Train Hopping
 

Its kind of like hichiking but on trains. I have a few times but only for 30 miles or so. When I was a teenager I used to want to just travel america and have adventures and see the countryside on a train. I couldnt get any of my friends to go and also wouldnt do it me self.


Anyone ever try this?


I am not talking about buying a ticket and hoping on amtraks. I am talking about jumping into a boxcar at a swiching station.

a couple of my friends train hop regularly.
one drove to San Fran from Seattle, then hopped a train to Denver.
the other regularly hops the train from seattle to portland. last summer he hopped a train all the way from Seattle to Burningman (huge anarchistic arts festival in the black rock desert of southern Nevada). though, more than once he's had to ride for a long time in an uncovered train car, freezing wind on his face.. even still -
cost of gas from seattle to portland - $40
cost of comuter train ticket - $60
plane ticket - $100
train hop - priceless ? meh... no.. but it's free and exciting and dangerous! heck yeah.

from what i know, it can be pretty dangerous. But... there are spots that I know of in the greater los angeles area where it's much safer, as the trains are pretty slow.

My boyfriend talks about this all the time, and reads books, and websites on the subject, but has yet to do it.

I've read that you really have to be careful of other train hoppers... They can get possessive and violent... Don't know if that's a myth or not.

I always wanted to do this when I was a kid...

As a kid I was playing on a train (I know, I shouldn't have crossed the highway or the river in the first place to get to the train tracks!! but I did), and it started moving on us, by the time my friend and I got to where we could bail the train was moving too fast. We ended up in a town 30 miles away. That was an interesting experience.

Some friends of mine did it one summer in high school. dirty, hot, dangerous, and a pain to get back, but it was thrilling at the time.