what's in a name

On the PCT everyone uses trail names rather than their real names. You want to know who is hiking near you because you can be a half mile away from each other and never know. There might be 100 Garys or Johns spread between Mexico and Canada. And you can't very well say the skinny guy with a beard, sunglasses, and a blue backpack because that is essentially 85% of the trail population. So people you run into give you trail names so that we end up talking about the same person. The names are generally based on either and experience you had, something you say or do a lot, or a defining physical characteristic. We were pretty excited to get trail names because it's a sign that you've really been accepted into this PCT-hiking subculture.

We are together known as the "Sisters with Blisters" due to this blog- which was an unfortunately accurate omen of how our feet look now.

Connor aka "Sherpa" : Due to shedding 17 pounds from her pack on the side of the highway in our first few minutes hiking. ( there is also an inside joke involving her having a major blonde moment but it's inappropriate so I promised I wouldn't go into it. .....)

Jean aka "White Rabbit" : Our ever consistent keeper of time just like the namesake from her favorite book/movie Alice in Wonderland. She keeps us up to date on how many miles and hours we've been hiking and our rage and the affect of our breaks on our itinerary. And how many fallen trees we've climbed over

Kylie aka "Kyliente" : I was severely misinformed by the internet that a tic-tac box was perfect for carrying seasoning on the trail. So I filled a box with Cayenne peeper. It exploded in my food bag on the first day so everything I've eaten is flavored with cayenne. (Margarita shock blocks and Cayenne pepper is amazing btw)

Side note: News of the sisters with Blisters is traveling. As we walked up to Camp Mazama, hikers we don't know said "oh, look, it's the blister sisters!" And our friend Aquagirl said that some randoms were asking if she knew us while at the Crater Lake Lodge. We would like to think it's because we're sooo amazing, but we think word of our 50 lb packs and ginormous resupply boxes has traveled faster than we have =]

Xoxox Kyliente Sherpa & White Rabbit

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