A Poll, who picks up hitchikers?

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goatboy smellz

climber

लघिमा

Sep 23, 2014 - 05:09pm PT

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.

Lorenzo

Trad climber

Oregon

Sep 23, 2014 - 05:16pm PT

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.

BirdDog44

Trad climber

Seattle, WA

Sep 23, 2014 - 07:49pm PT

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.

Larry Nelson

Social climber

Sep 23, 2014 - 08:25pm PT

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.

Larry Nelson

Social climber

Sep 23, 2014 - 08:41pm PT

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.

martygarrison

Trad climber

Washington DC

Sep 23, 2014 - 08:50pm PT

Never ever.

Flip Flop

Trad climber

Truckee, CA

Sep 23, 2014 - 09:24pm PT

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'

Sierra Ledge Rat

Mountain climber

Old and Broken Down in Appalachia

Sep 24, 2014 - 04:34am PT

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.