What is in a Name?

I woke up this morning ready to see my parents and head into town for resupply. Of course, they were driving from Shell Beach and, despite my best efforts, I was up at 7. Suffice it to say I had a while to wait. I headed down to the trailhead, spread out my gear, and settled in to read and to wait.

Around 10, as I sat there with my book, I heard a very familiar Australian voice. Andy, aka Wolverine, had caught up with me. We sat about chatting and catching up while we waited for my parents to arrive. He has a bit of an injury (nothing too serious) and was headed for a couple of zero days in Bishop. My parents arrived and we gave Andy a ride to his hotel before heading back south to Lone Pine. I'm sure I'll see him again down the trail.

My parents and I hit the grocery and had dinner at a nice place called Seasons. After dinner we headed to my hotel room, where my parents pored over maps, helping me mark out mileage marks. I thought about the drive down from Onion Valley, the dinner, and their help with the maps. Once again I realized how lucky I am to have such support, and how hard this would be without them.

Now onto my new trail name. First of all, I have decided I like trail names for two reasons. First, they create a sort of legendary status amongst hikers. You see the same trail names in all the registers, read some blogs, hear info through the grapevine. All of a sudden "David who?" becomes "snowman," the guy who trekked through the highest peaks in a blizzard, and whom you've been following a day behind for weeks. I get excited meeting a name I recognize, which spices up daily life on the trail. The other reason I like trail names is because they tell a story about the hiker. It's fun to hear someone else's story,  or to share through your trail identity a bit about yourself. It is for this reason that I never really got attached to the trail name Jesse James. Let's face it, my big story was that some German girl got my name wrong. Also, it sounds like a name someone would give themself in a desperate attempt to sound cool. Besides, I found out that there is another hiker with the trail name Jesse Outlaw.

So anyway, I met this hiker yesterday and we get to talking about recent events. Typically these are remarkable aspects of the trail. For example: "did you do the frog habitat detour?" Or "did you go the wrong way at the trail crossing too?" Yesterday it was whether or not we had climbed Whitney. I said I had and when he asked how long ago I said it was the day before. He asked how I managed that when we were over 20 miles down the trail, over Forester Pass, only a day later. I replied that I had done Whitney in the morning and Forester in the afternoon. We continued to talk about the trail and I mentioned that I was bummed I hadn't seen any Bighorn Sheep on Bighorn Plateau. He said something to the effect of "if you climbed Whitney,  crossed the Bighorn Plateau, and passed Forester all in one day, I'd say you qualify as a bighorn sheep yourself. We both liked the sound of that, so he dubbed me "Bighorn."

I like the new name because, not only are Bighorn Sheep my favorite animal, the name also commemorates one of the accomplishments I am most proud of (i.e. Whitney and Forester in one day). Lastly, I feel like Bighorn Sheep are animals constantly on the edge. You don't find them in cushy valleys, but out on rocky escarpments where you would swear they defy the laws of gravity (and common sense). I think that is a great summary of what the PCT hiking experience is all about. Out here, climbing for the sake of the climb, on the edge pushing the limits of what we thought we were capable of.