[pct-l] Trail Angeling and Tipping

[Robert E. Riess]

It has been my pleasure to host hikers here in my home in San Diego for 7 seasons now.  I don't keep a register, but I estimate over 400 hikers have passed through here. I have yet to have a bad experience with any hiker.  Most importantly, there has never been anything stolen.  I don't ask for payment, and when it is offered I politely (I think) decline.  

That's the executive summary, now the details.  What I want to do is give hikers a good start.  San Diego is my town, and I got started hosting hikers in 1999 after reading many trail journals which stated that the worst day on the trail was day zero.  In those days, it was impossible to get to Campo the day of arrival at the SD airport, unless you got here by 1000am.  You had to take 2 busses and a trolley to get to the El Cajon Transit Center to catch the Campo bus at 400pm, and you needed a reservation on this bus.  That put you in Campo at 530pm, too late to do anything but hike to the monument and back, then head north the next day.  This is not optimal.  Some hikers had to spend a night on the streets of SD, and the next night in the Campo store parking lot.  Whenever possible, hikers should try for Lake Morena on day 1, because you want to get out of the "border zone."  I heard horror stories of hikers who arrived at noon and got to El Cajon only to miss the Campo bus.  This make one "homeless for a day." The cops rouse you out of anyplace they find you.  You can be arrested, in SD at least, for sleeping in public.  So, as a homeless person, you can sleep in the broken glass between dumpsters and take your chances.  As an unmarried (and therefore unsupervised man) I sized up the situation and thought I could do better. I had an empty bedroom, a 32 ft RV, and a 7 pax van.  I hosted 32 hikers that first year, and quickly developed some hosting techniques that have served hikers and host very well.  I try to meet as many hikers as I can at the airport, bus or train. I get busy hosting as many as 88 hikers in a season, sometimes 9 a day just before the ADZPCTKO.  I want hikers to stay at least one night with me.  Some stay 2 or 3.  One couple stayed 5 nights due to illness.  One hiker, by prearrangement, stayed a week.  I do not enjoy picking up hikers at the airport and driving them directly to the trailhead, but if that's what they want, I will do it.  I enjoy hosting hikers.  I do not enjoy driving hikers.  There's a significant difference.  Anyway, the optimum start of a hike is at firstlight, 530am at the monument.  As luck would have it, I need to leave the monument at 545am to get to school in time for my first class at 700am.  So, we roll out at 400am, and saddle up for a 430 departure.  Almost all who start at firstlight can make it to Lake Morena on day 1.  No hiker has ever objected to the early start, and since it is my idea, I guess I don't object to it either. 

About half my hikers send me a package, and also about half need to visit the PO.  If we don't have time to get to the PO, I will mail packages for hikers, who always leave money to cover the postage.  Any excess goes to the ADZPCTKO.  Several at least want to visit an outfitter.  It's 18 miles to REI and 12 miles to A-16, so those trips need a little coordination.  Taking public transportation to REI would take 6 hours and cost $4.50. Usually, if one hiker wants to go to REI, everybody goes along.  It's a social event. Not everybody takes meals at my house, but if they want to eat here, they are welcome.  Some bring or buy groceries, most want to eat out.  Usually the group will opt for Mexican food, so we all pile in the van and go out for it.  Most of the time the hikers pick up my meal, which is a kindness I always accept.  

I have never accepted money for what I do.  A trailhead run is 85 miles round trip, and costs about $16 to $20 depending on the cost of gasoline. A season is usually about 25 trailhead runs.  About half the time, hikers generously offer to pay for gas or groceries if we are eating at the house.  I always decline.  The reasons are simple.  I am hosting because I want to.  If I accept money, then it's fee for service. The more important reason is simply that, on the trail all hikers are equal, fast or slow, thru or section.  For some, giving me $100 is no big deal.  For others, a $5 expense must be budgetted. So, I solve that problem by taking no money from anyone.  When I decline their generosity, I mention that the ADZPCTKO (of which I am an organizer) accepts no money from hikers. So, as they offer money, I tell them no, thank you, but you can make as generous a contribution to the ADZPCTKO as you would like to, next year, when you are not a hiker.  I have had $80 left on the steps of my RV out at the ADZPCTKO. It took awhile, but I tracked him down and made him take it back.  I have found $50 in the glove box of my van.  It was the end of the season, and since I had no idea who made that contribution, it went to the ADZPCTKO.  

Nobody asked for my $.02, so here you have at least a nickle's worth.  My situation, and my motivation may be different from other trail angels.  I greatly admire the other trail angels, and especially the water stashers.  What I do is a detail compared to buying, driving and carrying hundreds of gallons a season.  The water stashers have been silent on this issue, as they always are.  They do their good work in silence and anonymity, for little recognition, and minimal monitary support.  Hikers who have benefitted from the safety and security of a system of Southern California water stashes might want to know that one of the people who provide this important convenience leaves his car with a pack that weighs 88 lbs, carrying 16 lbs in each hand, to walk a long way to a stash that is positioned for the optimum safety of the hikers.  

Admin note: If you want to pick up the rant opposing the ADZPCTKO or the water stashers, please contact me offlist.  Freedom of speech is something I served 23 years in the armed forces of the United States protecting, and I would never presume to deny anyone their right of free speech.  I would only assert that I do not wish to reopen this can of worms, which has been exhaustively debated for years now.  

Merry Christams, Happy New Year,
Hike on !  Bob Riess at the trailhead.