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Brandon-
climber
The Granite State.
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Topic Author's Original Post - Sep 22, 2014 - 09:10am PT
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I've hitched thousands of miles and got by on luck and charisma and kindness. There were certain rides that I've declined or asked to be dropped off, but for the most part I've really enjoyed hitching. I've met some amazing people from Alaska to Panama to Maine.
Part of me says that my success hinges on my good but not too good looks (tongue in cheek, I'm ugly as sin). Another part of me says that I'm just extraordinarily lucky.
The realist in me says that a kind demeanor coupled with a healthy dose of realism will keep me safe in all but the most dire and extreme circumstances.
Here in NH, hitching just isn't a thing and I don't encounter hitchers very often. Sadly, when I do the dude is pretty sketchy looking and I drive by.
It seems that the days of just sticking your thumb out and meeting cool people is dead on the east coast. Sad, because new acquaintances are great.
So, who picks up hitchikers and what are your criteria for stopping?
Also, I know that hitching has been previously discussed.
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The Larry
climber
Moab, UT
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Sep 22, 2014 - 09:14am PT
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I hitchhike and pick up hitchhikers if they don't look sketchy. Never had a problem either way.
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survival
Big Wall climber
Terrapin Station
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Sep 22, 2014 - 09:15am PT
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Brandon, I also hitched thousands of miles as a youth, so I felt I owed something back.
As I became a vehicular pilot, I picked up hitchers all the time. Paid my debt.
Once I started having kids in the car all the time, my ride giving got less and less.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Sep 22, 2014 - 09:20am PT
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Brandon, how does yer charisma get you a ride in the first place?
Picked up a dude hitching to Kings Canyon a couple of years ago.
Cost me about $20 in air fresheners over the next couple of months. WHOA!
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anita514
Gym climber
Great White North
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Sep 22, 2014 - 09:27am PT
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Never hitched but have picked up hitchhikers. As long as they don't look sketchy, but I always had someone else in the car with me.
On my own, I don't think I would. Maybe in the Gunks where people often look for rides from town up to the cliffs, etc.
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Dapper Dan
Trad climber
Menlo Park
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Sep 22, 2014 - 09:30am PT
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I used to always pick up hitchers coming out of Yosemite . Someone always need a ride down into the Central Valley...if they looked like I could take 'em in a brawl , I'd pick them up ... never hitched myself though .
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Mungeclimber
Trad climber
Nothing creative to say
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Sep 22, 2014 - 09:31am PT
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Several a backpacker looking for a ride out of the Valley is about all I do anymore. One backpacker out of JTNP (climber/desert soujourner type).
Mostly good peeps.
Had a nice valley local give Gomz a ride to his rig when we came off Zodiac in the middle of the night.
Mostly I see them in the foothills of the Sierra, and the 'tweaking' look is very apparent and avoided.
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Sep 22, 2014 - 09:33am PT
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I ain't a-saying you treated me unkind:
You passed me by just like you were completely blind.
It was your choice to make, it wasn't mine
So don't think twice, it's all right.
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RyanD
climber
Squamish
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Sep 22, 2014 - 09:33am PT
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Not every single one I see, but yes I regularly do.
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SC seagoat
Trad climber
Santa Cruz, or In What Time Zone Am I?
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Sep 22, 2014 - 09:43am PT
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Hitching was the primary way we got around in college...and maybe a Greyhound. But that was many decades ago. I will pick up hitchers if I am with someone and we are around a camping/climbing/hiking area and that looks like what they are doing.
Susan
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limpingcrab
Trad climber
the middle of CA
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Sep 22, 2014 - 09:44am PT
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Yup, if I have room and my family isn't in the car. It's pretty much always just in the mountains or the parks.
I've hitched a fair amount and really like it but sometimes it takes forever to get picked up.
Picked up a dude hitching to Kings Canyon a couple of years ago.
Cost me about $20 in air fresheners over the next couple of months. WHOA!
Ha! The stinkiest guy I ever picked up was on the way to Kings Canyon and my wife had to sit by him in the back seat because a friend called shotgun. She's still mad about that one.
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HighTraverse
Trad climber
Bay Area
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Sep 22, 2014 - 09:52am PT
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Hitching was the primary way we got around in college... My first "serious" girlfriend and I met the day after Kent State at the campus demonstration. That summer we hitchhiked for about three weeks from Salt Lick City out to San Francisco, hung out for a few days in Marin and Bolinas, then hitched down to Laguna Seca in a race car van, camped at the races. Then back up and over the Sierra via Yosemite, down 395 and finally back to Happy Valley. We had a wonderful trip.
I'm picking up mouse this afternoon. I expect he's scarier than any other hitchhiker I've ever picked up.
Who can vouch for him?
Am I Gonna Die?
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Sep 22, 2014 - 09:59am PT
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Am I Gonna Die?
I've $20 that says yer gonna die...
laughing.
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stevep
Boulder climber
Salt Lake, UT
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Sep 22, 2014 - 10:06am PT
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As others have said...it depends.
In the winter here in SLC, there are often folks hitching up and down the canyons to the ski resorts. If I'm skiing by myself, I'll usually pick people up. If I'm with my daughter, I won't.
In other situations, it depends entirely on how sketchy the people look.
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The Larry
climber
Moab, UT
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Sep 22, 2014 - 10:08am PT
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I picked this dude up a few weeks ago. He was picking up trash on river rd. He was trying to explain how you can understand messages from ripples in other people's brain waves.
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Peter Haan
Trad climber
Santa Cruz, CA
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Sep 22, 2014 - 10:09am PT
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I will often pick up hitchers. If they look interesting, reasonable and safe, that is.
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HighTraverse
Trad climber
Bay Area
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Sep 22, 2014 - 10:11am PT
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From the Way Back Machine (about 1973). I picked up Wavy Gravy one night in a Santa Cruz Mts winter hurricane and took him to where he was crashing.
But that's a longer story for another day.
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Gnome Ofthe Diabase
climber
Out Of Bed
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Sep 22, 2014 - 10:18am PT
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story of the most fresh coming
I hope
some times the wife just says NO
three ugh 4 (Mouse!) while I wrote that....
t??!!!
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Sep 22, 2014 - 10:18am PT
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I picked up one of your sisters, once. When's she goin' on a diet, man?
Nobody dies while I'm shotgunning.
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Gnome Ofthe Diabase
climber
Out Of Bed
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Sep 22, 2014 - 10:23am PT
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Hey one per minute,
wet rat I've done that sick slide/ride
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Gnome Ofthe Diabase
climber
Out Of Bed
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Sep 22, 2014 - 10:32am PT
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she said... ah... no... and at this point why bother Allen Ginsberg once picked me up and bought me ice cream ...</8+C ::((stupid Homophobe symbol with hat))
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Wayno
Big Wall climber
Seattle, WA
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Sep 22, 2014 - 10:38am PT
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Not anymore. I posted this story before on the Alpinist 13 thread:
A Failed Trip Report( the trip not the report) or Why You Shouldn't Pick Up Hitchhikers. Part One
This one happened in the mid Eighties, when I was still in my twenties. I was a poor student with love in my heart and hope in my soul. My Mother had recently died and my family was bickering, so I decided to head down to Jtree for Xmas to visit with some friends that were climbing there. I didn't own a vehicle at the time and couldn't find anyone to go with. My partner in crime(illicit drugs) was kind enough to lend me his Ford Country Squire station wagon with the fake wood paneling. I threw some gear and some clothes in the back along with a .22 rifle and stuffed my pockets with various herbs and chemical substances and counted my cash and then took a fifty dollar bill and folded it up to the size of a dime and shoved into the corner of my wallet. I filled the tank and then left Santa Cruz and headed south.
Somewhere near Salinas as I got onto the 101 I noticed a guy with his thumb out so I thought I could use a little company and I pulled over and let him in. He seemed like a nice chap at first and we kinda shared stories and drove south down the 101. He said he was heading to someplace near LA and I told him that I could take him at least to I5. Somewhere near Paso Robles we stopped and I bought us a couple of sandwiches and two quarts of beer. We ate and drank and smoked some weed and listened to tapes of Big Country and Bob Marley. My passenger who I will call "J" was decent at conversation and I got a little of his life story. He was a "carny" that had recently lost his parents and he was headed south to see his sister.
I cut east on 198 and hit I5 and as I neared Bakersfield J decided that he would ride some more with me and catch the 14 into LA. I was headed over on 58 towards 395 and then 247. Something started to smell fishy but I was young and gave people the benefit of the doubt. At Mojave he changed his mind again and said he could get the 15 into San B'doo. I was really thinking that I needed to get this f*#ker out of my car. It was between Mojave and 395 that J showed me his tattoos. He rolled up his sleeves and had "white" on the inside of his upper arm and "power" on the other arm. He pulled up his shirt to show a swastika with wings around his belly button. Nice, an Aryan Brotherhood member, and I was playing Bob Marley. My mind was spinning and I was trying to figure a good excuse to get this guy out of my car.
We stopped for gas and a piss run in Victorville and as I was walking to the bathroom I thought I heard glass breaking. I didn't put it all together then, so we proceeded to drive. I made up some excuse that I had to go see a guy in Apple Valley and I would have to let him out soon. It was dark now, and couple miles down the road in Apple Valley we passed a bowling alley and it was shortly after that when the nightmare started.
J faked like he was getting something out of his pack in the back seat. As he came forward he wrapped his left hand around my neck and in his right hand he had a broken quart bottle of beer. He shoved the glass into my neck and held it there with his left as he screamed in my ear not to grab my piece. He thought I might have a handgun beside me. He had me pull over and place my face on the seat. J then dragged me out of the car, screaming the whole time and threatening my life. He then tied my hands behind my back and told me he or his buddies would hunt me down if I ever identified him. He took my wallet and all my stuff and drove off in my car. Oh great, now what do I do?
End of part one.
Part Two of a Hard Lesson
Now it's really ironic because as a little kid my brother and I would practice tying each others hands and then trying to get free. We learned a few things about tying and getting free. So Mr. Nightmare, left me face down and tied up in the desert at night and as he drove off I had myself untied while the rear lights of my car were still in view. I ran the half mile or so back to the bowling alley and made a little scene trying to get a phone call out to the cops. The shitheads wouldn't let me use their phone and I had to bum a dime for the payphone! Standing in the lobby, I could see the CHP interceptor blast by while I was still on the phone. After I hung up I waited there until all kinds of cops showed up and the next part of my drama unfolded.
J got about two thirds of way to Lucerne Valley before that interceptor caught up with him. He drove off the road trying to get away and bottomed the front end in the desert and made it away on foot. They didn't get him but at least I had my car. Sort of. The wagon wasn't going anywhere soon. The radiator was punctured and the front end was very tweaked. The cops on scene found my wallet and ID in the back and the rifle. The CHP got my wallet back to me while I was still being interviewed by the local cops. There must of been five or so cops of various jurisdictions standing there as I looked through my empty wallet and dug into the corner and pulled out that fifty that I stashed earlier. As I unfolded the bill and they all saw it was a fifty, there was a sweet silence. They liked me.
That all happened the day before Christmas. The cops put me up at the Green Spot Motel in Victorville and my car was towed to Lucerne Valley. I had my wallet and ID and that fifty and some clothes that the cops retrieved from my car. I also had whatever was in my pockets, which just happened to be all my weed, a gram of good flake and about five hits of window pane. I walked down to the liquor store and got a pint of Cuervo Gold and some beers and settled in for the evening. I'm telling you, you got to make the best of a bad situation and I think I did a pretty good job.
The next few days I could do nothing. I eventually got some money and got my car fixed well enough to continue my journey but J was still on the loose. When i got to Jtree I looked around for my buddies but I couldn't find anyone, so I camped by myself in Hidden Valley and waited. I was supposed to check in once in a while with the CHP in case they found the maggot and I needed to id him. So I just sat around, ate some window pane and listened to a lot of Rachmaninov.
A couple days later a ranger came by and said the CHP wanted to see me. They caught a guy they thought might be J. It was. He found some trailers out in the desert there and broke into a couple of them, ate some food, found some guns and even shot someones pet parakeet. He waited for one trailer owner to come home and stole his truck at gunpoint and was soon thereafter apprehended.
I eventually went to the prelims and identified J as the guy that robbed me in front of a judge that turned out to be a black man. Poetic Justice. He then plead guilty to several counts and was sentenced to twelve years and six months in the State Pen. He made it back to his sick buddies.
So there kiddies, don't pick up hitchhikers, especially if you are alone. And young and stupid.
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Sep 22, 2014 - 10:51am PT
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I pick up hitchhikers... though I'm not that happy when a couple of dogs and a rag tag patrol of people emerge from the bushes... but I figure it's a karma thing...
“In the forest, in battle, in the midst of arrows, javelins, fire
Out on the great sea, at the precipice’s edge in the mountains
In sleep, in delirium, in deep trouble
The good deeds a man has done before defend him.”
well, not all, and recently mostly around climbing areas.
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cliffhanger
Trad climber
California
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Sep 22, 2014 - 11:03am PT
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I've hitched alot so I stop for anything, human or not, that seems to want a ride. I even exit the freeway to check the on ramps for hitch hikers.
This worked out very well one cold rainy winter night on the 99 freeway just north of Bakerfield. What appeared to be a stinking dirty wet sketchy man with 2 stinking dirty wet dogs just barely visible in the gloom turned out to be a beautiful young woman who was very grateful that I stopped for her.
In my experience it's much more dangerous to hitch hike than it is to pick up hitch hikers. Women should at least pick up female hitch hikers.
Once a young pretty black women seemed to be signaling me so I pulled over thinking she needed a ride. "Where to?" I asked as she jumped in. "Anywhere you want sweety", she says, "a motel or your home would be fine."
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NotThirsty
Boulder climber
Canaduh
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Sep 22, 2014 - 11:09am PT
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I did just one time back when I was in high school. Saw a guy hitch hiking in my neighborhood, thought it was just one of my neighbors that needed a ride. Turned out to be some weirdo. I drove him like two blocks and let him out. Never again.
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Jon Beck
Trad climber
Oceanside
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Sep 22, 2014 - 11:26am PT
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On Friday The JMT was closed because of the fire so I hiked from the valley up the Snow Creek trail with the plan to hitch hike back. I got a ride in 3 minutes from a couple staying in Foresta. They fed me homemade cookies and cold sodas, life is good sometimes.
Once at the Foresta overlook it took me 25 minutes to get a ride to the valley. I was somewhat surprised it took that long as I am sure many of the cars ignoring me were headed to Facelift. Maybe I can identify some of those who did not pick me up and publicly shame them :) . See video of offending cars below.
Great young couple eventually came back after passing me and said that karma was an issue. I agreed and told them that I often pick up hitch hikers.
When I was leaving the valley at 7:30 Friday night I came upon a couple with luggage hitching at the turnout just before the U turn just east of El Cap Meadows. I was pitch black with no moon. They told me they had been trying to get a ride for 2 hours, their rental car had issues and Hertz was not doing anything quickly to help them. They were from Norway and were very hungry so I took them to the Deli and pointed them to the garage for possible help. They were very appreciative to say the least. Was cool that I was able to payback so quickly
[Click to View YouTube Video]
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The Larry
climber
Moab, UT
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Sep 22, 2014 - 11:49am PT
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Magic Ed
Trad climber
Nuevo Leon, Mexico
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Sep 22, 2014 - 01:00pm PT
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I always used to pick up hitchhikers because I knew what it was like to stand by the side of the road for hours on end (took me 17 rides to get through New Mexico once)waiting for someone kind enough to stop.
Then one night I picked up a guy who was seriously deranged. Things got pretty dicey for a while until I was able to unload him. Haven't picked up anybody since, other than climbers going up the hill to the Potrero.
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SC seagoat
Trad climber
Santa Cruz, or In What Time Zone Am I?
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Sep 22, 2014 - 01:22pm PT
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Larry, are you sure that doesn't belong on the "selfie" thread?
Susan
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Sep 22, 2014 - 01:46pm PT
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[Click to View YouTube Video]Would you pick this woman up off the freeway on-ramp? Lookin' like this?
"Pretty SKETCHY-LOOKIN' LADY, there, dear, let's fegit her 'n git on down to New O'leans."
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Barbarian
climber
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Sep 22, 2014 - 02:59pm PT
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When I am on my way to a climbing area sans family, see hitchers with a haul bag, and have room. I am sometimes inclined to offer a ride.
From Camp 4 to El Cap..every time.
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The Larry
climber
Moab, UT
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Sep 22, 2014 - 03:15pm PT
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I try and do a quick sniff test. Pachouli is a big no no.
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Charlie D.
Trad climber
Western Slope, Tahoe Sierra
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Sep 22, 2014 - 03:26pm PT
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Early 70's in Oregon I drive by a hitchhiker and my roommate asks, "why didn't you pick him up?" I explained my mistrust of humans particularly strangers. He quickly claimed I was uptight and paranoid.
Fast forward 10 years I ask my old roommate, "what ever happened to that cool VW bus of yours?" His response, "some friken hitchhiker stole it from me at gun point!"
BTW I do pick up climbers, skiers and backpackers.
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hobo_dan
Social climber
Minnesota
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Sep 22, 2014 - 03:34pm PT
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I pick them up. Nowadays all the predators are on the internet
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climbski2
Mountain climber
Anchorage AK, Reno NV
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Sep 22, 2014 - 03:35pm PT
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Not as often as I'd like to. Usually I'm not going very far when I see one. When I am going a long ways in some direction the car is often full.
Once in a while I can and then I usually do.
Did enough hitchhiking when I was younger that I try to pass it forward when I can.
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anita514
Gym climber
Great White North
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Sep 22, 2014 - 03:40pm PT
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The patchouli smell test is a good one
Poop smell is usually a bad sign too
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The Larry
climber
Moab, UT
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Sep 22, 2014 - 03:50pm PT
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Especially when they are wearing patchouli to cover up the poop smell.
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Stewart Johnson
climber
lake forest
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Sep 22, 2014 - 03:53pm PT
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Cash
Ass
Or Grass
nobody rides for free!
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clinker
Trad climber
Santa Cruz, California
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Sep 22, 2014 - 04:54pm PT
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Moose is Polish, ask him.
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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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Sep 22, 2014 - 04:58pm PT
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Occasionally, after careful profiling.
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Psilocyborg
climber
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Sep 22, 2014 - 05:29pm PT
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^ yup very few and far between, and I do profile.
My buddy was shot and carjacked, and then they went to his house where the guy robbed him of various crapola in the house. This POS was also aryan brotherhood.
I hitched a ride once with some guy I had met in the SEKI backcountry. It was a really weird trip. It was off from the get go, but it was either take the ride or walk from mineral king to lodgepole. Yeah not really afraid for my life per say....but it was really awkward and strange as the dude was way off kilter.
It took OVER 24 hours for him to get me from mineral king to lodgepole. He didn't want to let me go!
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wilbeer
Mountain climber
Terence Wilson greeneck alleghenys,ny,
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Sep 22, 2014 - 05:29pm PT
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Good folks in the mountains of the Northeast.
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Ezra Ellis
Trad climber
North wet, and Da souf
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Sep 22, 2014 - 05:50pm PT
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Only skiers, rafters, or climbers.
Once picked up some woman running from her boyfriend, nothing bad happened, it was just weird, and dangerous in retrospect.
Like Donini said CAREFUL profiling!
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RyanD
climber
Squamish
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Sep 22, 2014 - 06:39pm PT
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WAYNO!!!!!
Got ur note on another thread, sorry I missed you too, but after reading your story on this thread I am just happy that I got to meet you at all!
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anita514
Gym climber
Great White North
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Sep 22, 2014 - 06:45pm PT
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Especially when they are wearing patchouli to cover up the poop smell.
Forgot about piss smell. Incontinence is a no-go for rides in my car.
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Lennox
climber
just southwest of the center of the universe
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Sep 22, 2014 - 07:42pm PT
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I'll occasionally give someone a ride.
I saw Tucker thumbing for a ride and took him back to the valley years ago; if I hadn't known him, I'm not sure I would've stopped. I remember him telling how he was hitching one time and a couple with little kids pulled over to give him a ride; he declined the ride and scolded them for even thinking of giving a ride to someone who looked like him, or anyone for that matter, when they had kids with them.
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Todd Gordon
Trad climber
Joshua Tree, Cal
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Sep 22, 2014 - 08:00pm PT
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Barbarian
climber
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Sep 22, 2014 - 11:15pm PT
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Todd- Saw something like that once. 5 miles south of Lone Pine on 395 in 1981. Girl in bikini hitching. I looked at my buddy. He looked at me. We never spoke a word and drove right on by. When things look wrong, they generally are.
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Evel
Trad climber
Nedsterdam CO
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Sep 22, 2014 - 11:30pm PT
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NO RIDERS
EXCEPT BRUNETTES,BLONDES or REDHEADS!
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TwistedCrank
climber
Released into general population, Idaho
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Sep 23, 2014 - 06:25am PT
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Bumper
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clinker
Trad climber
Santa Cruz, California
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Sep 23, 2014 - 08:43am PT
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On a solo road trip soon after my regular climbing partner was married I picked up a few hitchhikers. I had a gold Dodge Dart Swinger with a with vinyl roof.
First was a guy with a fantastic conspiracy theory of how Bush senor and others were after him. This fellow had layers of delusion(inception) he talked continuously from Hollister to Merced, I have always regretted not recording his incredible yarn.
Second was John, young guy with messed up ankle. He was opening up a mine for production, outside of Mariposa. I toured the mine and crashed there for the night.
Last were two French girls, going to Yosemite.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Sep 23, 2014 - 08:48am PT
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Last were two French girls, going to Yosemite.
Don't leave us hanging, brah!
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mike m
Trad climber
black hills
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Sep 23, 2014 - 09:07am PT
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Skiers for the most part.
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BuddhaStalin
climber
Truckee, CA
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Sep 23, 2014 - 09:39am PT
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Depends on the situation, sometimes I do, but rarely anymore. Too many bad ones in a row. Too many people getting pissed and throwing things, yes throwing things, for simply not being picked up. And many other unfortunate behaviors.
The real clincher is when people choose to hitch a ride, then get pissed that nobody picks you up or how long it takes. F*#k you. I get pissed at nobody but myself when I do this, which is never anymore. Not on purpose.
I hitched for nearly a decade, and as time went on, the more i tried to pay it forward, the more thieves, dirty hippies who bitch at you for eating meat, generally disrespectful people you got, so Im largely done. Its a bummer. I want to help people out, I know Ill need a ride someday, I have good manners and etiquette. No matter If theyre crazy religious weirdos or deadheads or have a kid with a stinky diaper, whatever, be nice, they gave you a ride you c#&%. I was always nice and polite and thankful and put up with their jesus talk or whatever because they did me a solid. Now, its just entitlement, entitlement, entitlement, and I wish them luck with that.
Its ridiculous, peoples sense of entitlement.... they cant even try to not damage your car, or you get bumrushed by all the persons friends and dogs when you give one person a ride.....no! GTFO! 4 sloppy snowboarders and a pitbull on a hemp leash comin atcha all stanky and dirty! Scratching sh#t up and wrecking your stuff.
I still take it as a case by case thing, and the important thing to remember no matter what your role, is that you dont know peoples story, on the road with a cardboard sign, or driving a seemingly empty car....
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FGD135
Social climber
Boulder Canyon Colorado
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Sep 23, 2014 - 10:15am PT
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When I'm driving up Boulder Canyon I'll sometimes pick up hitchhikers with obvious climbing gear, or in the winter if they have skis or snowboards or mebbe ice gear, since I'd likely be headed up to do the same activities, but I never, ever pick up other folks...used to do that, esp. when heading back down the canyon from Eldora, but after giving a ride to a guy in Ned, who after he got in the car, told me he was going down to Boulder to meet his ~parole officer~, I decided to quit giving rides to random dudes, and even dudettes.
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Lorenzo
Trad climber
Oregon
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Sep 23, 2014 - 11:19am PT
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Many years ago my partner and I decided to do East Butt of El Cap. We usually stayed in Upper River and my wife wanted the car, so she dropped us off maybe 6:00AM with the understanding that we'd just find our own way back to the campground when we got down.
Climb went OK. We got down maybe 11:00 and scampered across the meadow to walk back and maybe catch a ride back to the pizza deck.
After only a couple minutes, a car stops and the door swings open. I get in the front, my partner in the back, and the driver says
" buckle up. I drive like a maniac"
He didn't have to say it twice.
Turns out he is the Yosemite Jailer, and he is running a little late for his shift change, so he apologizes he can't take us to Curry. And he's true to his word on the driving.
"No problem," I said. "just drop us off at the Bridge and we'll take the shuttle the rest of the way"
He's in the left lane, so he shifts right to let us out and plows right into the back of a Mercedes stopped at the stop sign.
Nobody hurt, mostly just scratches on both cars-- maybe a bent bumper and broken headlight on his, so my partner and I get out, thank him for the ride, and scurry over to the bridge stop just as a bus gets there. He's left to sort it out with the other driver.
Laughed our asses off the rest of the afternoon, poor guy.
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TheSoloClimber
Trad climber
Vancouver
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Sep 23, 2014 - 03:14pm PT
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I used to hitch hike a lot, and still do if I don't have an alternative option. 90% of the time, the reason I got picked up was because my climbing rope or snowboard was visible.
I had an incredibly sketchy experience a couple years back picking someone else up however, that pretty much ensures that I will never stop for natives though.
Shortly after I moved to Vancouver, I was asked to drive an SUV to Calgary as a favour. I ended up leaving around 9 at night as that would put me in Calgary just in time to catch the Greyhound back to Van.
Anyways, it was around 1 in the morning or so, and I was just past Kamloops, aka, the middle of absolute nowhere. Deserted stretch of highway, no houses, no street lights, nothing in either direction for a long ways. I'm bombing along, music blaring, and I see a girl on the side of the road waving her arms over her head in the universal signal for "I'm over here!"
My immediate though was that she had been in an accident or something, so I slam on the brakes, U turn, and pull over on the wrong side of the road. Roll down the window, and I'm like, hey, what's wrong, are you in trouble? Like, what's going on?
This girl was native, and from 4-5 feet away, I could smell booze on her. She's wearing glasses, and all she says is, Hey. Can I get a ride?
I was a little confused to do anything more than just say, um, okay. She hops in the backseat, I turn around, start driving. I'm like, alright, where are you going? She looks around a bit, and verbatim says, "I can't see." *points in the direction I'm driving* "That way".
I was so sure I was about to be hijacked, my adrenaline was through the roof. I turned my music waaaay down so I could be on full alert. I had noticed she never put her seatbelt on, and my only thought was, if I hear a sound or click that could be a gun being cocked, or a knife being opened, I'm slamming on the brakes and sending this bitch through the windshield!
She ended up passing out, and I woke her up around Salmon Arm to ask her if this is where she was going. She just said, no, keep driving. I pulled over for gas in Revelstoke, some 5 hours later, and told her this was as far as I was going. She says, okay, and doesn't move. I'm like, seriously, get out!
She gets out, I leave, get to Calgary, take the bus back.
I actually think it was the adrenaline that kept me awake through the night, but yeah. I don't pick up native people anymore.
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Jon Beck
Trad climber
Oceanside
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Sep 23, 2014 - 04:02pm PT
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This thread is bringing back some memorable thumbing
I had only lived in the Southwest for a few years. Indian reservations were a place of mystery. I figured they hated white people. When I drove across the Navajo Nation for the first time (1983?) it was the middle of the night, I was afraid to even slow down. The medicine man scene in Natural Born Killers was supposedly shot in the Fourcorners area, it captured my perception perfectly.. Fast-forward 25 years and I found myself in a bad situation and hitching from Shiprock to Gallup (ironically not too far from a corner in Winslow, AZ) to try to catch the Amtrak. By this pointin my life I had discovered the Dine to be wonderful people, and true to form they got me to Gallup, with beers along the way.
I have since driven across the Navajo Nation many times and often picked up locals hitching. No bad experiences, always an interesting time. Some do not talk, just look straight ahead, not being rude, it is just their reserved nature. I picked up one local who talked nonstop from Tuba City to Flagstaff. I declined his invite to party in Flagstaff.
Gotta keep the hitching culture alive people!!!! I tend to agree that I do not usually pick up hitchers in the city or on major freeways. Dogs are also a deal killer.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Sep 23, 2014 - 04:15pm PT
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No bad experiences, always an interesting time
One of the more traumatic experiences of my life was driving across the Res
on a Friday night. I got run off the road by drunks twice in an hour! Then
I got to Gallup and saw the numbers who couldn't even walk. But we digress.
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goatboy smellz
climber
लघिमा
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Sep 23, 2014 - 05:09pm PT
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Evel
NO RIDERS
EXCEPT BRUNETTES,BLONDES or REDHEADS!
That can be kinda hairy between Ned and Boulder.
I use to hitchhike from NYC to the Gunks every weekend no problems.
As a driver I've pick up everybody I've seen, except two that gave off a bad vibe, one in TX and one in CA.
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Lorenzo
Trad climber
Oregon
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Sep 23, 2014 - 05:16pm PT
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Hitchhiking was the primary way we got around in College
Yeah, I looked 14 in the 60's and used to put a shirt and tie on ( remember collared shirts and ties?)
I had a sign that said something like "NYC- mother is waiting" on the holidays. The Apple was about 4 hrs away from school in Central PA.
I never waited more than 10 minutes and people would sometimes drop me off at the door of my parents house 35 miles out on Long Island even though the train ride was only about $1.25. Sometimes I could see the wife pointing and motioning for her husband to pull over. One couple from Connecticut did it.
It worked going back to school, too.
Worst experience was a trucker with bad brakes who would let the clutch out on hills and let the rig coast to 100.
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BirdDog44
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Sep 23, 2014 - 07:49pm PT
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I did a lot of miles with my thumb in the 70's. Met a lot of really cool interesting people on the road back then. Picked up a bunch of people when I was driving long haul in the 80's. Never had any bad experiences, a few that made me a bit nervous though. Anymore the only folks I pick up are hikers/climbers/skiers.
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Larry Nelson
Social climber
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Sep 23, 2014 - 08:25pm PT
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In the early 90's I was working telecommunications in Valdez, Alaska, during the first Extreme Skiing Championships. Driving out of town toward the airport on a cool rainy day right after the skiing had finished, I spotted Vern Tejas hitchhiking in front of the Totem Inn. I stopped and offered him a ride. He laughed and said that a factory representative gave him the rain gear he was wearing and told him he could keep it if he just modeled it for X number of hours on the highway out of town. We joked a bit and I drove off while Vern "worked" for his rain gear. Funny thing is, I have no recollection of the manufacturer.
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Larry Nelson
Social climber
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Sep 23, 2014 - 08:41pm PT
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Back in the 70's I was on a road trip/vacation to Mexico with a Mexican buddy. After some fear and loathing in Mazatlan, we drew too much attention to ourselves and were "held up" by two off duty Federales. After taking our shopping bag of weed, a camera, traveler's checks and the cassette deck, they gave us back enough weed to make it to the border.
We left immediately for the border and at sunrise in Culiacan, we came upon two gringo girls hitch hiking. We picked them up and found out they had been raped the night before. Two sisters from Minnesota finally got desperate, broke their rule and got into a pickup truck with three drunk and lowlife thugs.
Well, we drove that last 1000 miles to the border smoking, laughing and getting all of our minds off of the previous night, and eventually the girls became just happy and joking to be alive. We all had our tails between our legs, but we all had our health, so life was good.
We stopped at the first hospital in Tuscon, but it was Catholic, so they directed us to the other side of town where the university hospital was. We dropped off the girls. We never saw them again, but at that moment they were smiling and happy to be alive.
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martygarrison
Trad climber
Washington DC
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Sep 23, 2014 - 08:50pm PT
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Never ever.
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Flip Flop
Trad climber
Truckee, CA
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Sep 23, 2014 - 09:24pm PT
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I do. I owe a lot of good times and easy travels to "el dedo gordo". Great stories and a few creepy ones too. Besides, I live in Tahoe where hitching is still viable. So I pay it back by picking up hitchers. Not always but sometimes.
We 're due for a hitchhiker / ride share app. Smart phones take a lot of the creep factor out. Especially if there was an app that followed you and hosted pics of the license plate and driver.
Happy hitchin'
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Sierra Ledge Rat
Mountain climber
Old and Broken Down in Appalachia
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Sep 24, 2014 - 04:34am PT
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There was a time when hitch-hiking was as reliable as driving your own car (except in Yosemite, where hitch-hiking has always been a Class VI affair).
Nowadays I never stop, with rare exception:
If I am running whitewater rivers in my kayak, and I see other kayakers hitch-hiking to set or retrieve their shuttle, then I will stop and give them a ride. Usually they are decked out in whitewater gear, so it's a no-brainer.
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rottingjohnny
Sport climber
mammoth lakes ca
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Sep 24, 2014 - 06:14am PT
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Xosmic...Your truck break down again...?
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