeks and not know the name his parents would use.

"It's dropping one persona and taking on another," said Leonard "Habitual Hiker" Adkins. "In high school and college, people get nicknames. Trail names show that you are being accepted into the club. You're freer to become someone you always wanted to be."

Greg "Pooh" Knoettner, assistant ATC field representative in New England, earned his trail name when he left the A.T. in 1989 to attend his sister's college graduation in upstate New York. On his way back to the trail, he was waiting for a train at Pennsylvania Station in New York City. He set his pack down too hard and a big glass jar of honey inside the pack shattered. The honey went over everything, Greg recounted. "So I'm sitting on the ground in my grungy thru-hiker clothes in Pennsylvania Station, taking things out and licking them off and putting them down next to me. I felt like a derelict. Then some guy, faking a foreign accent, came up to me and said 'Rockefeller Station. How do I get to Rockefeller Station?' I knew from my days living right across the river in New Jersey so I started explaining to him. Then he said, 'No. Write down.' I wrote it down and gave it to him. Then he said 'thank you' and disappeared. I looked down and my camera equipment was gone. My jacket was gone. I'd been scammed. He and somebody else had robbed me and it was all because of this stupid jar of honey." Like Winnie, Greg the Pooh is now known for his love of honey.

Why thru-hike? More often than not, people turn to the trail at times of radical change in their life: when they're graduating from school, considering a new career, retiring, or dealing with personal trauma such as divorce, loss of job, or the death of a close friend or relative. Some are disillusioned with a job or just burned out. One thru-hiker did the trail after both his divorces. Others hike the trail for the physical and mental challenge, to see if they can attain a goal that demands dedication and focus. Still others want to get closer to nature and to enjoy the trail community. Paul "Lucky, Lucky, Lucly" Holabaugh said just once in his life he wanted to get into the woods and see what life was like for the pioneers.

Often, the origin of a desire to hike the trail is murky. It is, after all, hard to remember the origin of a dream. Sometimes it's a chance remark by a friend, a newspaper article, an earlier encounter with the trail that is nurtured in the dim recesses of the mind for decades until it one day pops out unbidden with surprising force. Many began thinking about the A.T. after spotting a highway sign at a trail crossing. For others, it's more of a spur-ofthe-moment decision; before they know it, they are on the trail in Georgia carrying a heavy backpack north.

As a teenager, Laurie "Mountain Laurel" Potteiger saw a slide show by a thru-hiker. He said that when he reached a town, he'd eat a whole pie. "When I heard that," said Laurie, "I said, 'This thing's for me."'

For Gordon "Old Man" Gamble, a retired AT&T; engineer, hiking the trail was a dream nurtured for fifteen years until retirement made it possible. He used the time wisely, planning his thru-hike meticulously to ease the stress on his frail, sixty-six-year-old body and arthritic knees.

Barb Briggs, a 1986 thru-hiker from New Hampshire, first met a 2,000miler in 1985. After talking to him for a while, "I figured if he could do it, I could do it," she said.

Some thru-hikers had previous backpacking or outdoor experience. But at least as many others had backpacked only a few days before they did the A.T. A few thru-hikers had never backpacked as much as a day before they journeyed to Springer Mountain. According to Roly Mueser, who did a detailed study of A.T. thru-hikers, some 10 to 20 percent had little or no backpacking experience before starting the A.T. Many are the only hikers in their families. Many thru-hikers feel that inexperienced backpackers have as good a chance as veterans to complete the trail. If, as two-time thru-hiker Phil Pepin says, mental attitude is 90 percent of the requirement for the trip, those with a powerful desire have an advantage over those with technical skills but less commitment. Indeed, much of the useful backpacking knowledge can be acquired en route, for the A.T. is like a university of hiking. On this trail, one finds some of the world's most experienced backpackers, many of whom know every trick in the books and some that aren't there. Being a novice doesn't preclude a successful thru-hike, but most hikers stress that you should prepare extensively before starting.

In the 1970s, it was not unusual to find teenagers hiking the trail alone. Most hikers were either college-age or younger, or retirees; few were in their thirties or forties. Recently, teenagers on the trail have become rare; hikers in their middle and senior years are common. Elmer Hall thinks the trend of teenage hikers in the seventies was part of a wave of rebellious youths traveling the world. As for the older hikers, Jean Cashin of ATC attributes it partly to downturns in the economy. People who lose their jobs frequently turn to the trail as a cheap place to review their options and gather their resolve.

Another trend is that more women are hiking the trail. Many hike with a husband or boyfriend, but some have no partner. Of the three thousand people who had completed the trail by 1993, more than three hundred were women.

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