Featured Threads

That time I slept through a home invasion.

November 2011, I was working a trim job up near(ish) Yosemite for a friend(D). He had a small house way back on a tiny dirt road, all the way at the end of a secluded mountain road. The houses were probably about a quarter mile apart, you couldn't see one from the next given the terrain, trees and brush. I'm given very few details on the phone, just basically yeah dude come up we need the help. So when I arrive, D is giving me the tour. He's got 18 plants up top near the house and another 36 down below separated by maybe 120 yards.

Single-Speed Tour Through New England

After biking around the Greater New York City area a lot, I decided it was time to expand my horizons and see some new things that were also still close to home. I started by taking Metro-North to the end of the line in New Haven, CT and made my way over to Portland, ME. I didn't necessarily need to cross through NH but I love adding states to my list of where I've been so I made a detour for it.

A Vagabond Travel Punk Guide to Edinburgh

Edinburgh, the capital city of Scotland, has a population of about 500,000. It’s a perennially popular tourist attraction, with visitors drawn by the city’s dramatic architecture, its vibrant cultural life and fascinating history. The city is home to the famous Fringe Festival, loads of cool sights, renowned New Year’s “Hogmanay” celebrations and it even served as inspiration for many of the settings in Harry Potter – so it certainly has a lot to offer travellers.

My PCT Thru Hike Experience

I posted a thread in the trainhopping forum last week and mentioned my experience hiking the Pacific Crest Trail introducing me to this community of vagabonds, travelers, wanderers, and free spirits. Several hours later I got a response from a fellow member recommending me to explain my experience thru hiking to the STP community. I did a little digging and found there isn't really much on the pct/at/cdt in this community however I found a couple threads with questions about these trails and figured I'd give it a shot since my experience definitely defined me into who I am...

A story about a band.

I began high school in 1990, I had... zero friends. Bert Gomez sat behind me in history class, he and I were both into punk, thrash and grindcore. He'd often whisper to me during class "Hey dude, head bang" like a request, it was so weird. We became friends. Within the school year we met Mike, Lee and Dustin. Bert played guitar and had a little experience playing drums. Lee played guitar as well. Dustin, Mike and myself were not musicians at all but we all decided to start a band anyway. We decided Mike would sing, Lee and Bert would play guitar since they knew how to.

Trainhopping in cartoons

I've been lurking for years, but due to the new restrictions on the hopping board I guess I need to hobble out the shadows and make some posts. To prove my worthiness, I'll pass on my comprehensive knowledge of trainhopping cartoon characters. I'll start with the stuff from the modern age and from there we'll take a trip back to the black and white glory days of both animation and hoboing.

In time of plague; riding freight and roaming

I'd like to share some photos of my travels this spring. I'm not usually one to post stories of what I'm up to but feel this can be some contribution considering the forums here have aided me in my travels. After spending a week in Salt Lake city Utah going to strange dystopic hotsprings, a beautiful shadowy show and getting stoned before seeing space jesus at the Mormon temple, I continued East, away from the familiar cascade mountains and into the sprawl, as the manufactured crisis spread. I trekked to Provo wading thru fields of dry rattling thistle stalks to the hopout...

ya boii Siids rides la Bestia -- {mexico}

Waited by a bridge in Orizaba to catch La Bestia going north. It was around 5am, as our train pulled up with about 50 migrants, mostly from Honduras and Guatemala, escaping gang violence and poverty in their countries so bad that the danger and certain likelihood that they will be assaulted by the cartel, robbed at gun point, kidnapped and tortured, thrown off a moving train, raped, or injured and mutilated while hopping on and off the fly, is not nearly as bad as the dangers they face if they stay in their country. All males, some kids, didnt see females. They all got off when the train...

A report back from Alienstock 2019

In case you didn't hear about the unintentional event and internet viral phenomenon, Storm Area 51: They Can't Stop Us All -- It was a joke started by Matty Roberts on Facebook as just another one of many shitposts one would expect to find on social media. The difference here was that this particular joke caught fire across the internet, and at it's peak...

We out here on the StP senior tour! Keddie > KFalls > Dunsmuir > Roseville

I'm not feeling creative at all but I wanna get this trip report written up before I start forgetting details. Maybe as I continue writing, the creativeness will come. With an opener like that and having titled this "senior tour" I've probably lost 88% of the potential viewers already but fuck it let's dive in.

Off-Grid homesteadin' wing'n it yeh

Alright, peeps... I'm gonna share with you my on-going journey with the art of land cultivation, building, and off-grid living. I began this with my partner Caveman in mid November of 2018. This all started after I finally spent some time in Louisiana, being my 48th state hit while traveling over the last couple of years. Hoorah!

Hitchin' Denver to California: What Could Go Wrong?

I had just gotten back to Denver after touring California with my band Rotten Reputation, and was faced with the task of heading back almost immediately to LA for a music festival I had said yes to playing a few months prior. "I've gotta stop planning this far ahead, I'm bouncing back and forth and at this point it's getting exhausting," I thought as I got my pack together with some fresh clothes and extra cans of soup.

STP memes

So Koala and I spend way too much time on here and started making lighthearted memes about popular users and travel stuff. Hopefully everyone finds them in good humor... Comment any (lighthearted/respectful) additions yall might come up with!

Wisconsin to Montana Freight Hop, Hi-Line Subdivision

I never forgot my childhood in Louisiana, growing up hopping freight trains a handful of times, and have always wanted to do it again. I recently reached out to [USER=25743]@Gulysses3[/USER] , expressing an interest in tagging along on a trip. At times, the nature of my work involves reaching out to strangers, oftentimes not receiving a reply, so I was mildly surprised when [USER=25743]@Gulysses3[/USER] agreed to let me come along. This is no easy decision, considering the nature of what this type of travel involves, and because of that I'm truly grateful to have been able to...

Spent the past week sailing around the San Juan Islands...

All throughout the San Juans and Puget Sound there is what is known as the Cascadia Marine Trail, which is a saltwater "trail" leading to various points of interests, marine state parks, and campgrounds... many of which are only accessible by boat. I believe most, if not all, of the campgrounds have mooring balls or docks you can tie up to for a small fee or you can always drop anchor for free. There are tons of of little islands and bays like this to explore.

The (Kwik)Wet(lem) Coast Catch-Out

I got out to the trail, east of Vancouver, as the sun was falling low behind ominous clouds. A woman walked by me with her dog in the cold silence, giving me an uncertain look as I said hello; two ravens were perched in an aspen on my right, letting me know of their mutual displeasure. It had rained all morning, and the ground of what was once Kwikwetlem land (now an industrial park) was still soaked and teeming with slugs. I walked down to the curve of the...

My first train, Australia 2019.

A week prior to this trip, I had already been desert bound from Adelaide with my dearest friend, Emilie. Taking the highway route up, counting all the dead and burnt kangaroo roadkill… I stopped counting at 87. That trip, that week, I got a call from my Dad in the states, with the news that he had been diagnosed with cancer. I wanted to vomit, to scream. It felt fitting to feel so lost, to feel so out of control in a place in the world that doesn’t surrender to human nature, a place that keeps moving and changing at its own will. Yet in the car, it felt safe, it felt trapped.

Hitch-hiking, shoplifting, and other tales of my life as a teenage "freak" in the '70s

I always shoplifted from a very young age. I got an allowance, but it was never enough for all the comic books, airplane and tank models, and candy i wanted, so i supplemented it. I grew up in a more or less middle class household, what you call "genteel academic poverty"- when i was a kid, my dad was a junior level college professor, and my mom was a newspaper reporter, but there was never much money around. i never saw my parents work 9 to 5- i thought what adults did for money was type and occasionally yell "Can't you goddam kids keep it down a little?" My mom would say in later more...

An Artist, a Shantyboat, and the Lost History of American River Communities

The rivers of the United States have a certain lore and mystique within American culture. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, these roaring waterways were home to thousands. Entire communities existed on or near the water in self-made houseboats. The history of these communities has been explored briefly in river memoirs such as Harlan Hubbard’s Shantyboat Journal, but hasn’t been thoroughly examined in a present-day context. That is, until a modern shantyboat came bobbing down the Mississippi in the summer of 2014.

Hoppin from Memphis: One of the most beautiful days of my life

I arrived at Norfolk Southern's Harris yard just before 9 pm to watch my train to Atlanta finish being built and hopefully find a sweet, cozy ride! I estimated that it would take about 20-24 hours til we arrived in the land of prissy housies, cracked out home bums, and Coca-Cola (these are pretty much the only things I've ever experienced in Atlanta). My buddy dropped me at the yard and I scampered in to the shadows by some semi trailers, waited, and watched.