Hitching East Part 1

Hitching east is the greatest thing I have ever done. Its changed me wholly. Seaghan and I travelled across Western Canada mostly on the generosity of others and people were so nice. I met some of the most beautiful people in Canada. These people made travel so much more accessible to me and showed me it can be easy if you are willing to commit to it.

Our trip started in late afternoon on July 28th in Victoria, BC and mine ended in Sudbury, Ontario two weeks later. We hitched the whole way. We never stayed in hostels. We mostly pirate camped or stayed with friends along the way. We set out from the Ocean Island Inn using public transit and the ferry to get to Vancouver where we were camping in a friends yard. This is where I first found out that Seaghan had no gear. No sleeping bag, no mat, nothing. Just coats to keep warm. He toughed through it though.

I asked my friend for advice on where to get cheap breakfast and how to get out of town. They reccomended a place called Bon's for breakfast and it was so cheap! $3.95 and I was full. As for directions, they recommended we walk to commercial drive and talk to a crust punk. After breakfast, we headed to commercial and Seaghan found a punk right away. He was a young bearded guy with a duffel and ratty clothes. Perfect. We asked directions and he gave us hand written instructions on hitching out of town.

We followed his instructions and stuck out our thumbs for the first time. We also had a sign. I think signs are important. After 20 minutes of waiting and snacking on wild blackberries someone told us we were on the wrong side of the road. Oops! We repositioned ourselves and had our first ride within 5 minutes.

A pair of missionary siblings got us as far as Abbotsford. We were barely out of their car and at an off ramp when we were picked up by a transport. I remember standing on the side of the road. Seaghan got a huge cheshire grin on his face. “This one”, he said like he knew the guy was going to pick us up. We were ecstatic! We had only planned to ride with him to Kamloops and then split off to the north but we wound up staying with him right until the Icefields Parkway in southern Alberta.

Riding with the trucker was great. He had been picking up hitch hikers for around 30 years and had a surplus of stories. Late that night, as we rolled through the mountains near Revelstoke, he even told a storey about the night he swears he and two hitch hikers saw Sasquatch. We made it as far as Golden, BC that night and camped on a patch of grass behind a gas station. Many long haul truckers park there over night so we had no troubles camping there.

I woke up late the next morning and made the mistake of hitting the road with no food. When we were dropped off at the Icefields Parkway early that morning, we had nothing. The road was mostly frequented by tourists who don't pick up hitch hikers. When we were picked up, it was by a hiker in a cool car who took us as far as the Crows Foot Glacier. This was a terrible place to hitch from because all of the tourists pull in to take pictures and then avoid you pulling out. So many tourists took pictures of us. It felt so strange. None of them picked us up.

Eventually we were picked up by a coal miner coming back from a music festival. BC has lots of great music festivals that I'm ashamed to say I never took the time to enjoy. Anyway, he took us as far as Jasper through the prettiest stretch of mountains I have ever seen in my life. The Rocky Mountain range covered in glaciers and snow caps is absolutely breathtaking.

Pro tip: Do not fuel up along the Icefields Parkway. Our ride had to gas up at Saskatchewan crossing and paid $1.90/litre compared to $1.30 everywhere else. Food was also overpriced, we hadn't eaten yet that day and were going to grab hot dogs but they were a whopping $7.00 a piece.

We made it to Jasper by early afternoon and had some wicked poutine with our ride before he left. We offered to pay for his food but he declined as did every ride we tried buying food for but I always felt it was important to express how grateful we were. If it weren't for people like him, we never would have made it. I can't stress enough how thankful I am for every person who helped us along the way <3

We paid for camping that night. $30.00. That's the only time we paid to sleep somewhere and it was worth it. I love Jasper. Its the first place that I ever visited the Canadian Rockies and every time I visit I'm amazed at how quiet and serene it is. Jasper is not overly commercial for a tourist town. Its small. They don't allow large franchises so there are no Wal Marts or the like to take away from the natural beauty of the place.

We stayed at Whistler's Campground where $30.00 got us our own site and as much wood as we wanted. The park was very well maintained and park staff were friendly and knowledgeable. We were in a designated hiker/biker site and almost every camp had someone with an instrument. My only complaint about the site was that the fire pits were so tiny and the wood only fit in one day. It didn't make the greatest fire to cook by.

A friend of ours hitched to Jasper on the same day and stopped in at our camp. He's very gifted with food and helped us cook. The guys climbed a tree and well after dark we called it a night. We met up the next morning for a relaxed breakfast in the visitor centre lawn and then checked the thrift stores for cheap cookware. Our friend walked us along the dirt path to the highway, pointing out fresh herbs along the trail. Lavender, sage, and one for tea that I can't remember. It all smelled divine and I really wish I had picked some to take with. After a fond farewell, we stuck out our thumbs once again and were picked up within 10 minutes by a speedy Algerian. He got us to Edmonton in no time.

Check back tomorrow for Hitching East Part 2 which includes our most interesting and our worst rides!