Believe it or not, the Appalachian Trail is it’s own community with its own slang terms. Unless you’re thru-hiking the trail or have hiked a lot of miles on the trail, you’re not likely to know many of the terms. This post is going to change that, at least a little, by defining some of the terms for those who are not familiar with thru-hiking culture.
GENERAL TERMS: some of the most common phrases or lingo you will hear.
- AT: Appalachian Trail
- NOBO: going north, generally Georgia to Maine
- SOBO: going south, generally Maine to Georgia
- Thru-hiking: doing the whole trail in less than a year
- Section-hiking: doing a section at a time, generally ‘til you finish the trail.
- Flip-flop: starting from somewhere in the middle, going either north or south to the end, then back to your starting point and going the rest of the way to the other end.
- Yo-Yo: doing a NOBO or SOBO thru-hike then promptly turning around and doin a thru-hike the other way.
- Slackpacking: taking a daypack and doing a portion of the AT, usually offered by hostels as a service to hikers
- Resupply: going into town and refilling on food, fuel, toilet paper, and anything else you need.
- Zero: hiking zero miles. Usually happens in town, as a way to eat lots of food and recover.
- Nearo: hiking a few miles one day, usually to get to a town for a resupply.
- Safety gear: a code term for weed and all that goes with it
- Baseweight: what your bag weighs with all your gear minus food or water. can range from 6lbs to 30lbs
- Shuttle: what’s hostel sends to pick you up
- Tramily: your trail family, usually who you hike or camp with for a while.
BLAZING: there are many different types of blazing, and all have to do with the way a person hikes the trail.
- Blue-blazing: taking a trail that is not officially the Appalachian Trail, whether that’s a side trip or as a different route to the AT.
- Yellow-blazing: catching a ride for several portions of the trail. Not well looked upon.
- Pink-blazing: slowing down or speeding up to stay with a love interest
- Aqua-blazing: taking a canoe or boat parallel to the trail for many miles instead of the trail itself.
- Deli-blazing: mostly in New York where you can basically stop at a deli every day to eat.
And finally… hiker trash: any hiker who do something that would not be acceptable in the real world. This includes: walking on the side of the road in loaned clothes from a hostel, hitchhiking, bringing your own food to supplement at a restaurant, eating a pint of ice cream or drinking a beer at 10 am or before, or napping on the dirt at 12:30 on a weekday.
Hopefully this dictionary of terms helps with future posts- just remember, we all have a bit of hiker trash in us.
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