# The loneliest roads on earth



## LeeevinKansas (Aug 24, 2010)

So I know theres a topic below about slowest hitching, but what about hitching/walking roads with virtually no cars, people, animals, etc?

I ask because im heavily into walking down the loneliest roads on earth, dead, rural, etc, i love em. 

I bring a few to the table today. 

1. Route 49. Caldwell, KS to Renfrow, OK. 8.18 miles. 

This was the loneliest road ive ever walked yet. About a mile or so out of Caldwell, you come across a Chisholm trail historic park thing. I remember standing on this somewhat small, but still high cliff looking out over an expanse of nothingness. Now Ive never been one for history much, but the day I came across this, Man, it hit me like a ton of bricks. Something about it grabbed my soul and told me this was gonna be one hell of a lonely walk. Once I hit the state line, there was an old indian lookin bar on the side of the road. And it was empty. Closed. etc. From there on to Renfrow, nothing but overcast skies, and brown fields of dying corn, oats, wheat. There was no livestock anywhere, and no houses save for one old looking cottage off in the distance. Theres a railroad that runs parallel to the side of the road , but no trains ever went down it. From the state line to Renfrow, I had 2 cars pass me the whole ways. Both doing.... Im guessing close to 90mph, so I doubt they noticed my existence. And when you finally get to Renfrow, your greeted with a dying neighborhood, complete with an abandoned gas station. The only sound to greet your ears is the humming of the massive grain silos and machinery to the east of town. A few workers here and there walked about, but they pretend not to notice you. I ended up catching a ride to Oklahoma City from there from a semi, whose driver was trying to cheat the tollbooth fees of the Interstate. 

2. State Center, Iowa. State Highway 234 & Route 30 Crossing. South on 234 to State Highway, 235. West on 235 to Rhodes, Iowa. About 6-7 miles.

After spending the night in state center, iowa, in an abandoned campground bathroom, I headed south on 234 to route 30.This section of the road wasnt so bad, 4 or 5 cars passed me. Then i opted to head South skipping route 30. This is where 234 turns into a a hilly-as-fuck-dirt road. I had 4 tractors pass me and 1 beaten up farm van. The lanscape is nice to look at in places, but not the people. They all just glare at you like your a demon. In fact i swore one of the tractor drivers tried to run me over. Theres a few dirt roads branching off of 234 heading east, and I think 1 west, I didnt bother to follow them. When you get close to 235, on the west side of 234, theres an old crumbling barn. It backs up to a nice lil river, and a small expanse of forest. It makes a great place to camp, but be careful of the farmhouse inhabitants that live close by. They look at you pretty damn wearily. 
Once you get to 235, you can head west to Rhodes, IA. Its not more than a 3rd or 4th of a mile to town. Rhodes, IA, is the deadest town Ive ever seen. It is situated in the middle of some woods. Every building is either crumbling, falling apart, or at least closed for business. There are very few people out. I did ask 1 local old man about history, folklore etc. He told me that rhodes is supposedly haunted by ghosts and what not from the original settlers. I didnt stick around for night, but i can say that theres a pretty eerie feeling that permeates the air. The woods continue along 235. west out of town for about a mile. They are on both sides of the road. A lil ways west out of rhodes, on 235, theres a long bigass hill, and at the bottom is a river with a nice bridge you can chill under. (i stashed a liter of rum there, help yourself). Now the eerie feeling continues all the ways down to this bridge, which is where I felt it the strongest. I constantly felt like I was being watched. 


And I might add that is you continue west on 235 youll come to collins, IA. This distance is about 7 miles and I had 2 cars pass me the whole time, one of which came back and cussed me out for lying on the side of the road, resting in the dirt. 


So do you people have any stories about trips like this?


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## soodoenim (Aug 29, 2010)

I can't speak about the entire earth, but the 139 going out of Susanville is pretty damned lonely.


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## cranberrydavid (Aug 29, 2010)

The loneliest road I ever hitched was in Finnmark, northern Norway and across into Sweden from Vardo through Karasjok and Kautokeino to the trainstation in Kiruna. Nothing but snow, scrub birch and reindeer. This was in early March above the arctic circle so it never got brighter than twilight, with off-and-on snow and -20C. There was deep snow over everything and the reindeer had dug trenches deeper than than they were, hunting for food. When a truck saw signs of reindeer activity they stuck a black garbage bag in the snow on the shoulder as a warning to other drivers. 

This is mostly a truck route. I'd see a group of 2 to 6 trucks go by in convoy every couple hours but they never stopped. But the local Lapplanders, the Sammi, are out herding the reindeer 24/7 and every once in a while they send a Toyota pickup back to the village for supplies or to take a calf that's lost its mother back to be nursed or something. These pickups ALWAYS stopped. It's a hospitality code. Gotta keep the crazy outlanders from freezing to death! The heater was always off and sometimes there'd be a stack of frozen bloody reindeer hides on the passenger seat to sit on.

I hitched for 2 1/2 days, paying a small but honorable amount for a roof over my head at night and hot shower/sauna in the morning before heading out into to the frozen desert. One of the coolest trips I've ever taken!


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## Dmac (Aug 29, 2010)

hwy 59 across nevada has roadsigns calling it the loneliest road in the US. i drove it and only saw 6 cars from Fallon to Ely and that is like 140 miles.


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## Monkeywrench (Aug 29, 2010)

Rt.2 through NH and Maine's White Mountain National Forest. It's not exactly a "lonely" road--but in the span of 24 hours, I saw maybe 6-8 cars. 2 of them being forest services. Took me two days to hitch of out that place. Sleeping in the White Mountains, with a bag of food, and no batteries for your headlamp in bear country, doesn't make it easy to sleep.


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## LeeevinKansas (Aug 30, 2010)

Monkeywrench said:


> Rt.2 through NH and Maine's White Mountain National Forest. It's not exactly a "lonely" road--but in the span of 24 hours, I saw maybe 6-8 cars. 2 of them being forest services. Took me two days to hitch of out that place. Sleeping in the White Mountains, with a bag of food, and no batteries for your headlamp in bear country, doesn't make it easy to sleep.


 
sweet, ill be heading up to new england when fall comes, so Im gonna have to hit this area up and see how it goes.


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## Karalaine (Aug 30, 2010)

I was walking across the texas panhandle for a couple days and then got picked up by a guy who took me to some crossroads in the middle of nowhere. I guess their really famous from being used in films such as "cast away." But i didnt see any tourists, just flat dirt road streaching out forever. A cop finally drove by me and hasseled me, i convinced him to give me a ride out of his county. He called his cousins who were also cops to drive me through the next 2 counties.


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## FilXeno (Sep 20, 2010)

It's highway 50. But yeah, It's called the Loneliest hwy in America.


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## CouchPunx (Feb 8, 2012)

hwy 1 in baja is empty in the desert parts, you can stand in the middle of the road for ten minutes without anyone going by


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