Whoa, this is weird. I thru hiked in ‘15 and met Gorp Gobbler early on, maybe somewhere before VA. He’d run out of water on some climb and was struggling. I gave him some of mine bc I knew a source was coming up soon. I didn’t have much of an opinion about the guy. He was just another retired white dude going at it, and I only saw him a few days total. No opinion until he friended me on FB post-hike, anyway, and then I saw what a disgusting piece of shit racist he is. I told him what I thought about him, blocked him, and didn’t think about him for years until right now.
The child SA is fucking wild, but seems in character for a piece of shit.
One thing you might enjoy knowing: he told me that even earlier on his hike, before I met him, he’d gotten norovirus and had to be rescued from the trail bc he was incapacitated, violently shitting himself in his sleeping bag real bad. He had to replace a bunch of his gear after that.
Bummed to hear he’s still a piece of shit and making people uncomfortable out there. Glad your mom had a great hike, nonetheless!
Sorry, let my backtrack on that comment. Registered sex offenders cannot use Facebook, Instagram, and I'm sure a few other sites. In NC they couldn't use any social media but apparently that was ruled unconstitutional a few years ago.
I'm guessing it's fine to use Reddit. Sorry again for the misinformation, I'm a few years behind, haha.
You should post a picture of him or not post at all. Last year it was an Asian hiker with the trail name Ice called out like this and what it led to was numerous Asian hikers being attacked and harassed. Not questioning your intentions but post a picture of the person or STFU.
It's really dangerous to throw out accusations like that. There's no evidence that the guy posting is him. Just a bunch of people taking their anger for a pedophile out on the one person who didn't agree with this post.
I feel like I’ve heard the name along the trail. I just day hike around blood mountain, but I feel like I know who you’re talking about. Is he tall and weird lookin with dark hair? Could just be another weird trail name lol.
That’s definitely a red flag. For creeps the trail name is just the perfect excuse to be even creepier with no identity attached. I met a guy who wouldn’t tell me his real name once too and it was the guy I was referring to lol. But it was just in passing, quick convo. But I’ll definitely let my friends on the trail know to stay wary!
For context - I was a 17 year old kid, driving this man in my car, to sleep at my house overnight in a room next to my bedroom, eating dinner at my house with my family - so it was a bit more odd than just a passing interaction on the trail.
In retrospect I was like Mom what in the world 😂 you invited this dude to our house and to hike with you without knowing his name? She’s too kind and naive sometimes lol.
Asking someone’s first name is probably the least of someone’s worries on the trail. Most people say it immediately after their trail name. And it’s usually an extremely common name. You expect to hear something like “David” or “John” not something like the gorp gobbler, especially when THEY initiate the conversation. I’m in the middle of some random woods, respectfully I don’t want to hear “I’m gorp gobbler” or anything similar, especially when the vibes are super off.
> Most people say it immediately after their trail name.
I heard very few, almost zero thru hikers give their first names along with their trail names while on my thru last year. I think you being in Georgia may impact this as most people haven't really gotten trail names that have stuck yet at that point and are still testing things out if the AT is their first thru hike. You aren't in random woods, you're along the AT where there's a defined subculture of long distance hikers going by nicknames.
It’s usually not a weird thing to ask. Depending on the time of year, there’s no one there. I get no service, I hike there weekly and know my way around, but it really is the middle of the woods with zero service and very few people a lot of times. Especially past dusk when everyone’s off trail camping. I get along very well with 98% of the people I meet. But some people just SCREAM “I need to leave now”. And there’s also a lot of really creepy stories I hear around these mountains and the people around here. Someone actually did get murdered on the very same trail a while ago, it’s definitely not impossible. I just stay wary. Most of the time if someone has some trail name and I initiated and asked their name or most other situations it’s fine and I don’t care, but again, certain times with creepy people you just have to be certain. Also, your pictures are beautiful and I followed you.
You realize this guy was literally sleeping in my family home? This wasn’t actively on the trail. Also, as soon as I did find his name, I promptly found the various articles and records about him - obviously why he was being so elusive about his name, the trail name is just an easy cover for people like that.
It's actually not that uncommon. After a while you identify with your trail name and that's how you instinctually respond with for any trail adjacent interactions. That's how you check into hostels, introduce yourself to day hikers/trail angels/people giving you hitches or even putting you up for a night. On trail, I probably only knew a few dozen people's first names and half of them were because I knew them before they got a trail name. Picked up a few more names afterward on FB and most through the yearbook. To this day, there's still people that didn't make it onto the yearbook that I don't know their first names, people that I split hotel rooms with and have phone numbers for.
Obviously, if you followed up with an explicit question asking for his real name and he responded with something like he didn't do government names, then that would be weird. But if it was just a "What's your name" followed with a trail name; I hope no one walks away getting creeped out by that.
Not sure why people are getting so attached to the trail name piece of this story considering all of the other elements lol. Someone using their trail name primarily in AT related scenarios is fine, it’s a cool part of the experience and community - that alone is not any reason to be creeped out. I was going off of intuition that this was not a man I wanted to be in a close proximity to my mother on the trail, he had something about him, and that feeling was affirmed when I found his name and DOB and looked him up. That leads me to believe he was intentionally trying to obscure anyone from finding this information.
https://www.reddit.com/r/AppalachianTrail/s/C05A1b4jWl
He's planning on using his reddit name this year on trail apparently he's upset about being doxxed on reddit
There is no evidence that he is the sexual predator. It doesn't feel right that people are so quickly jumping to the assumption that it's the same person. His username ends in 61 and he has past comments saying his age is 63. So the 61 means 1961 was his birth year. Not the same age as the predator.
I remember why I couldn’t communicate to her sooner now - initially, I just snapped a quick photo of the guys ID on my phone since I knew he would be back soon, and then didn’t actually look him up until later that night. By the time I texted her and my dad, they had gone to bed and she somehow missed my texts until she had service again further along in the initial stretch of their hike. My dad and I were so worried those first few days!
more recent photo available on his, very PUBLIC (at least as of today), AT 2024 trail journal site.
yes he's older, and the photo is mirror image. but ears and noses don't lie. He's wearing a neck collar in the photo, like oh, Boo Hoo!, trying to get sympathy from all his "followers". Most of his posts are sharing details about all his medical issues that have been keeping him from hiking.
From time to time we hear rumors about hikers doing shady stuff. I truly don't know why it's surprising to many thru hikers/ backpackers/ hikers aren't just another slice of humanity as if hikers are levitating above everyone else's integrity and morality.
Gorp?
E: ok folks, well it looks like he’s planning a thru and trying to work along the trail next year.
E2: [this you gorpy?](https://archive.knoxnews.com/news/local/homeless-man-indicted-in-knox-on-sex-offender-charges-ep-359301278-356336411.html/)
Damn. I’d wager it is almost certainly him after seeing a few of his other comments.
Edit: I won’t post the link for those vehemently against doxing, but a quick google search of the gobbler and Appalachian Trail and he’s front and center.
Not only are you a disgusting piece of shit for the crimes you committed and continue to commit, but you’re the world’s biggest moron if you’re not even smart enough to change your shitty trail name.
Haven’t been blessed with much in this life, have you?
Turns out he's currently changing his tail name.
https://www.reddit.com/r/AppalachianTrail/s/C05A1b4jWl
Edit to add. - ( trying to go by his username) https://www.reddit.com/r/AppalachianTrail/s/HhRspCXZHP
I am genuinely disgusted by this post. I invite anybody who endorses the OP’s post to downvote me. If the mods can’t stop a post like this, I would prefer that they make their position clear and ban me.
Whoa, this is weird. I thru hiked in ‘15 and met Gorp Gobbler early on, maybe somewhere before VA. He’d run out of water on some climb and was struggling. I gave him some of mine bc I knew a source was coming up soon. I didn’t have much of an opinion about the guy. He was just another retired white dude going at it, and I only saw him a few days total. No opinion until he friended me on FB post-hike, anyway, and then I saw what a disgusting piece of shit racist he is. I told him what I thought about him, blocked him, and didn’t think about him for years until right now. The child SA is fucking wild, but seems in character for a piece of shit. One thing you might enjoy knowing: he told me that even earlier on his hike, before I met him, he’d gotten norovirus and had to be rescued from the trail bc he was incapacitated, violently shitting himself in his sleeping bag real bad. He had to replace a bunch of his gear after that. Bummed to hear he’s still a piece of shit and making people uncomfortable out there. Glad your mom had a great hike, nonetheless!
He’s actively in this post now calling for me to get banned and slandering him then deleting comments
In most states, sex offenders cannot use social media so if he's on Reddit, that would be a violation I do believe.
No way. Source for this? A quick Google tells me that that’s not true
Sorry, let my backtrack on that comment. Registered sex offenders cannot use Facebook, Instagram, and I'm sure a few other sites. In NC they couldn't use any social media but apparently that was ruled unconstitutional a few years ago. I'm guessing it's fine to use Reddit. Sorry again for the misinformation, I'm a few years behind, haha.
Eeek.
You should post a picture of him or not post at all. Last year it was an Asian hiker with the trail name Ice called out like this and what it led to was numerous Asian hikers being attacked and harassed. Not questioning your intentions but post a picture of the person or STFU.
It's really dangerous to throw out accusations like that. There's no evidence that the guy posting is him. Just a bunch of people taking their anger for a pedophile out on the one person who didn't agree with this post.
That’s crazy, it’s also possible you may have met my mom out there! Small world
[удалено]
Thanks for this. Commenting for traction.
That would certainly answer any questions about character that I would have of anyone, woof!
I see you found his name - I didn’t want to fully dox him, so might be cautious there but yeah.
Oh I don’t give a shit. I’m not releasing anything. Just putting out terms for a google search.
I feel like I’ve heard the name along the trail. I just day hike around blood mountain, but I feel like I know who you’re talking about. Is he tall and weird lookin with dark hair? Could just be another weird trail name lol.
He’s older - probably nearly 70 by now, white beard and sparse hair.
Ok, definitely probably a different guy then. I’ve met a few unsavory types with really strange trail names along the ga trails.
I was immediately suspicious that he refused to tell me his name and insisted on using his trail name
That’s definitely a red flag. For creeps the trail name is just the perfect excuse to be even creepier with no identity attached. I met a guy who wouldn’t tell me his real name once too and it was the guy I was referring to lol. But it was just in passing, quick convo. But I’ll definitely let my friends on the trail know to stay wary!
In a passing quick conversation on trail, it's weird to try and get someone's legal name.
For context - I was a 17 year old kid, driving this man in my car, to sleep at my house overnight in a room next to my bedroom, eating dinner at my house with my family - so it was a bit more odd than just a passing interaction on the trail.
I was referring to cheesecakelover6940's comment. I would also try to get someone's legal name if they were riding with me and sleeping at my house.
In retrospect I was like Mom what in the world 😂 you invited this dude to our house and to hike with you without knowing his name? She’s too kind and naive sometimes lol.
True, but it’s sad something fun can also be a shield for creepers. Thankfully they’re a tiny minority.
Asking someone’s first name is probably the least of someone’s worries on the trail. Most people say it immediately after their trail name. And it’s usually an extremely common name. You expect to hear something like “David” or “John” not something like the gorp gobbler, especially when THEY initiate the conversation. I’m in the middle of some random woods, respectfully I don’t want to hear “I’m gorp gobbler” or anything similar, especially when the vibes are super off.
> Most people say it immediately after their trail name. I heard very few, almost zero thru hikers give their first names along with their trail names while on my thru last year. I think you being in Georgia may impact this as most people haven't really gotten trail names that have stuck yet at that point and are still testing things out if the AT is their first thru hike. You aren't in random woods, you're along the AT where there's a defined subculture of long distance hikers going by nicknames.
It’s usually not a weird thing to ask. Depending on the time of year, there’s no one there. I get no service, I hike there weekly and know my way around, but it really is the middle of the woods with zero service and very few people a lot of times. Especially past dusk when everyone’s off trail camping. I get along very well with 98% of the people I meet. But some people just SCREAM “I need to leave now”. And there’s also a lot of really creepy stories I hear around these mountains and the people around here. Someone actually did get murdered on the very same trail a while ago, it’s definitely not impossible. I just stay wary. Most of the time if someone has some trail name and I initiated and asked their name or most other situations it’s fine and I don’t care, but again, certain times with creepy people you just have to be certain. Also, your pictures are beautiful and I followed you.
[удалено]
I told people my first name on the trail, would never give my last name out. I don’t see the danger in someone knowing your first name
>insisted on using his trail name You sound very unfamiliar with the AT,
You realize this guy was literally sleeping in my family home? This wasn’t actively on the trail. Also, as soon as I did find his name, I promptly found the various articles and records about him - obviously why he was being so elusive about his name, the trail name is just an easy cover for people like that.
It's actually not that uncommon. After a while you identify with your trail name and that's how you instinctually respond with for any trail adjacent interactions. That's how you check into hostels, introduce yourself to day hikers/trail angels/people giving you hitches or even putting you up for a night. On trail, I probably only knew a few dozen people's first names and half of them were because I knew them before they got a trail name. Picked up a few more names afterward on FB and most through the yearbook. To this day, there's still people that didn't make it onto the yearbook that I don't know their first names, people that I split hotel rooms with and have phone numbers for. Obviously, if you followed up with an explicit question asking for his real name and he responded with something like he didn't do government names, then that would be weird. But if it was just a "What's your name" followed with a trail name; I hope no one walks away getting creeped out by that.
Not sure why people are getting so attached to the trail name piece of this story considering all of the other elements lol. Someone using their trail name primarily in AT related scenarios is fine, it’s a cool part of the experience and community - that alone is not any reason to be creeped out. I was going off of intuition that this was not a man I wanted to be in a close proximity to my mother on the trail, he had something about him, and that feeling was affirmed when I found his name and DOB and looked him up. That leads me to believe he was intentionally trying to obscure anyone from finding this information.
This is the trail drama I lurk for!
https://www.reddit.com/r/AppalachianTrail/s/C05A1b4jWl He's planning on using his reddit name this year on trail apparently he's upset about being doxxed on reddit
There is no evidence that he is the sexual predator. It doesn't feel right that people are so quickly jumping to the assumption that it's the same person. His username ends in 61 and he has past comments saying his age is 63. So the 61 means 1961 was his birth year. Not the same age as the predator.
I remember why I couldn’t communicate to her sooner now - initially, I just snapped a quick photo of the guys ID on my phone since I knew he would be back soon, and then didn’t actually look him up until later that night. By the time I texted her and my dad, they had gone to bed and she somehow missed my texts until she had service again further along in the initial stretch of their hike. My dad and I were so worried those first few days!
There are young people on the trail. People should be aware. https://sor.tbi.tn.gov/details/00474435
more recent photo available on his, very PUBLIC (at least as of today), AT 2024 trail journal site. yes he's older, and the photo is mirror image. but ears and noses don't lie. He's wearing a neck collar in the photo, like oh, Boo Hoo!, trying to get sympathy from all his "followers". Most of his posts are sharing details about all his medical issues that have been keeping him from hiking.
Count gobula
https://archive.knoxnews.com/news/local/359060031.html/
From time to time we hear rumors about hikers doing shady stuff. I truly don't know why it's surprising to many thru hikers/ backpackers/ hikers aren't just another slice of humanity as if hikers are levitating above everyone else's integrity and morality.
Hearsay
Gorp? E: ok folks, well it looks like he’s planning a thru and trying to work along the trail next year. E2: [this you gorpy?](https://archive.knoxnews.com/news/local/homeless-man-indicted-in-knox-on-sex-offender-charges-ep-359301278-356336411.html/)
Damn. I’d wager it is almost certainly him after seeing a few of his other comments. Edit: I won’t post the link for those vehemently against doxing, but a quick google search of the gobbler and Appalachian Trail and he’s front and center.
I don’t think it counts as hearsay when you’re on the registry dude!
Not only are you a disgusting piece of shit for the crimes you committed and continue to commit, but you’re the world’s biggest moron if you’re not even smart enough to change your shitty trail name. Haven’t been blessed with much in this life, have you?
Turns out he's currently changing his tail name. https://www.reddit.com/r/AppalachianTrail/s/C05A1b4jWl Edit to add. - ( trying to go by his username) https://www.reddit.com/r/AppalachianTrail/s/HhRspCXZHP
I am genuinely disgusted by this post. I invite anybody who endorses the OP’s post to downvote me. If the mods can’t stop a post like this, I would prefer that they make their position clear and ban me.
We're disgusted with your crimes, Gorpy.
Why is this kind of personal attack tolerated? Is this not against the rules? Why hasn’t the OP been banned?
we found the gobbler
So please down vote me. Call your friends. Expose me. Show everyone exactly what the people on this Reddit stand for.
Well yes. Exposing you is exactly the point. Not in the way you did with the child, but to the community at large.
I hope you get doxxed, you sick bastard.
Address the allegations gobbler! Have you stolen from fellow hikers? Did you SA kids?
"Oh no, muh rules" There's rules against touching kids, you rancid fuckin asshole. I hope someone forcibly shits in your mouth