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View Full Version : Did anybody avoid all vehicles



lobster
01-24-2006, 12:44
for their hike? No hitchhiking? Walking in and out of town to the PO or grocery store!

Ridge
01-24-2006, 12:50
I assume you are not talking about "yellow blazing". I did bum rides when I needed them, nothing wrong with that. I would hide my equip near the trail/road intersection and with just carrying a fanny pack thumb a ride. I will say that my need to go to town/stores was lessened due to the fact I was using a Sierra Zip woodburning stove and didn't need to procure fuel.

Gray Blazer
01-24-2006, 12:50
Now, that's what I'm talking about!

lobster
01-24-2006, 13:01
No, I was talking about no rides at all.

Lone Wolf
01-24-2006, 13:02
for their hike? No hitchhiking? Walking in and out of town to the PO or grocery store!
I highly doubt it.

Gray Blazer
01-24-2006, 13:03
No, I was talking about no rides at all.
That's what I'm talking about!

Ridge
01-24-2006, 13:15
I bummed rides too/from the trail mainly to save my boots soles

UCONNMike
01-24-2006, 13:16
for their hike? No hitchhiking? Walking in and out of town to the PO or grocery store!

That would be so freakin' hard to do...i mean most towns are like 5 plus miles off the trail, that is a lot of extra walking.

Footslogger
01-24-2006, 13:29
If it was a mile or two to town from the road crossing I'd generally start walking (and often get picked up anyway). One time in Virginia a guy pulling a boat/trailer on the back of a covered pickup stopped and told us (there were about 6 of us together at the time) to hop in the boat. That was a scene !! Wish I had pictures. We rounded a corner and the boat almost left the trailer.

Anything longer than a couple miles though and I stuck out the old thumb. I wasn't trying to set any "off-trail" mileage records.

'Slogger

Moxie00
01-24-2006, 13:31
No! Thought

longshank
01-24-2006, 13:33
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Moxie00
01-24-2006, 13:36
Sorry, previous post posted too fast. No!, thought about it. It has been done. I hiked on the trail, didn't yellow blaze but both hitchhiked and accepted rides to towns and hostels and shuttles back to the trail.

Jack Tarlin
01-24-2006, 14:21
I can't remember his name, but I know of one guy who did exactly this about five years back.

Considering some of the distances he had to walk to get to a resupply point (especially up North), we respected his decision but generally he was considered to be a bit odd.

Amend that. We thought he was nuts.

restless
01-24-2006, 14:31
I can't remember his name, but I know of one guy who did exactly this about five years back.

Considering some of the distances he had to walk to get to a resupply point (especially up North), we respected his decision but generally he was considered to be a bit odd.

Amend that. We thought he was nuts.
Seems like I recall running into a guy in 98 in NH or ME who was adamantly opposed to hitching a ride for resupply or whatever. He was northbound and as I recall some of his fellow trailmates were calling him Capt. Clammy, which BTW was not a term of affection.

Spirit Walker
01-24-2006, 18:12
Mountain House in 1992 made a vow when he started to avoid all cars. I heard that except when he helped a fellow hiker who needed to go to the ER, he kept that vow.

On the CDT we ran into a couple of hikers (separately) who always walked to town. With towns 25 or more miles of trail in places, that meant they had some creative route finding. Both would go as infrequently as possible, carrying two weeks of food at a time, and they would angle in to town, rather than walk the highways. On the AT, even the long stretches to town aren't really that far compared to the west. It would be doable.

khaynie
01-24-2006, 18:25
I feel sure nobody here on Whiteblaze did...if they don't believe in vehicle transportation, they sure as helen don't believe in the internet.

Moxie00
01-24-2006, 20:08
I can't remember his name, but I know of one guy who did exactly this about five years back.

Considering some of the distances he had to walk to get to a resupply point (especially up North), we respected his decision but generally he was considered to be a bit odd.

Amend that. We thought he was nuts.
I remember everyone talking about him but didn't meet him myself. He made a vow to not set foot in any type of motorized vehicle between Georgia and Maine. I met a hiker who hiked with him in Maine. He told how the "no car" guy would give a list to someone who was hitching to town and got some of his supplies that way. I just wonder where he got his money so he must have walked to alot of towns. It can be done but the trail then becomes 3000+ miles.

MOWGLI
01-24-2006, 20:13
Gizmo's Dad and Crinkle did it in 2000. Crinkle road a bike home from Katahdin.

Miss Janet
01-24-2006, 21:31
I am curious as to how much longer it took these hikers that did not use cars to finish the hike than their fellow hikers? Did they figure how many more miles they walked?

I did meet an man once who had said his intention was to not ever ride in a car on his hike. He had done this until Erwin and was walking into town on a really hot day. I was driving a van full of hikers into town and we saw him stop a hundred yards in front of us and put out his thumb... the first car picked him up. Later, as we all teased him, he said he made a deal with himself that if the first car picked him up he would abandon his plan to never use a car... His trail name from that day as far as I know was Magic Thumb.

wyclif
01-24-2006, 21:40
I feel sure nobody here on Whiteblaze did...if they don't believe in vehicle transportation, they sure as helen don't believe in the internet.
..............pwn3d! (http://jut.net/weblog/data/bush-pwn3d.gif)

Ridge
01-24-2006, 21:40
These no-car hikers probably wore out one extra pair of boots. Pavement/concrete wears out the soles very quickly.

MOWGLI
01-24-2006, 22:01
I am curious as to how much longer it took these hikers that did not use cars to finish the hike than their fellow hikers? Did they figure how many more miles they walked?



Gizmo's Dad and I were last together in the Nantahalas. He finished 2 or 3 days ahead of me. I think Crinkle finished ahead of me too, but I'm not certain. We were last together near Waynesboro. In other words, it didn't slow 'em down all that much.

The only thing that seemed to slow Crinkle down was the full bottle of Sprite that someone threw at him from a passing car in Waynesboro. Hit him square in the chest and dropped him to his knees. Another friend of mine (Afrorunner) had a bottle of Sprite thrown at him in Wind Gap, PA. It just missed his head. Thankfully that behavior is the exception.

I estimated that in addition to my trail miles, I probably walked another 200+ miles on my hike, and I had no problem with hitchhiking. Towns, especially Waynesboro, seemed to require lots of walking to get the chores done.

mweinstone
01-24-2006, 22:55
its easy ,...just set out from springer with one million dollars cash in a suitcase.if you need anything just ask hikers to give you food and shelter for like a couple thou a night.need a hikers last candy bar? no prob.give him 12 thousand bucks.whats he gonna say no?

Nean
01-25-2006, 01:03
Did Spooky Boy aka Ward L. hitch into towns? Wonder what the locals must of thought?:confused: I asked about Ward at our last Trailfest meeting and it is quite possible he resides at a ward in Ct. I feel fortunate to have met him.

Lilred
01-25-2006, 19:28
If it was a mile or two to town from the road crossing I'd generally start walking (and often get picked up anyway). One time in Virginia a guy pulling a boat/trailer on the back of a covered pickup stopped and told us (there were about 6 of us together at the time) to hop in the boat. That was a scene !! Wish I had pictures. We rounded a corner and the boat almost left the trailer.

Anything longer than a couple miles though and I stuck out the old thumb. I wasn't trying to set any "off-trail" mileage records.

'Slogger

I caught a ride into Robbinsville from two guys, one pulling the other's vehicle with a chain. The lead vehicle had no reverse and the car being pulled had no drive. LOLOL

Ridge
01-25-2006, 19:44
I caught a ride into Robbinsville from two guys, one pulling the other's vehicle with a chain. The lead vehicle had no reverse and the car being pulled had no drive. LOLOL

Now thats what I call a "Chain Reaction". OR You might be a Redneck if you and a friend needs two cars to transport a hiker using two cars and a chain whereas the lead vehicle has no reverse and the pulled one has no forward.