Meet Gavin
#7 of 15
Trail Name: Tipover
Hello! My name is Gavin, trail name is Tipover. I’m 16 and the 7th kid out of the 15 of us. Fun fact, my middle name is Quint cause I’m the 5th boy in the family. Pretty creative, if you ask me. Like everybody older than me, I was born and lived in Paint Rock, TX until we moved to NC when I was 4.
The others have mentioned the family woodworking business we ran. My role in that was to assemble the chairs, stay on top of trash and eventually I became the primary paint man. I’m the most detail oriented out of everybody so those paint jobs were on point. My household chore is trash too. So I guess it was only natural that my role on trail is being responsible for the final once over at every campsite, making sure trash is picked up and nothing is left behind. Once we all found a trail rhythm we all sort of found our place in the hiker line. I became the back of the line to make sure “no man is left behind”, even though sometimes I’m tempted to leave one behind.
Two of the questions I’m asked the most by other people are “how’d you get your trail name?” and “are you the family?” I think most people ask me if we’re the family cause I’m the back of the line and they’re too embarrassed to ask the front of the line, or maybe they just finally figure it out after the 104 of us go by.
As far as my trail name, we were kayaking at Boots Off in TN. I tipped over the kayak and attempted to get back in and sunk it even further. Smoky Bear, in his canoe, had to come save both me and my kayak. I was the only person that day to tip a kayak, resulting in a family joke and the trail name that followed.
My first thoughts when my mom said we’re doing the trail, I was all for it and pretty excited until she said it was 6 months long. I mean, I like camping, hiking and backpacking but 6 months is a long time! When I realized it was really going to happen I started getting prepared and slowly started to get excited about it. What’d I do to get prepared? Pray. Pray a lot. That we wouldn’t all die.
That’s really all you can do when my mom has an idea. We’ve made some funny memories with some of the ideas she’s had. One time we went and collected a bunch of free pianos from all over NC and VA cause she was going to make furniture out of them. Then another time we went and got 15 free hot tubs so we could turn them into fish ponds. So when she said we were doing this I realized we were about to become Bear Grylls for about 6 months of our life. Thankfully we haven’t eaten any bugs yet or had to roast chipmunks. So far the only eating of bugs we’ve done is inhaling the entire population of them that were on the trails in VA and Vermont.
So far my favorite memory of the trail is Grayson Highlands and waking up to the wild ponies with their head in our tents. New York City is a close second. Those hot dogs were bangin.
My favorite school subject is definitely science. I really love pyrotechnics. I’m not sure I’ll ever pursue a career in it but learning about it is fun. Physicist would also be really cool. I also really love astronomy. I don’t really know what I want to pursue for a profession but I think I have a few years to figure it out. I feel like it’s always good to know a trade and be good at it. I love painting and know that I can always fall back on that. Maybe even pursue that on a professional level.
Once our family businesses closed I’m another one that went to work for a shed building company. Since I was too young to operate heavy equipment in the yard I was put in charge of mowing the property and clean up of the building bays. I originally stayed home and did school while the older boys went to work but it got depressing without them home after we had all worked together for so long and was really depressing not doing anything besides school work. So I asked my mom if I could go to work with them. We went and talked to their boss and he was willing to put me to work with them.
I feel like the trail has taught me that screens aren’t important and it’s given me the ability to be independent. It’s also helped me to be comfortable around all kinds of different people.
What 3 things do you think about most on the trail?
⁃ getting home to the dogs we left behind
⁃ What I’m going to do when we get home
⁃ investing the money I earn
⁃ What trail my mom is going to come up with next
(yep, that’s 4 things)
If you could go anywhere in the world where would it be?
⁃ France
If you could meet anyone personally who would it be?
⁃ Magnus Carlson, the world’s greatest chess player. I love the game of chess. I play a lot with one of my good friends. If I want to feel like a champion all I have to do is play a game of it with my siblings.
⁃ The other person I’d like to meet is Joe Rogan. When we made a bunch of deliveries for the business and a lot of our road trips to go hiking before the AT we all listened to Joe’s podcasts. He’s somebody that, like our family, doesn’t think traditionally, is open to different mindsets, has a great sense of humor and would be a really cool person to meet.
I’m very ready to hike the Smokies and say I hiked the entire AT at 15/16 years old. Fun fact, I turned 16 in July while we were on trail.
