Best time to hitchhike?

Vulture

Vulture

New member
Anyone who has hitchhiked a lot has experienced something along these lines:
9am, it takes too long to get a ride.
12pm, it is a bit easier.
4pm, easy as cake.
9pm, harder.
12am, almost impossible.
Correct me if I'm wrong.

I would go ton say people are more likely to pick up a hitchhiker after work than any other time. What have you noticed? When, generally, do you get rides the most?
 
hm. never really noticed. I usually stop an hour before sundown to look for camp. mid morning is always kinda slow. early afternoon has been weird too. I also like hitching as early as posible, 5 am to 6 am when people are heading to work. bonus points if its a cold morning. the biggest factor is if the area is cool with hitch hikers. I knew i was walking when i got the finger twice in two hours outside st. louis.
 
I'd say it depends. I try to hitchike according to where I am, and where I wanna go. Like, I'm gonna estimate how long it's gonna take for me to get picked up, and then calculate so that I won't get there in the middle of the night. Morning are usually my bests, but for a 15hrs drive, its a no go
 
It depends, but I would say early morning is good like about 6am - 10am but by the time I break camp and get my shit together it's usually like 10ish and things are slowing down. 4pm until dusk are usually good to, i don't even bother trying to hitch when its dark, plus it depends on the weather and where you are..
 
I'd say there are so many variables its hard to say. I've been picked up at the weirdest times in a heart beat (say 1 am on a dark lonely highway), and other times I thought I was in the perfect spot on a busy road and nothing for a couple days.
 
I can say that I didn't keep stats, but it is possible to get rides at all hours. Yes, I've been with my thumb out past midnight. It isn't as effective as during the daytime, but I have gotten rides this way. Be sure to stand in a well-lit spot.
 
Generally (and remember I did say GENERALLY) I've noticed very early morning is good for shorter rides (people commuting), later morning I tend to get the longer rides, people going a town or a few towns over, or going to a major metropolitan hub or on a vacation or business trip. Afternoons I've noticed are hit or miss and late afternoon you start with the commuters again. I've caught a few good rides at sundown but normally, I'm looking for a spot to camp by then.
 
Throughout europe the highway gas stations are opem by night, so any time I've really been eager to get some miles on my heels I stayed around the gas pumps asking everybody for rides and mostly that's where I've really hit the long distance rides. Some even let me sleep in the back to wake me up 6 hours later at gas stations where I can continue hitchhiking.

Once I got a sportscar at like 2am for 350 km he was driving 200 km/h and it started snowing but the driver didn't slow down. I was pretty sure that was going to be my last ride. But he did slow to a 140/h when a thick fog blurred sight down to a few meters. - He even went 70km out of his way to bring me to my destination!
 
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