how to hitchike -part three

In the first and second parts of this article I talked about what sort of gear I tend to carry when hitching, which is a very useful sort of thing to know, but now that you have your gear all packed, and your journey planned out (at least partially), where do you go from here? Should you take the back highways, or the faster Interstate System? Should you try walking part of the way if you don’t get a ride? Should you bring your dog for company?
In this third part, I will go over some thoughts on these questions, as well as cover a few more topics that may not have occured to you.

Firstly, I want to point out that in some states, hitching is frowned upon more than others. Washington State is a bad one, as well as a few other states. There is an interesting article that discusses this a little more here: Hitchiking Laws in the US.  Despite this, I have hitched in almost every state in the United States not counting Alaska and have never been outright ticketed or prohibited from hitching, with two exceptions:  Once was when a friend and I were hitching across Tennessee and some over-enthusiastic local insisted that we take a detour to see the Great Smoky Mountains. I kept telling him that we would rather stick to the Interstate, but I let him persuade us into dropping us off in the middle of Smokey Mountains National Park. Bad Mistake.  A park ranger immediately stopped us and said that hitching in the park was illegal and we could not do it. We were over 50 miles from any park entrance. I asked him if he could give us a lift outside of the park. He said no. I asked him how we were supposed to get out of the park and he said that was not his problem. I then asked him if we could stand by a driveway to a rest area and hold a sign up saying we were trying to get a ride out and he begrudgingly let us do that. Forunatly we were able to get a lift from a young guy who needed someone to talk to on his road trip, or else we would have been stuck walking the 50 miles out of the park.

This happened once more in the Grand Canyon National Park on a hitching trip. A park ranger angrily told us we could not hitch, and said we would have to walk the 28 miles to the park entrance. As soon as he drove off we hurridly hitched a ride and got out of there.  This has not happened to me in other National Parks. Yosemite is a regular hitch hiking stop, as climbers and hikers thumb rides to trail heads. Park rangers and employees will sometimes stop and give you a lift. Why some parks dont allow this and some do is a huge mystery. But you have been warned.

My preference for hitching is the Interstate System. The roads are broad and there is always plenty of traffic. It is easy to get rides going long distances. The interstate system can be a really great way to hitch; however, sometimes Highway Patrol will stop you and tell you can only stand on on-ramps. I tend to ignore them and go beyond the on ramp and up onto the interstate itself. There is usually a bridge that is convenient to stand under that has lots of space for passing cars to stop. It provides shelter in case of rain or brutal sun, and if you get stuck there for the night you can just climb under the alcove  and crash out for the night if its not already occupied by homeless people.

Once I find one of these lovely spots under a bridge, I hang out until I get a ride. At most I usually wait about 2 hours before someone stops.  If it is getting late and the sun is going down, I will usually just climb up into the alcove, crash out for the night, and start again early in the morning after a light snack  of whatever I have in my pack. Eventually someone will stop and pick you up. There is no reason to burn your energy up by walking down the road. You will only succeed in getting blisters, exhausting yourself, or winding up in some lonely country with no shelter around for miles. Find a good spot, and stick to it until your ride comes.

While I am hitching, I try to make it really obvious what I am doing by holding my thumb up nice and high…really getting it out there for people to see. Some hitchers make a sign that has their destination written on it, but I have never been partial to this method and just use the good old fashioned thumb. Whatever you decide to do, just make it clear what you want and don’t expect drivers to be able to read your mind.

Something you will discover quickly enough is that if you are a single male, getting a ride will be much much easier if you have a girl with you. For this reason some guys suggest not hitching unless you can persuade a girl to travel with you. I would like to point out that while it is true that girls can get rides easier,  there are some girls who have a difficult time with the rigors of hitchiking. This must be carefully weighed when considering asking someone to travel with you. Dragging a girl along who is not tough enough to handle sleeping outside in strange places, dealing with weird drivers,  or going without a shower can make an otherwise uneventful trip a living nightmare; however, some girls are really great travelers. Choose your travel partners carefully. A solo trip can be easier than having a companion whose personality collapses under stress, guy or girl.

I am against taking dogs on hitchiking trips or hiking trips or road trips. Although there are lots of people who travel with their pets, many of these people do not seem to be aware of how difficult it is on the animal. One reason for this is that dogs do not shed heat as easy as humans. We have a much more efficiant cooling system, so it is easy to not be aware that a dog is seriously overheating while we might feel only slightly hot. This overheating can cause brain-damage to an animal, but dogs are so faithful that they will continue to follow their owner even when they are killing themselves. Also, consider how difficult things will be while trying to do such simple tasks as using a public restroom or trying to take a bus. If you have a dog with you while traveling, your are greatly limiting yourself, and quite possibly making your animal miserable in the process.

In the last and final part of this article I will go over a few more tips on staying warm and dry and comfortable, and also suggest a few nice places to hitchike through.

-endle