[pct-l] hitchhiking hints

[Diane Soini]

I didn't do any of these self-protective hints, except perhaps  
evaluate the driver and passengers before accepting rides. I found  
that hitchhiking was one of the main things to restore my faith in  
humanity. I got rides from all walks of life, all ages, all kinds of  
people.

I met a rancher who was upset about land management practices that  
wanted to eliminate cattle from public lands. We had a hatred of off- 
road motorcycling in common.

I met a native American who does the yearly walk from Bridgeport into  
the Sierra and told me stories about how he likes to just set off  
into the Southern Sierra for a while. Doesn't bring any food. Just  
hunts as he goes.

I met a young nurse who seemed confused by the direction of her life  
and probably picked me up because I reminded her of herself and  
seemed to offer some other direction she could take even though I was  
hiking the PCT because I was confused by the direction of my own life.

I got laughed at by a passing cyclist that I'd never get a ride and  
then got a ride a minute later from some guy who just knew I was one  
of the PCT hikers and wanted to grill me because he really wanted to  
hike the PCT someday.

I got a ride in a van with a bunch of young women, their mom and  
their Downs syndrome sister.

I got a ride from some old people who "never pick up hitchhikers, but  
there was something about you that made us stop" and they took me to  
meet their son who was a ranger at Crater Lake.

I got a ride from some people who looked like they could possibly  
drive away with my gear, but they were nice and did not drive away  
with my gear.

I got a ride from an employee at the ski center on Mt. Hood. He was  
late for work and man was that a scary ride.

I got a ride from a guy I met on the trail a couple weeks prior after  
having people turn me down for hours with a wave or even stop, roll  
down their windows and tell me they were so sorry they couldn't give  
me a ride and please try to be safe. Well, if you aren't an axe  
murderer yourself, and you obviously don't think I am, how bout  
giving me a ride?

I got a ride from Steven's pass and we got to talking and missed  
Skykomish by about 20 minutes. He was nice enough to turn around and  
I got him to let me off in Baring. I ended up having a great dinner  
at the store and while I was eating it turned out the Dinsmores were  
at the next table but I didn't know because I had never met them before.

So many great adventures around hitchhiking for me. It was kinda one  
of the more fun things about the trail and definitely the biggest  
surprise of the experience. Back when I was first trying to do all my  
resupply planning I figured I would try to plan so that I never had  
to hitchhike. I'm glad that didn't work out.

Diane


On Sep 26, 2013, at 10:00 AM, pct-l-request at backcountry.net wrote:

> From: "Bob Bankhead" <wandering_bob at comcast.net>
> Subject: Re: [pct-l] hitchhiking hints
>
> Other points regarding self-protection:
>
>
> Evaluate the driver and passengers before accepting a ride,  
> especially if
> you are female. If anything doesn't feel right about the ride,  
> don't take
> it.
>
> Memorize - or better yet, write down - the license number of the  
> vehicle.
> This is especially important BEFORE you toss your gear into the  
> trunk or the
> back of a truck. You wouldn't be the first hitch-hiker left  
> standing by the
> road watching the vehicle speed away with your gear. There are a  
> few sick
> folks out there who find this funny. It is also helpful if you  
> discover
> later that you inadvertently left something in the vehicle at the  
> end of the
> hitch.
>
> I tape a return address label on each of my trekking poles or other  
> valuable
> items I might set down and forget. When my wife lost one of my  
> poles on a
> hike, the thoughtful finder was able to track me down to arrange a  
> return
> shipment. LT4's are expensive; so are cameras and GPS units.