THE LONG-DISTANCE HIKING DICTIONARY
Do you sometimes encounter terms from the long-distance hiking scene and don’t really know what they mean? Here you will find the most important terms around long-distance hiking and thruhiking briefly explained.
Trail
Term for (hiking) trail. In Germany, a trail is mainly associated with a mountain bike route. The single trail describes a small natural trail. The most famous long-distance hiking trails are certainly the three North American ones: AT (Appalachian Trail), PCT (Pacific Crest Trail) and CDT (Continental Divide Trail).
Thru-Hike
English term for thru-hike. A Thru-Hike is the supreme discipline in long-distance hiking. It means to hike the whole distance in one go. Of course, rest days are allowed, but the entire route should be hiked quickly one after the other. Here it can come again and again to discussions starting from when a footpath becomes a long-distance footpath. My personal limit is trails that are over 150 km long and cross at least more than one state. Accordingly, a thru-hiker is anyone who has completed a trail from start to finish in full distance.
Trail Angel
English term for selfless, helpful people who offer their help to Thruhikers. The ``Trail Angels`` are an integral part of the Thruhiker culture on the American long-distance trails. They are volunteers who support Thruhikers in a variety of ways. Some of the Trail Angels make their house/apartment available for overnight stays. In addition, they let Thruhikers camp on their property, provide washing facilities, cook food for them, and provide moral support. They are often motivated by meeting interesting people, but are also compensated by the Thruhikers through cost-sharing and, not least, stories from the trek. Many of the Thruhikers who have successfully completed a long-distance trail also later become a Trail Angel. It is an attempt to give back something of what they have experienced.
Trail Magic
English term for a surprise by the wayside. Trail Magic can be a deposited cooler with drinks or small depots with food supplies. Trail Magic can also be a spontaneous invitation for an overnight stay or shower. Thruhikers speak of ``Trail Magic`` in all these cases.
SoBo
SoBo is the English abbreviation for ``South Bound``. A Southbounder is a walker who walks from north to south. The NST is traditionally hiked SoBo and is only signposted in this direction. The opposite direction is logically called NoBo (North Bound).
Flip flop
Flip flop means to change a plan. A section of the route is voluntarily or forcibly skipped and made up for at a later date. Reasons for a flip flop can be surprising weather changes, temporary trail closures or the trail is simply too crowded. There may be various reasons.
Zero
English term for a break day. You walk ``zero miles``, i.e. zero kilometres. As a rule, you do your laundry, food shopping or rough planning for the next stages on a zero day. But the main reason for a zero is rest.
Nero
Nero is made up of two English terms, Near and Zero, or more precisely NEar to zeRO = Nero.
``Nero'' is the term used to describe days on which you hardly walk at all. If you walk continuously, days on which you have to walk less than 10 mi can be celebrated as Nero. A classic Nero is a hiking day on which you arrive at your hotel or campsite by midday.
Hiker trash
English term for a long-distance hiker who has been on the trail for a long time and seems a bit strange because of his appearance, smell or strange behaviour. Literally, ``hiker trash`` means hiking waste or hiking rubbish, but in this case it is not meant in a derogatory way. The more appropriate German term is ``Landstreicher`` (tramp or vagabond).
Hiker Midnight
English term for midnight on a hike. The daily routine out on the trail is very different from your usual daily life. You go to sleep at completely different times than you might at home. A long-distance hike is very physically demanding and often all you want to do after a 25 mi day is go to bed. This can often be as early as 8pm, hiker midnight. But it's usually when it gets dark and you can't see anything without electric light. Or even easier, when it starts to rain.
Hiker Hunger
The term for insatiable hunger during a long-distance hike. This condition starts with every thruhiker after a few days. You are able to devour enormous portions and daydream about food for hours while walking. It happened to us that in a restaurant we didn't ask about the quality or the price, we just asked one question: ``Is it a lot?`` The funniest order on our Thruhike was `` two lots and two alcohol, please!`` 😅
Section hiker
A classic section hike is, for example, the German section of the European long-distance hiking trail E1. In this case, you only hike the German section and not the entire trail. Long-distance trails can be completed in this way over several years.
Bufferino
Who doesn't know them, the long tube scarves from Buff. These functional scarves are wonderfully versatile. A good tip for very high temperatures in summer is to soak the tubular scarf in ice-cold river water or at a spring and put it over your head tied as a pirate scarf - that's exactly what Bufferino means.
NST SOUP
After a tour of several days in the countryside with no washing facilities, a wash day is on the agenda. Usually this is done in the washbasin of a hotel or youth hostel. Congratulations, this is where the NST soup is cooked. A little insider among the NST community and adapted from the comedy series Seinfeld, from the episode ``The Soup Nazi`` ``No soup for you``.