My Sketchiest Hitchhiking Story (Plus tips for hitchhiking while backpacking)

hey y'all Dixie here today I want to tell you a story from the trail more specifically I want to talk to you about my most sketchy experience while hitchhiking after I get done with the story I want to talk to you about some tips for hitchhiking including ways to get a ride more easily and then also ways to make sure that you're staying safe while doing so now the story is not meant to fear monger I am always learning so I am happy to share my successes and my mistakes on this channel so other people can learn from them as I have learned from them and I think in this particular story I certainly did some things right and I probably could have improved upon some things but this way y'all can listen to it and just try to imagine how you prepare yourself for this situation I have literally hitchhiked over a hundred times and in those 100-plus times I only had one instance where things got a little weird and that's what I'm gonna share with you today so once upon a time it was a hot sunny day at Walker Pass in the middle of the desert and me and my new friend dibs were out there with their thumbs out trying to hitchhike to Lake Isabella which was 38 miles west of Walker Pass dibs and I had heard that this would kind of be a tough hitch sometimes there wasn't a lot of traffic or because the trail was so far away from town sometimes the people coming through didn't know what folks were doing so they'd really be kind of hesitant to pick people up but to our surprise the first truck we stickers um I climbed in the backseat dibs hopped up front and the man driving appeared to be in his late 40s or early 50s not long after we started down the road I noticed that there was a cooler there in between dibs and the fella driving and the guys lungs open the top of it and through both me and dibs a beer and then opened one and started chugging at himself and I mean chugging it but honestly in all the hitches I've had this really isn't that unusual a lot of times folks are happy to share beers with hikers or cokes or whatever beverages they might have in their vehicle but even as we continued on with the windows rolled down because it was about 105 degrees that day I could smell beer heavily coming from the man who was driving which was a bit concerning but we were heading to town so I wasn't really gonna be picky at that time and we continued on within the first few minutes this man shared a lot of personal information about himself including that his brother had recently committed suicide his wife was leaving him and that he was currently going through a lot he told us about his old rodeo days and the parties and the women and the drugs and the booze now it felt a little strange that somebody would share so much personal information with two people that they just randomly picked up on the side of the road I'm all about hearing people's stories though and I thought maybe this guy's just lonely and he needs somebody to talk to and mind you he had no idea what the Pacific Crest Trail was or what we were doing but he was happy to pick us up anyway 38 miles most of which was out of his way because he lived on the way to Lake Isabella but he did mention that he should probably pull off when we got near his house because the brakes were going out on his truck and it was downhill from Walker pass to Lake Isabella and he thought that it might not be the greatest idea to pull a horse trailer all that way with the brakes going out on his truck at this point I am definitely not thrilled about the situation and dibbs and I are giving each other the I like what have we gotten ourselves into but I figured that this man will just pull off at his house drop off the trailer real quick we'll just cross our fingers ask for forgiveness and hope that we make it to town okay but we get there and the man cuts off the truck gets out goes inside his house and dibs and I are left sitting there like what do we do so we get out of the truck and go sit on the front porch to get in the shade because you can't sit in a vehicle on a 105 degree day in the desert as we get out of the truck though I'm starting to become more concerned about the situation so I take a quick picture of the tag of his truck and send it to my mother I also take a picture of the house I drop a pin I do all of that and I send it to her and I say don't freak out yet I'm just letting you know that we're getting a ride from a guy who insisted on going by his house he's a little weird so I just want to keep you in the loop as to what's going on just as dibbs and I sit down on the rocking chairs on the front porch this man who lets just call Tom pops out of the door gives us some more beer and says hey y'all just come on inside and hang out for a little while well I was absolutely adamant that I was not going to go in the house I wasn't rude about it but I just said no thank you I'm just gonna chill out here on the porch it's a really nice day here in the desert and you know we're just really looking forward to getting into town and taking a shower and taking a load off and he says well why go to town and spend money on a motel you can just stay with me like I said my wife just left I have plenty of room I've got a shower I've got beer you can do laundry here and for a moment I just thought what do I say like no you're creepy thankfully I came up with a quick lie most of times I don't like to lie but in this situation I threw out well actually we have reservations for a room in town already so we've already spent the money dibbs quickly nods his head in agreement and says that's right we do we have reservations we got to get to town I feel like at that point most normal people would say oh that's right I'm sorry let me go ahead and get you to town like I promised I would when I picked you up but not Tom it seems like he doesn't even really register what we said and then he looks at me with this real serious expression on his face and he says you've got some pretty hair that blond hair is the only reason I picked you up you know and after an awkward silence Tom's face kind of cracks and he laughs and he looks at dibs and he says just kidding man you ever seen Brokeback Mountain Wow way to make two people very uncomfortable in less than 30 seconds Tom so at that point dibs and I are pretty nervous and I'm thinking is this guy just messing with us or is he serious and then he breaks again and laughs and says just kidding nobody should like sodomy but he uses a much more graphic term and says unless you've been to prison like I have I would know because I spent four years there Tom starts telling us about how he was at the bar and this man was hitting on his wife and he got upset about it and his wife got up on the bar and was dancing and this man was trying to touch her inappropriately so Tom went over there and took care of him by punching him in the face and he said the man hit the floor and he thought he had just knocked him out but he dead apparently Tom's big fist which I'm really focused on now has hit a man in the nose and torn his nose off before and killed the man and he said they tried to accuse him of hitting the man with a pipe or some other weapon he swears he did not and that the justice system is so corrupt and he goes into the story of how he ended up only getting four years because of a good old boys golf game and just a whole lot of other details that we really didn't want to know I mean we just wanted to get to town in all of this I was still messaging with my mother and letting her know that we were okay but I also started a voice recording of the whole conversation just because at this point I'm thinking if somebody finds our bodies maybe it'd be good to have his voice captured I don't know if that really makes sense or not but I figured it might be a good idea to have some documentation of us being there Tom's voice the time frame etc we get back in the truck which I know makes me seem crazier than Tom for climbing back into the truck but he continues talking about his soon-to-be ex-wife and how she held out for him that whole four years that he was in prison just to leave him soon after and he explains it the big fight that they got into that was finally the straw that broke the camel's back was over a horse so Tom wanted to sell the horse to somebody who offered him like five times what they had purchased the horse for but his wife really really loved this horse and didn't want to get rid of it so apparently Tom was really mad at her for not making the extra cash on the horse and he decided to take the horse out for a ride the next day and in his words he just rode that horse and rode that horse and rode that horse that day and the strangest thing happened it just fell over and dad basically Tom admitted to riding his wife's horse to death because she wasn't willing to sell it and make extra cash off of it so now not only has Tom admitted to killing a man by tearing off his nose with one punch but he's also bragged on the fact that he got back at his wife by killing her horse by writing it to death and y'all as we finally were approaching Lake Isabella and pulling into town Tom gets a call from his attorney that he says he just has to take and he starts arguing with his attorney and calling a past babymama a lot of colorful words because she's wanting more child support from Tom and we finally pull up to the motel that dibs and I are aiming to stay at we get out we tell him thank you and he hands us this note with his name and number on it to call us if we happen to need anything I would rather have walked back to Walker pass than to get back in the vehicle with that man because I could not believe that we made it there safely in the first place as we finally see Tom's truck pulling away from the motel dibbs looks at me and he says are you glad I was with you for that hitch and I was like oh my gosh yes and he's like hell I was glad that you were there with me for that hitch and as if all that wasn't enough the next day while dibs was running errands around town and he was walking down to the post office he said he saw Tom's truck pull over in front of him onto the sidewalk off of the main road in town and he rolls down the window and he says hey you've seen that Dixie girl anywhere and Dib says no man I ain't seen her since we got to town yesterday so thankful dibs was looking out for me I mean of course after all of that craziness but dibs and I definitely had a celebratory drink that night that we were both alive and well and that we could laugh about the story and hopefully tell it for years to come as a way for people to learn some things that could potentially go wrong during a hitch and maybe think about how to remedy some of those now let's get into the topic of hitchhiking in general most hitches that you experience are probably not going to be like mr. Toad's Wild Ride with Tom but instead with mostly normal people so let's talk about how you can make yourself look less scary because it's not only scary for you as a person climbing into somebody's vehicles that you don't know but when somebody pulls over to give you a ride they don't know you either and that can also be a little intimidating from there and so I want to cover some ways to make yourself look less scary and to make it more likely for you to get a rad I know some of you right now are like well the safest way to be safe while hitchhiking is to not hitchhike at all and I do realize that and I I do think that if you have other means for getting a ride certainly take those there are some areas trails where you can arrange for shuttles or if you're just doing a section and you do in and back to your car you know you won't have to worry about hitchhiking but on a long-distance hike specifically it through hike it's nearly impossible to get a shuttle for each time you need to go in and do a resupply you may not have service at a trailhead or you may not want to limit your timeframe as far as you know have the pressure to be in a certain place at a certain time for a shuttle to pick you up and then also you might be on a budget and not be able to afford a shuttle every time you need to go into town for whatever reason it's almost always a necessity while on a long-distance hike or a thru-hike to hitchhike most people on well-traveled trails like the ATP CT and CDT are gonna know what you're doing but it always helps to make yourself look a little less scary so you can take off your hood take off sunglasses smile look like a pleasant person that just simply wants to ride into town not like somebody who is going to rob somebody make sure that your pack and your trekking poles are visible I've had a lot of folks say I'm kind of new to the picking up hitchhikers saying but I know that backpackers are coming through and as long as I can see a pack that looks like y'all's kind of pack and usually hiking poles those kind of give it away that you're a hiker and not just a random homeless person or vagabond that's traveling across the country which those people need rides to but I'm just saying if you appear to be a backpacker you're more likely to be picked up to increase your chances of being picked up I would try to go to an area that has plenty of space for somebody to pull off the road if you're on a main highway it can be really dangerous for yourself the person driving and others if a car is stopping right in the middle of the highway so if you can get to an area where there's a parking lot or at least a turn area that somebody can pull off safely that's gonna increase your odds otherwise folks might fly by and be like sorry you weren't really in an area where I could access and finally it's important to hitch when you have plenty of daylight not only does it make the person driving feel more comfortable knowing that they have plenty of daylight to pick you up and drop you off or you're going but it's also a ways to protect yourself too so in summary just look friendly less threatening smile and make sure you put your thumb out to people who are going in the direction that you want to go some guys will swear that it's easier to get a if they have a female with them I know having two people can be kind of intimidating but I have had people tell me other than just home that they picked me up because I was a female and they probably wouldn't have stopped for me alone or me and somebody else if I hadn't been a girl now I'll tell you what I do to protect myself if you all have any other tips feel free to share that in the comments also as I'm approaching the trailhead and I'm getting ready to hitch I put my phone in my wallet in some kind of pockets usually my short pockets where I can close a little velcro flap that way they're secured I make sure that I have these things easily accessible because if I have to tuck and roll out of a vehicle for some reason or run away from somebody on foot or for whatever other reason get out quickly I like to know that I have those items because I feel like if I can call for help and if I have money to pay for something I can figure everything else out then I also make sure to have some form of protection easily accessible I carry a neck knife now so it's right there ready to go I usually tuck it in my shirt so I don't look real intimidating it might make sense to even pull it out of your shirt if you do want to look intimidating I mean you just kind of have to judge it as you go it could of course always be used against me too so that's something to keep in mind but I just feel better when I have a neck knife right there tucked into my shirt where I can't access it if I need it quickly on the Appalachian Trail and part of the Pacific Crest Trail I also carried pepper spray and I would usually keep that in my pocket of my pants or if I was wearing my puffy in my puffy pocket again easily accessible and ready to go if you're hiking in bear country especially grizzly bear country and you have bear spray on you if you have your pack in your lap and that in like your drink holder compartment on the side of your pack and that's always something else you could use in self-defense or even a trekking pole if you have your trekking poles collapse and down at your feet you can always use that if you need to probably one of the best ways you can protect yourself is to use the buddy system as I mentioned before having two or more people might decrease your chance of getting a ride but it might also increase your chance of getting a ride with somebody who's not looking to harm you or to try to take on two people make sure as you're approaching the vehicle you really kind of scope the person out again it doesn't hurt to sneak a quick picture a tag or the vehicle and text that information to somebody as you're going down the road but as you're talking to the person and you're getting in make sure you go with your gut if you feel uncomfortable about the person for any reason have an excuse ready to go where you can bail out of the situation you can say oh my goodness I just realized I left my stakes back at the campsite and I have to go back and get those or oh no I left my raincoat or you know name something that's not easily visible from the outside of your pack or maybe it tell them that you forgot that you told somebody that you hiked toys earlier today that you would wait on them because they didn't want to hitchhike alone just have some kind of excuse if you need to bail out ready to go that way you're not left kind of stumbling over your words and making it real awkward and you can get out of the situation because you've already thought about it and have something ready and don't be embarrassed to say no if you really do feel uncomfortable with the situation it's probably best to go with your gut and this is where I could have potentially practiced what I preach in the situation I was in but again it was kind of hairy and at that point I didn't know whether I should just continue being cool with it or kind of make a stink and I wasn't right there by the highway anymore where I could just get another ride Erin says that when he's getting a hitch and he gets in the vehicle he waits to put his seatbelt on after the other person does so if somebody's gonna attack you they probably want more range of motion so they might not put their seatbelt on so the same is true for him he wants to be able to escape quickly if they decide to attack I've never done this before but honestly I didn't even think about it until he mentioned it to me it could just have you going down the road with somebody who never wears their seatbelt so you don't have yours on and then you get in a wreck and that could be problematic but again these are all things that you have to weigh and figure out what makes you feel the most comfortable and safe and if you think it's a good idea to record the situation in case things get weird then that's always an option - chances are the person you get in the vehicle with is not looking to harm you and they really just want to do you a favor and get you to town safely and they like supporting the backpacking community or they're interested in what you're doing so while you can prepare for the idea that the person who is picking you up could be a serial killer you should probably treat them like they're a kind person who's trying to do you a favor and with that I just want to cover a little bit of etiquette sometimes when stinky dirty exhausted hikers are getting into normal clean people's vehicles they forget their manners so I usually ask the person where would you like me to put my pack and again at this point I have my most valuable possessions including my phone and my money and some form of protection on my person so even if I have to put the pack somewhere else and they end up trying to steal my gear at least I get away with my life and my valuables the reason I ask this question is a lot of times my pack is kind of muddy and gross and stinks so I'd like to put it where the person doesn't mind something really gross sitting in their car a lot of times this is in the trunk or the back hatch and most times these folks have given rides to other hikers so they'll probably go ahead and direct you to that area to put your pack and if you don't feel comfortable putting your pack wherever they want you to you can always decline the ride or tell them that you just feel more comfortable holding your pack on your lap once I'm in the vehicle I always suggest to the person hey it's okay if you want to roll the windows down I know that I smell really bad sometimes they decline and they're like no I know y'all are hot or cold and you want AC or heat and then that's fine but I always kind of give them that out in case they don't generally ride with the windows down that way they don't think that they're offending me by telling me I stink and rolling the windows down because I know that I stink and finally be thankful tell them how much you appreciate their time and their efforts and getting you to town because a good hitching experience for them will increase the likelihood of a hitching experience for another hiker who's coming behind you you can't offer a few dollars for gas money if you'd like most of folks that I ride with decline and if they are looking for tips usually they make that known by having a tip jar up on the dash or they might tell you a story how they're really hurting for money either way it's always nice to offer a little bit of gas money a lot of times you'll find that that gets turned down but it doesn't and just to find a word on hitchhiking you want to make sure that wherever you are thumbing or add that it's actually legal to do so because there are some states in the US where hitchhiking is illegal alright well that is all I have for you today on my scariest hitchhiking story and some tips to help you get a ride and also to keep yourself safe while hitchhiking if y'all have any additional questions about hitchhiking in general my experience with it please feel free to ask those in the comments also if y'all are interested in more stories from the trail let me know that too because I've kind of thought about sharing some of my stories but I don't know if that's more likely a podcast thing than a YouTube thing so anyway y'all just let me know in the comments if you liked this story and if I get enough interest and I might share more in the future thank you again for watching don't forget to subscribe before you go and we will see y'all next time [Music]

Channel: Homemade Wanderlust

Views: 235,594

Rating: 4.9256654 out of 5

Keywords: travel, hiking, backpacking, hike, gear, adventure, fun, story, Appalachian, Trail, PCT, CDT, thru-hike, Auburn, Alabama, epic, climbing, canyon, national, nature, mountains, update, park, lake, trail, tents, camping, summer, University, Aubie, River, stream, Mountains, National, Scenic, pacific crest trail, continental divide trail, hitch, hitchhiking, hitchhike

Id: 1f24QIRtG4A

Length: 20min 33sec (1233 seconds)

Published: Wed Apr 03 2019