Getting into town for resupply... nervous

[BlueWaterHue]

Hi all. So I've been reading the boards here and other places, some books, and researching gear, etc and I feel like I have a good basic starting knowledge for a section hike this year. I have more planning to do but I really want to get something started this year, hoping for late May. My biggest concern at this point is the hitching that seems to be generally required to get into town sometimes to resupply. I have never really done it, and as a female who will occasionally be alone I am concerned about safety. My common sense tells me to be careful, watch out for any 'shady' characters, but also that most likely I would be fine as long as I follow my gut. It is still unnerving to get into a stranger's car and be at their whim and have to rely on this to get what I need to keep moving forward on the trail.

Does anyone have any thoughts, advice, personal stories, etc to help me navigate this topic? It seems to be the one thing glossed over almost everywhere I read. I don't want this one thing to be the reason I don't get out there this year.

Thanks!
-Ang

[Hodie16]

Ang, Common sense and use good judgment. I can only speak for the Georgia, North Carolina, and Tennessee AT sections because I hike them regularly. This weekend as I was starting my hike out of Winding Gap and older couple came out of the woods and asked if this was the road to Franklin. I informed them it was. They asked if I thought they would be able to ge a ride in if the hitched (8 miles), I said probably. First car that saw them picked them up, he was a trail angel and had been manning some stations along the trail on weekends since first of February. Lucky, a bit, but most people in these areas know your hiking and understand and want to lend a hand to hikers. There will always be exceptions. As I came out of the woods Sunday, a Brit was at the Gap, I gave him a ride. Just paying it forward. Many times there will be other hikers at the stops so you might be able to team up and ride in. Just go with your gut and you should be fine

[Moose2001]

Ang - listen to your gut and use your common sense. You will only be alone if you wish to be alone. There are plenty of hiking partners if you so desire. Don't let your fears overwhelm you and keep you at home.

[Mountain Mike]

The PCT isn't as popular at the AT but there are still quite a few hikers you will meet along the way that you could hook up with for a ride into town. On a few hitches I was dreading (at the end of dead end roads) I actually got offered rides by hikers I ran into who were out for a weekend or day before I got to the trail head. Most trail towns & the trail cooridor in general are very outdoor oriented & very helpful to hikers.

[SCRUB HIKER]

If you're hiking near other people at all, guys will want you around for hitching because it's so much easier to get a ride if you're the one sticking your thumb out, maybe throwing a little hip at the road and letting your hair down, etc. There are some rhyming terms for this strategy; the more polite one is "ride bride."

My best hiking friend on the AT was a 26-year-old female with long red hair who LOVED hitching, by herself or with friends--it didn't really matter. She was really empowered by being able to do it pretty much anytime she needed, including times when most men wouldn't bother trying and would just walk. We were somewhere in Virginia together and she hitched across town to get to the laundromat. From Katahdin, she hitched home to Connecticut by herself and popped up at her parents' doorstep unannounced. That whole "gas, grass or ass: no one rides for free" thing is pretty misrepresentative: I think most people are just genuinely interested in helping out and meeting a stranger. She screened her ride offers, trusted her gut like others have said, and never had a problem.

I think a lot of people, men and women both, go into long-distance hiking scared of the hitching aspect, and most realize after awhile that, as long as you stay smart about it, it's not much to be afraid of.

[frisbeefreek]

Going into town with a friend is a good plan. I found hitching on the PCT to be much nicer, easier, and less sketchy than on the AT. Not trying to stereotype, but I saw a lot more hippies out West. I never had a problem getting a ride, and I was a solo male (longest wait was maybe 90-minutes, but the first car over Etna Summit drove me to the bottom).

[leaftye]

If you're hiking near other people at all, guys will want you around for hitching because it's so much easier to get a ride if you're the one sticking your thumb out, maybe throwing a little hip at the road and letting your hair down, etc. There are some rhyming terms for this strategy; the more polite one is "ride bride."

I was going to say this. It's a mutual benefit. You get the security of having a fellow thru hiker with you, and he gets a much faster hitch.

I've spent hours alone waiting for a ride, and I'd want to hook up a "ride bride" in town for helping me get a ride.

[Mountain Mike]

Going into town with a friend is a good plan. I found hitching on the PCT to be much nicer, easier, and less sketchy than on the AT. Not trying to stereotype, but I saw a lot more hippies out West. I never had a problem getting a ride, and I was a solo male (longest wait was maybe 90-minutes, but the first car over Etna Summit drove me to the bottom).

That had to be one of the friendliest towns. Got a ride there from a guy shuttling cars around to pick up the rest of his group. When he was there the day before he asked at an ice cream shop if they knew of a place he could get a shower. Owner made a call then walked back to him & drew out a map to his house & said his wife was expecting him. I just dropped in to pick up a few things, & because we kept hearing about the great, authentic oriental food there. On way out, first car stopped & said he had some errands to run but if we were still there when we got back he would give us a ride. Two other cars passed by within a few minutes & it started to sprinkle. Guy who stopped came back to give us a ride & said his errands could wait!

[trovar]

Hi all. So I've been reading the boards here and other places, some books, and researching gear, etc and I feel like I have a good basic starting knowledge for a section hike this year. I have more planning to do but I really want to get something started this year, hoping for late May. My biggest concern at this point is the hitching that seems to be generally required to get into town sometimes to resupply. I have never really done it, and as a female who will occasionally be alone I am concerned about safety. My common sense tells me to be careful, watch out for any 'shady' characters, but also that most likely I would be fine as long as I follow my gut. It is still unnerving to get into a stranger's car and be at their whim and have to rely on this to get what I need to keep moving forward on the trail.

Does anyone have any thoughts, advice, personal stories, etc to help me navigate this topic? It seems to be the one thing glossed over almost everywhere I read. I don't want this one thing to be the reason I don't get out there this year.

Thanks!
-Ang

I agree that trusting your gut is your best bet (you aren't obligated to get in their car because they pulled over) but depending on your mileage, you could theoretically thru-hike without hitching. During my PCT thru this summer, I hitched three times but they were all unplanned (I went to town because I wanted to take a nero/eat some town food). The furthest distance off trail to a planned resupply was Stehekin (11 miles) but almost everyone gets there by bus so you don't have to hitch. The furthest I had to walk was 2 miles into Castella, which kinda sucked because it was on the highway, but it wasn't too bad. I was moving faster than average so YMMV. Here's my planned itinerary if you're interested:

Warner Springs (mile 109.5, 1.2 from trail)
Ziggy the Bear's house (210.8, 0.2 from trail)
Cajon Pass (342, 0.5 from trail)
Agua Dulce (454.5, on trail)
Hikertown (517.6, on trail)
Kennedy Meadows (702.2, 0.5 from trail)
Muir Trail Ranch (856.2, 1.5 from trail)
Tulomne Meadows (942.5, 0.3 from trail)
Echo Lake (1094.5, on trail)
Sierra City (1197.5, 1.4 from trail)
Drakesbad Ranch (1353.6, 0.5 from trail)
Old Station (1377.8, 0.3 from trail)
Burney Falls State Park (1423.5, 0.2 from trail)
Castella (1506.5, 2 miles from trail)
Seiad Valley (1662, on trail)
Hyatt Lake Resort (1749, 0.8 from trail)
Mazama Village (1829.3, 1.3 from trail)
Elk Lake Resort (1959.1, 1 from trail)
Big Lake Youth Camp (2001.3, 0.7 from trail)
Cascade Locks (2155, 0.5 from trail)
White Pass (2303, 0.7 from trail)
Snoqualmie Pass (2402, on trail)
Stehekin (2580, 11 from trail)

[BlueWaterHue]

Hmm... looks like I didn't post my first response correctly or the system ate it....

Anyway, Thank you to everyone who responded! The information has been very helpful.

For Trovar, I had a couple of questions if you don't mind. Your itinerary was very helpful also. Just to be sure I am understanding correctly, you posted your stops and the distance away from the trail, so in some cases you were hiking approx. 150 miles between resupplies? What kind of daily mileage were you doing? Did you carry extra food? Did you plan out your daily calorie intake in detail, or estimate, or somewhere in between?

And somewhat unrelated, how was the water supply situation? Did that factor into your resupply plans? When did you start carrying a bear canister, only where required or did you carry it even when not absolutely mandated?

Thanks again for all the help!

[trovar]

Hmm... looks like I didn't post my first response correctly or the system ate it....

Anyway, Thank you to everyone who responded! The information has been very helpful.

For Trovar, I had a couple of questions if you don't mind. Your itinerary was very helpful also. Just to be sure I am understanding correctly, you posted your stops and the distance away from the trail, so in some cases you were hiking approx. 150 miles between resupplies? What kind of daily mileage were you doing? Did you carry extra food? Did you plan out your daily calorie intake in detail, or estimate, or somewhere in between?

And somewhat unrelated, how was the water supply situation? Did that factor into your resupply plans? When did you start carrying a bear canister, only where required or did you carry it even when not absolutely mandated?

Thanks again for all the help!

I averaged 30 miles/day on hiking days (I took 6 days off) so 150 miles would be 5 days food for me. When I planned my itinerary at home, I planned for a 25 mile/day average so I almost always had a bit of extra food but the only time I consciously packed extra was for the Sierras because I was told that my appetite would shoot through the roof. I think it was because of the lack of snow last summer (no postholing = lots of calories saved), but I didn't eat more than I did before and had quite a bit of food left over.

I did 100% maildrops so I calculated and packed all my food from home. I planned 3500 calories for the first half and 4000 for the second half. While admittedly I was the heaviest I've ever been when I started the trail (~13 lbs overweight), I lost 30 lbs by the time I got to Drakesbad so 3500 wasn't enough for me, especially because I was covering much more ground than I had planned. I did gain a bit of weight back towards the end because I was eating more and slowed down a bit.

The water supply was really great due to all the kind people who stock the water caches. I think my longest carry was ~25 miles and that was only one time. I can get away with not carrying as much water as some people (the most I carried at once was 4.5L) so YMMV. I did have a mylar-coated umbrella which was great when I took my afternoon siestas, but I generally found it very unwieldy in the wind (you don't need it when you're being cooled by the wind anyway). I would take it again, though, and everyone I met who had one was very happy to have it. And no, the water situation didn't factor into my itinerary at all, but that's mostly because my baseweight was 6 lbs.

I had sent an Ursack to KM but it got lost in the mail, so I ordered the smallest approved bear canister, the Bare Boxer Contender and carried it from KM to Echo Lake. I only ordered the stupid thing because a guy at KM, whose friend was a ranger in the Sierras, claimed that they were clamping down hard in 2012 because it was forecasted that more people would be hiking through due to the previous year's high snow year (and high drop-out rate). Anyways, I didn't know I was capable of hating something so much, especially an inanimate object, but I don't think I'll carry it (or a bear canister) again. I know I probably would have gotten checked by a ranger if I wasn't carrying one, but if you're traveling fast, and not cooking or camping at established campsites I personally don't think it's worth the bulk or extra weight. As always, YMMV, as I've heard of people getting ticketed, but it seems to depend on how understanding the individual ranger is.

[Kumquat]

It seems that most (if not all) the answers to this post were from men. And while they had (for the most part) good advice, let me give you a woman’s perspective on hitching – although, of course, this is just my experience!

I’m getting ready to do the PCT (two weeks!) but I’ve got an extensive background in hitch-hiking, even before I hiked the AT and did it habitually. I did my hitching between the ages (so far) of 21 and 25 in Africa, Malaysia, and the US, and seriously? It’s provided me with some of the best experiences of my life and exposed me to the most kind, interesting people I’ve ever met. A few of my favorites: The maple syrup trucker who offered to take me all the way to Maine from NH (No thanks, not the point of a thru-hike!), being given a lift on a Harley with a full backpack, having to help five people LIFT A TRUCK on a tiny backroad in rural Ghana to change a flat, having a man in NC take me to his annual family reunion BBQ, the crazy cat lady who spent a 30 minute drive regaling me with stories of her TWENTY cats, and the hundreds of kind people who went out of their way to make sure I was safe and was able to get everything I needed in their towns. Honestly, I have never, ever had a “bad hitch,” even as a young blonde woman.

That being said, the guys are right: you need to listen to your instincts. I have a few guidelines: don’t get in the car with drunks (particularly groups) and never get in the car with anyone who gives you a weird feeling, even if you don’t know why. If I don’t want to get in (and seriously, that’s happened maybe three times) I just tell them a) Thanks so much for stopping – but I’m sorry, I only take rides from other women! Or b) As you’re taking off your pack, look horrified, and tell them you left something important back at your last rest stop – so sorry for bothering you! Thanks, though! Sadly, the person usually says no problem and drives off, meaning, of course, you probably could have quite safely gone with them – oh well! Another precaution you can take if you carry a cell phone is, when a car stops, to VERY OBVIOUSLY take a photo/type in the license plate and pretend to/really send it to someone. Apologize for doing so when getting into the car (reinforcing, naturally, exactly what you’re doing while preventing offense) and explain (laughing) that your mother makes you check in every time you hitch and send her the location and license plate. But I wouldn’t get too paranoid – hitching makes you realize most people are really quite kind and generous, even to strangers!

What the guys got wrong: You don’t get a ride more quickly as a lady (usually) because you have tits and long hair. This erroneous notion reinforces the idea that sketchy dudes are cruising around looking for ladies to pick up. You get your rides faster because you are non-threatening to WOMAN DRIVERS. I call it the Middle-Aged Lady Express! They either pick you up because a) they are convinced if they don’t you will be raped, murdered, and left dead in a ditch, or b) because they’re curious as to what you’re doing and you aren’t nearly as scary as all the bearded, dirty dudes she usually sees here. I can’t tell you how many women on my AT trip told me that I was the first hitchhiker they’d ever picked up! Some of them even took me to their house to feed me and let me take a shower before taking me to the grocery store. Most of them gave me an email address so I could tell them when I reached Katahdin, and all of them were impressed and either envious/slightly horrified that I was hiking alone! In the same line, the “Ride Bride” (or “Hitch Bitch,” as the gentlemen so politely avoided saying…J) works (imo) because your presence seems to vouch for the good behavior/intentions of the scary bearded men standing next to you. Because of this, I wear a pink bandana when I hitch so people can tell I’m a girl from a longer ways down the road. It pays off!

A few other tips, before I close this novella:
1) Hitch at the end of a long, straight bit of road with a good shoulder – people can see you far in advance and will be able to make up their mind to stop BEFORE passing you.
2) Always smile and wave, even if they don’t stop. People often turn around. In the same vein, if there’s lots of traffic and no one’s stopping, make a fool of yourself miming your comic desperation for a ride! Someone will laugh, and someone will stop!
3) Be prepared to smile and nod and make sympathetic noises. For some reason (I guess because they’ll never see you again?) some people tend to vent their life problems to you during the ride. But usually it’s kind of fascinating…
4) Always mention you’ll be coming back that way – people will surprisingly often offer to wait for you or pick you up again.
5) I can’t guarantee you won’t get a bad hitch BUT the whole experience of trusting your fellow man (and not being disappointed!) gives you a lot more faith in the good in humanity than you would ever suppose existed from reading newspapers or watching the news.

Good luck, and give hitching a shot! (Maybe I’ll see you out there this year!)

[kwijibo1234]

If you get in and feel sketchy, pretend you're going to vomit & ask to get out. Hitching on the PCT was a breeze, and very addicting - my personal best was a ride 9 miles from Onion Valley trailhead to Independence, then 57 miles to Bishop, twas a piece of cake.

In fact, several hitches are described as "tough" in Yogi's guide (Sisters from McKenzie Pass and Onion Valley for example) but the only one's I'd avoid for that reason are Trout Lake, WA and Lake Isabella (send your box to Onyx PO instead and save a lot of hassle imho)

[kwijibo1234]

Oh and Etna, CA is a total pain in the ass hitch but totally worth it! It's just tough getting into town, getting back is easy...