[pct-l] hitchhiking hints

[marmot marmot]

My favorite ride was on the Oregon coast trail.  By an elderly lady in a pink Cadillac --she got it by selling Mary Kay. She had never picked up a hitchhiker before---what a ride.  Marmot

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> On Sep 26, 2013, at 6:19 PM, "Diane Soini" <dianesoini at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> 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.
> 
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