View Full Version : Faulty Hitchhiking technique
peakbagger
09-01-2015, 18:50
I am vacation this week and have had a chance to run into Gorham NH during the day more often than usual. The Walmart is 2 miles north of the various accommodations in town and several miles from the hostels in Shelburne. I have observed several groups of thru hikers this week consisting generally of 4 or 5 hitchhiking as a group. Given that the majority of the traffic are passenger cars, few folks would even have space for 4 or 5 hikers. It would make more sense to break up into separated groups to increase the likelihood of a ride. The only other alternative is I guess they are hoping for a ride in the back of full size pickup truck (legal in NH but not many other New England states).
I know that I twice drove by these groups when I would have picked up one or two with my econobox.
StubbleJumper
09-01-2015, 20:19
It's hard for novices to understand, but hitchhiking is a skill. Where you stand, how you convey body language, how you communicate that you are a hiker (rather than a serial murderer or prison escapee) make a tremendous difference in your likelihood of getting a ride. I am still not very good at hitching, but experienced people should cut us novices and near-novices some slack.
Odd Man Out
09-01-2015, 20:21
I grew up in the suburbs of DC during the late 60's. I recall seeing a lot of people hitchhiking home on the highways after the large civil rights demonstrations. The usual strategy was to put the most comely hippie chick out to solicit the ride. Then when a car would stop, everyone else would come out of the bushes and pile in.
WingedMonkey
09-01-2015, 21:13
Flashback 20 years ago this year......Gorham.
Bruno at the "Hiker's Paradise" would "sell" us old bikes to get around town, and then we would "sell" them back.
Kept him from the legal hassles of "renting" bikes.
;)
imscotty
09-01-2015, 21:16
How to Hitch a Ride:
1) Try to look presentable, clean.
2) Where you stand is key. Stand about 40 feet in someplace people can safely pull over. If near a fork in the road, I commit to one fork or the other so that people understand where I want to go. Stand someplace where traffic is slowing down like before an intersection. I have luck near convenience stores and places like that where many people are making a quick stop.
3) I have never tried to hitch with more than two, usually my daughter who hikes with me sometimes. I put her up front and center. As pointed out, large groups are a problem, break them up.
4) Put your pack in front of you so you are clearly identified as a hiker. Hopefully you are still close enough to the trail so that people make the connection.
5) Smile (not a 'Penny the Clown' smile, a sincere smile).
I have had my best hitching in Vermont. Great people in Vermont. Some of the rides have been a little bit weird, but always entertaining.
How to Hitch a Ride:
1) Try to look presentable, clean.
2) Where you stand is key. Stand about 40 feet in someplace people can safely pull over. If near a fork in the road, I commit to one fork or the other so that people understand where I want to go. Stand someplace where traffic is slowing down like before an intersection. I have luck near convenience stores and places like that where many people are making a quick stop.
3) I have never tried to hitch with more than two, usually my daughter who hikes with me sometimes. I put her up front and center. As pointed out, large groups are a problem, break them up.
4) Put your pack in front of you so you are clearly identified as a hiker. Hopefully you are still close enough to the trail so that people make the connection.
5) Smile (not a 'Penny the Clown' smile, a sincere smile).
I have had my best hitching in Vermont. Great people in Vermont. Some of the rides have been a little bit weird, but always entertaining.
Agree with it hall of the above and would also add that a funny pathetic look has been very effective for me. but that is also my normal look. I have actually even scored rides with my ice axe on my pack.
@imscotty
I also had great results in Vermont. I used to hitch from the Northampton area up to Stowe many a weekend in my teens. Rt 100 was on of my favorite roads.
I had great results on rt 4 as well. I used to hitch to Pico every day for work, and was always on time.
bigcranky
09-02-2015, 07:46
Vermont was awesome for hitching. All my best hitchhiking stories come from the South, however. :)
garlic08
09-02-2015, 08:16
On the PCT I was walking back a mile or two from a store near Mammoth Lakes with a group of six hikers. My wife stuck out her thumb as a pickup passed and we all chided her for even trying. We got a ride--so much for faulty technique!
rocketsocks
09-02-2015, 08:26
just use your thumb
I pitched a tent once on the side of the road and got picked up...by a cop. He said "You can't pitch a tent on the side of my highway" I told him I needed a ride and was tired. He said "well don't pitch a tent, use your thumb like the rest of America...so I did. Never had a problem getting a ride.
Hangfire
09-02-2015, 12:52
Ha ha, if you want to get picked up don't look like me! For some reason people didn't want to stop and pick up a skinny creepy looking 41 year old. I get it, I'm kind of out of place as I'm was not the right age to fit the thru hiker mold and I dressed a little different. If I was lucky there was a young hiker (especially a female) nearby as people would stop traffic to pick up a young thru hiker. I think my longest wait was almost 2 hours trying to get into Glasgow VA...
Hitching is definitely an art form. I do it extensively. But, I've learned to rethink it from hitch-hiking to getting a ride which is really what we're after. Getting a ride by breaking the ice, chatting it up with potential rides, on a face to face basis, is by far the way I get most of my rides these days rather than the conventional way that most think about hitching by standing along side the road with your thumb out.
It's good to know you're potential local ride market too. In Gorham, where I'd suggest PUs are not the likely vehicle to pick up hitch hiking hikers, I would think it best to break up into smaller groups so SUVs, sedans, etc could pick up a smaller group. In the south or in somer areas of midwest
where PUs are in abundance perhaps a larger group of hitch-hiking hikers, maybe like 4-5 tops, could get a ride.
Cookerhiker
09-02-2015, 14:06
How to Hitch a Ride:
1) Try to look presentable, clean.
2) Where you stand is key. Stand about 40 feet in someplace people can safely pull over. If near a fork in the road, I commit to one fork or the other so that people understand where I want to go. Stand someplace where traffic is slowing down like before an intersection. I have luck near convenience stores and places like that where many people are making a quick stop.
3) I have never tried to hitch with more than two, usually my daughter who hikes with me sometimes. I put her up front and center. As pointed out, large groups are a problem, break them up.
4) Put your pack in front of you so you are clearly identified as a hiker. Hopefully you are still close enough to the trail so that people make the connection.
5) Smile (not a 'Penny the Clown' smile, a sincere smile).
I have had my best hitching in Vermont. Great people in Vermont. Some of the rides have been a little bit weird, but always entertaining.
All good advice. Re "looking presentable," my advice is lose the sunglasses, lose the hat, lose the bandanna. Let the drivers get a clear look at you.
CELTIC BUCK
09-02-2015, 14:31
I hitched across entire USA 4 times plus in Penn for years and Fl during Spring break. Easiest was with a Girl fried in Fl Few ideas NEVER hitch with 4 or 5; spread out and let people take 1 0r 2 . Never pull the 1 on the road and 4 jump out of the Bush that's a way to Panic Folks. Face the people they want to see what is asking for a ride. Smile and ALWAYS Thank them both when they stop an when you are dropped off.
All good advice. Re "looking presentable," my advice is lose the sunglasses, lose the hat, lose the bandanna. Let the drivers get a clear look at you.
Lose the bandanna, says the guy with a nice full head of hair...
Traveler
09-02-2015, 14:50
Didn't the Stooges use a wallet on a string to get cars to stop?
Cookerhiker
09-02-2015, 15:52
Lose the bandanna, says the guy with a nice full head of hair...
And after I've been hiking for a few days, it's pretty unkempt, especially if it's at my normal length. Hmmm, maybe I should wear a hat! :D:-?
JaketheFake
09-02-2015, 16:03
The pros and cons of hitchhiking... Wasn't that a David Gilmore album?
The pros and cons of hitchhiking... Wasn't that a David Gilmore album?
It was a Roger Waters one but right train of thought.
JaketheFake
09-03-2015, 14:45
It was a Roger Waters one but right train of thought.
Dam, I was even going to check to see if it was Gilmore or Waters!!!! I stand corrected. I will go back to the dark side of my moon.
nsherry61
09-03-2015, 20:51
Vermont may seem like a good place to get rides, but if the laws haven't changed, it is actually against the law to drive past a hitchhiker in Alaska between the months of October and April, so plan your Alaskan adventures accordingly. ;-) Aren't there some good Alaskan winter thru-hikes?