The Origins of the VanGrizzle Sock

In past posts I’ve written here on The Alternate Stitch, you’ve probably read that I’m an avid backpacker and thru hiker. I may have also mentioned that I’m fortunate enough to have a Darn Tough sock named after my trail name – the VanGrizzle hiking sock (and the corresponding Vanna Grizzle). 

People often ask me how I got my trail name, Sir Owen VanGrizzle, Duke of Beartown. It all happened at the Stratton Pond Shelter on the Appalachian Trail and Long Trail in southern Vermont, waaaay back when my best friend Ben and I hiked the Long Trail for our first time in 2010.

Encountering the Cyclops

We rolled into camp to a packed shelter, and we noticed an elusive character wearing an old, bulb-style head lamp in broad daylight, an antiquated device even then. Scared to approach this strange figure, we asked another hiker who he was.

It was a scene akin to the Hobbits in The Lord of the Rings asking the barkeep who Strider is when they spot him at the Prancing Pony Inn. "Cyclops," she replied, and we gazed at him in nervous wonder.

Cyclops is a legend in those parts, wandering the AT in Southern Vermont with no clear purpose (at least to outsiders like us). He is neither a northbounder nor southbounder, waking each morning and picking a direction that suits his fancy.

He wears his trusty, time-tested headlamp at all times, resembling a giant eye on his forehead and earning him the name Cyclops. He carries a realistic-looking foam sword strapped to the outside of his pack. When we finally gathered the strength to speak with him, he claimed it was "for holding aloft on majestic peaks." Who were we to question that?

Eager Squires

Now I’m not sure if it was Ben or me, but one of us then asked Cyclops if he’d ever knighted anyone. Standing suddenly straighter and more regal, Cyclops imposingly replied, “On occasion…for those worthy.”

Well, this was an opportunity we couldn’t pass up. We got right to work performing noble deeds around the campsite – moving downed limbs, fetching water, and even bringing Cyclops a humble offering of Pay Days and fruit snacks as he watched us with a discerning eye.

At last, he found us worthy, and all were called from the shelter to solemnly bear witness to a knighting ceremony.

Knighthood Attained

Up until this point, Ben and I had called each other McGruff and VanGrizzle, ironic placeholder trail names for two scrappy boys. Directing us to kneel, Cyclops took out his sword and asked in an elegant, piercing quiver, “What realm are you from?”

Ben answered simply, “Beartown.”

“So be it,” Cyclops declared, tapping each of Ben’s shoulders with his sword. “You shall henceforth be known as Sir Benjamin McGruff, the Wise Seer of Beartown. And you,” he declared turning to me, “shall be Sir Owen VanGrizzle, Duke of Beartown.”

The rest, as they say, is history.

Afterword

If you’re wondering, yes, our Bear Town hiking sock also finds it name origins in this story. Still waiting on McGruff and Cyclops to join the ranks.