[pct-l] Resupply and Hitchhiking...

[saskiadaru at xs4all.nl (Saskia Daru)]

Hi,

Until now we've had really good experiences with hitchhiking in Oregon and
Washington. This year we'll go to California and we are wondering whether
hitch hiking is any easier/harder/more dangerous there. We'll be hiking the
JMT, so we won't be close to any of the large cities and we'll be in prime
hiking territory. Any thoughts?

We're not hiking solo, so we might feel slightly less helpless when cars are
passing us by. Somehow I can imagine that it feels worse when you're alone.
Also, as someone mentioned, a couple often is perceived as less threatening
by people and are picked up sooner.

We've had some great hitch-hikes:
- In a huge chicken compost truck; no problem with our hiker-smell...
- In the back of a pick-up among garbage bags and children's toys; never
done that before, so a great adventure
- In a really old beaten up small car that barely fitted us
- In an SUV driven by a 'real Texan' in Oregon that did not have any seats
in the back, so we sat on our backpacks
- With a Spanish-speaking man who helped us while we could not communicate
more than 'si' and 'esta bien' and of course 'muchas gracias senor' ...:-)

As visitors to the country, it helped us develop a more varied and positive
image of American people. The experience was really different from another
time we visited the US and rented a car. Being dependent on people's help
has a way of showing you that - unless you bump into the wrong people - a
lot of folks actually do help when asked to. Outside the US all we seem to
have to go by is American sit-coms, hollywood movies and detective shows and
of course the politicians shown in the news.

I'm looking forward to my visit this September!

Saskia