View Full Version : How to hitchhike, advice from a master
As usual, another great essay in the NYT, this one about "the world's greatest hitchhiker." :D
https://nyti.ms/2FV6HRE
Thefurther
03-23-2018, 10:11
man , in the mid nineties i was in seattle hanging out and struck out form there and hitched down the cali coast across the bottom of the states and than back up the east coast to maine . it was a adventure of a life time . that next year i took off from bar harbor and was going to do the a.t. in 96 and hitched down to south carlolina and ended up chilling there for 7 years . man , i used to hitch to and from college when i was younger all the time . that was a 70 mile hitch all the time and got a ride every single time . i have met the coolest people on my travels ... now that i think about it i used to hitch rides all the time . haha ... very cool
Until I started hiking the AT, I had never hitched in this country, but had many hitch-hiking adventures in Europe and Africa in my well-spent youth. This article brought a smile to my face; things have't changed all that much since the 60s in terms of the hospitality shown to strangers.
fiddlehead
03-23-2018, 20:21
I agree totally with his methods.
Most important: location (make sure it is easy for them to pull over)
then: look your best: Smile, not too dirty (try not to look homeless even though we are, technically, right?)
Sometimes a sign helps (especially if on or near a popular hiking trail.
Sometimes a dog helps many people love dogs, and I've been picked up already when hitching with someone with a dog and told they picked us up because of the dog.
The pot hole idea is funny (but good)
Try to never stand where they are picking up speed to go up a hill. Better at the top, or long straight-a-way where they can see you and it's safe for them to sit on the shoulder while you come up and talk and get in.
I pick up hitchhikers a lot and learned to shock them with a question when you first get there: "Do you have a gun?" Sorry gun lovers, but I ain't giving rides to you when you're packin.
Had a guy ask me that once when I was the hiker and I felt safe after I said: No! do you? (and he replied negative also)
A true master.
Note his attitude and thought life, not just his techniques. He rarely makes a negative statement. When he does he doesnt stay there. He doesn't magnify negativity.
Note he said getting a ride is less about a thumb and more about a smile.
He's not very white looking or come across as a self absorbed American and he talks up rides too which all assisted him getting where he was going in those places he was traveling. It helped he had studied psychology and was Argentinian. Growing his hair out curly as he did helped too where he was hitching.
I'm going to get his book.
Slo-go'en
03-23-2018, 20:58
I hiked with a guy for a while who wore a kilt. He said once he started wearing the kilt, all of a sudden he was getting lots of rides from middle aged woman. Hum..
I've only been asked if I had a gun as a hitcher a few times. I usually say no...even though. It's a question that can mean different things...like someone intends harm to me. If I truly intended to harm someone when getting a ride a gun wouldn't be needed nor would it always be paramount to my protection.
IMO, best thing I would get out of asking this question is not whether or not a ride has a gun but the psychological profiling information provided in the way it was answered.
I've had rides who had guns and brandished them before me...to let me know they were carrying. I've been around guns, shot at, etc so rarely not immediately over concerned. If you, as a ride, having a gun makes you feel protected great. If it gets me a ride fine. I can ride in a vehicle with a gun to get where I'm going.
fastfoxengineering
03-23-2018, 22:32
I've only been asked if I had a gun as a hitcher a few times. I usually say no...even though. It's a question that can mean different things...like someone intends harm to me. If I truly intended to harm someone when getting a ride a gun wouldn't be needed nor would it always be paramount to my protection.
IMO, best thing I would get out of asking this question is not whether or not a ride has a gun but the psychological profiling information provided in the way it was answered.
I've had rides who had guns and brandished them before me...to let me know they were carrying. I've been around guns, shot at, etc so rarely not immediately over concerned. If you, as a ride, having a gun makes you feel protected great. If it gets me a ride fine. I can ride in a vehicle with a gun to get where I'm going.Not many people are shot at in their lifetimes.
Military or a really interesting story?
If someone were to show me their pistol to "let me know" they are carrying... Well I feel safer knowing where it is.
Fools.
Sent from my Moto G (5) Plus using Tapatalk
I'm Dogwood to many. Richard Kimble to others.:D
For some reason Alanis Morisette's Jagged Little Pill Isn't it Ironic keeps playing inside my head.
lonehiker
03-27-2018, 21:54
I didn't read the article but I like to remove my sunglasses so that they can see my eyes. Not sure if it has had any affect upon my hitches but I've been pretty successful in getting rides quickly.
@Lonehiker curious were you hitching living up to your WB user name?
lonehiker
03-28-2018, 09:02
WB monikers are silly at best.
That was a serious question with no ill will intended. Is that your serious answer?
lonehiker
03-28-2018, 10:55
That was a serious question with no ill will intended. Is that your serious answer?
Dog, that was my serious answer. Were you expecting something to this effect? I have no compelling need to live up to my WB user name as this might imply the need for external validation or approval. Honestly the only thing that I have to "live up to" is to live consistent to my own values and a moniker on WB isn't one of them. Additionally the user name is lonehiker not lonehitcher... (I forget how to do one of those smiley face things)
Tipi Walter
03-28-2018, 11:32
I pick up hitchhikers a lot and learned to shock them with a question when you first get there: "Do you have a gun?" Sorry gun lovers, but I ain't giving rides to you when you're packin.
Like Dogwood says, I've had 3 incidents with guns while hitchhiking---meaning: I'm hitchhiking and the drivers pull out their handguns. Two of the times I accepted their rides as they just wanted to show me they're packing. The third time I was outside Chapel Hill NC trying to get to Greensboro and three guys in a pickup stopped at dusk and it was two white guys and one black guy. One of them waved a pistol and said to jump in the back of the pickup. I got spooked because night was falling and the gun didn't help. The actual conversation:
Me: "Uh . . . duh . . .I'm actually supposed to be ON THE OTHER SIDE of the highway and hitching into Chapel Hill, dangit. My mistake."
All this just to avoid their ride. They said "Whatever" and took off. I saw a treeline about a hundred yards away and spent the night in my tent and in the morning got a ride . . . to Greensboro.
One time I was hitching from Boone NC into Asheville and in Burnsville stood on the highway and an older guy in a small car stopped and I trotted up to the passenger window wearing my old ALICE pack fully loaded and looked down the barrel of a chrome plated .38. The bore looked pretty dang big at the time.
I back pedaled hard and scooted away and he popped his car in reverse and reached me and yelled out "It's okay! Just showing you I've got a weapon!" Well heck I accepted his ride as he placed his pistol on the back seat and I threw my pack in the back on top of his gun. He told me he was a retired newspaper reporter from Syracuse NY and got the gun as a retirement present. Neato. Turned out to be an excellent ride.
rocketsocks
03-28-2018, 12:44
Dog, that was my serious answer. Were you expecting something to this effect? I have no compelling need to live up to my WB user name as this might imply the need for external validation or approval. Honestly the only thing that I have to "live up to" is to live consistent to my own values and a moniker on WB isn't one of them. Additionally the user name is lonehiker not lonehitcher... (I forget how to do one of those smiley face things)
Here, lemme help ya :p
Another Kevin
03-28-2018, 12:52
I hiked with a guy for a while who wore a kilt. He said once he started wearing the kilt, all of a sudden he was getting lots of rides from middle aged woman. Hum..
I might just know whom you're talking about. He's a notorious liar, though.
ldsailor
03-28-2018, 14:46
Hitchhiking. Brings back memories. When I was 16 in 1966, I hitchhiked from Chicago to Anaheim, CA. It took me five days. I rode the majority of the way with a bearded ex-Marine who picked me up in Missouri and dropped me in Anaheim. His car was a VW bug filled with his belongings in the back seat. We slept in the car off the road and ate in diners. I had $20 with me when I left Chicago and reached Anaheim with most of that left. The picture below is me in front of the "Welcome to California" sign.
BTW. My parents were not impressed. :D
42388
Tipi Walter
03-28-2018, 21:54
Hitchhiking. Brings back memories. When I was 16 in 1966, I hitchhiked from Chicago to Anaheim, CA. It took me five days. I rode the majority of the way with a bearded ex-Marine who picked me up in Missouri and dropped me in Anaheim. His car was a VW bug filled with his belongings in the back seat. We slept in the car off the road and ate in diners. I had $20 with me when I left Chicago and reached Anaheim with most of that left. The picture below is me in front of the "Welcome to California" sign.
BTW. My parents were not impressed. :D
42388
Cool story. 1966 is a long time ago. Reminds me of hitching a ride with a discharged vet who was affiliated with 5th Special Forces at Ft Bragg and he took me from North Carolina into Ft Campbell where I cowboy camped on the outside deck of his friend's place and we continued up past Chicago to Milwaukee where we stopped at his sister's house on Lake Michigan(or some big lake) and where I set up my North Face Westwind tent in his backyard and it never got above 0F. They thought I was nuts.
Then we breezed thru Grand Junction Colorado and took the loneliest highway in America (Hiway 50?) into Utah and he dumped me off in Nevada City Calif so I could stealth camp around a yoga retreat for the next month. Good guy and a big fat good ride. Ended up hitching to Sacramento . . .
I work / drive all over the country, commonly looking to pick up people to make the drive less dull - for several years now there has been no one hitching that I have seen
some speculation: people hitching long distance that I have talked to have found it to be tremendously inefficient time wise, lets say 5-6 days to cross half the country, so if they are feeding themselves a 100$ flight would be cheaper
Tipi Walter
03-29-2018, 12:57
I work / drive all over the country, commonly looking to pick up people to make the drive less dull - for several years now there has been no one hitching that I have seen
some speculation: people hitching long distance that I have talked to have found it to be tremendously inefficient time wise, lets say 5-6 days to cross half the country, so if they are feeding themselves a 100$ flight would be cheaper
I still hitch on occasion but only during my ranging backpacking trips and usually only to connect different forest areas separated by long roadwalks---or to hitch out during a blizzard to get out of the mountains to lower ground for easier pickup.
Traffic in America has increased tremendously over the years and in some ways it's harder to get a ride on roads with very heavy traffic. I guess it's because drivers are lined up on the treadmill and aren't inclined to pull over and stop due to the 10,000 cars in front of them and the 10,000 behind.
One time I hitched from NC up to Waynesboro VA and backpacked north on the AT thru Shenandoah NP and exited at Front Royal and then hitched into Washington DC and hitched on the Beltway around DC which I do not recommend. Too much traffic, too hard to pull over, hitching difficult, hitchhikers beware. But at least I did finally get to see the Vietnam War memorial.
On the return trip I hitched thru Charlottesville and hung out at the campus and then hitched south to Swami Satchidananda's yoga ashram on some obscure Virginia backroads like 604 and 664. If you want to be a wandering sadhu in America and visit purported holy men, hitching is just part of the mix (along with enough gear on your back to stay outside).
rocketsocks
03-29-2018, 13:00
I just hike a pant leg and stuff a fin in my sock.
some speculation: people hitching long distance that I have talked to have found it to be tremendously inefficient time wise, lets say 5-6 days to cross half the country, so if they are feeding themselves a 100$ flight would be cheaper
Under that scenario maybe. How people keep themselves fed and cost involve can be astonishly low easily less than $100 over 5-6 days in the US.
I fly and bus long distances often over a year. I'm bicoastal as the WB User profile displays. GA, NJ, and HI. The notion that cross US flights are always available and fit into travel plans costing $100 is fallacy.
While hitch hiking can be undertaken for cost saving motives that's not always the only motive or even primary motive.
greenmtnboy
04-04-2019, 15:42
I've never had a problem, found this post pretty strange: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1f24QIRtG4A
I don't buy the "stranger danger" argument; I've picked up people on the turnpike in the south to southern Canada, always makes the trip more colorful. Same thing as a hiker.
Looking back on this there're some snarky curmudgeonly comments of what was a good natured thread. :p
greenpete
04-05-2019, 09:09
I agree, another great NYT article. The author conveys the exhilaration of hitching as well as the dangers.
Last September I got some interesting rides hitching from Yosemite to Reno, Nevada; an older couple from Durham, England who were traveling around the West; a woman who gave me some of her homegrown grapes, the most succulent I've ever had; an Asian-American who had his own contracting business and with whom I discussed politics and economics; a woman with a cleaning business who asked, after she pulled over, "You won't kill me, will you?"
All good stuff until several cops in Carson City saw me hitching, pulled over, and read me the Riot Act. I had to pay for a shuttle to the Reno motel, but still made my flight the next day.
greenmtnboy
04-05-2019, 09:45
I agree, another great NYT article. The author conveys the exhilaration of hitching as well as the dangers.
Last September I got some interesting rides hitching from Yosemite to Reno, Nevada; an older couple from Durham, England who were traveling around the West; a woman who gave me some of her homegrown grapes, the most succulent I've ever had; an Asian-American who had his own contracting business and with whom I discussed politics and economics; a woman with a cleaning business who asked, after she pulled over, "You won't kill me, will you?"
All good stuff until several cops in Carson City saw me hitching, pulled over, and read me the Riot Act. I had to pay for a shuttle to the Reno motel, but still made my flight the next day.
I don't know who is responsible for the paranoia about hitchhikers being dangerous, but frankly I find those types of slurs really disgusting and deserving of an equally strong rejoiner; "you aren't one of those psycho women that kills harmless and defenseless hitchhikers are you?" Nasty judgments and stereotypes are profoundly dehumanizing.
bighammer
04-05-2019, 09:54
Many years ago, I was on the highway near Ann Arbor a few nights before Christmas. It was snowing pretty steady and I spotted a guy with a 5 gallon plastic gas can and his thumb out. (I had a passed a couple different cars on the side of the road) I picked him up, knowing that the next exit where I was getting off was another couple miles, but also had a 24hr gas station. As soon as he climbed into the truck, he turns the can around and starts digging stuff out of it thru a giant hole cut thru the back side of it. :eek:
Turns out, he was hitching to visit family down south and was using this gas can as a way to get rides. (probably lots of very short rides)
greenpete
04-05-2019, 10:03
I don't know who is responsible for the paranoia about hitchhikers being dangerous, but frankly I find those types of slurs really disgusting and deserving of an equally strong rejoiner; "you aren't one of those psycho women that kills harmless and defenseless hitchhikers are you?" Nasty judgments and stereotypes are profoundly dehumanizing.
Ha! I get your point gmb, but I think she was just being half-serious. Actually, I think I responded with "No, you won't kill me, will you?"
greenmtnboy
04-05-2019, 15:06
Ha! I get your point gmb, but I think she was just being half-serious. Actually, I think I responded with "No, you won't kill me, will you?"
Well maybe if it is done with a smile it is forgivable, but there is no justification for it.
Like this youtube hiker blog, talking all about someone who appeared to be a former prisoner who apparently had major issues that greatly disturbed her; why do people continue the ride if they hear terrible stuff in someone's past, if they are drinking while driving, etc.? And then she pulls out the video feature and starts recording for her mother "in case" she ends up killed....Strange. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1f24QIRtG4A
Ha! I get your point gmb, but I think she was just being half-serious. Actually, I think I responded with "No, you won't kill me, will you?"
You need a Fart ph and Anker Core with the Uber and Lyft apps. Enter the 21 century, man. Come outta the teepee. You're no longer on the corner of Haight and Ashbury. ;)
handlebar
04-19-2019, 10:32
It's been my experience that artful yogi-ing of rides works better and faster than hitching. When I decided to bail from the Hayduke, I needed a ride back to Moab where I'd stored my car from Hite. Struck up a conversation with a guy with a pickup bed camper at the next front-country campsite near Lake Powell there (great place, infinite hot showers) and got a ride to Hanksville. While we were stopped for gas, I struck up a conversation with a young couple who looked like they'd been out backpacking (they had) and got a ride initially for Green River, but they ultimately took me all the way to Moab.
bighammer
04-19-2019, 23:02
When the weather got bad on my AT hike a couple years ago as I got to Front Royal, I hitched a ride back to my car and moved it. (one ride all the way to where I parked in Waynesboro) Once I got to Harpers Ferry, I was having lunch in a restaurant and got to talking to a couple at the table next to mine. They happened to be headed south and went out of their way to take me all the way to my car. Everybody I encountered was so helpful and interested in where I was from, where I was going, and what I had seen.
Another tidbit of advise: Make sure you have everything when you get in, and when you get out again. It would suck to leave something on the road, but you might be able to get back for it, but leave something in a stranger's car, and good luck.