Girl Powder was putting on an all girl rail jam at Kirkwood on Saturday called Queen of the Park. I really wanted to go so I spent all week trying to find a ride. I asked people I knew, I asked craigslist, and I asked the Girl Powder Facebook page to see if anyone was driving down from North Lake. No dice. So Friday after a few runs at Northstar I headed to my apartment, threw some clothes in my snowboard bag and jumped on a TART bus. I bused it all the way to Incline and then began to hitch hike. I was a little nervous. The most I had ever hitch hiked was like 12 miles and I only did that once.
I figured it would take me at least three hours to make the 72 mile journey but within four minutes of standing by the side of Tahoe Boulevard holding my janky "So. Lake" sign I was picked up by a guy who was coming from Reno and heading all the way down to the South Lake Y.
He ended up being a pretty funny dude. One of the first things he said to me was "So... Do you get picked up often when you do this?" I replied with "Oh I've never done this before." His shoulders softened and he seemed to get a lot more comfortable immediately, responding with "I've never picked up a hitch hiker before!" He laughed and explained how he never thought hitch hikers were going where he was going but he saw my sign and reversed back to me because he was going to South Lake. "Now I can cross picking up a hitch hiker off my bucket list!" He said at one point. We had a fun ride to the Y talking the whole way. At the end of the journey he thanked me for the company (apparently having someone to talk to made the boring drive a whole lot shorter). This guy, I forget his name, ends up being the Regional Manager (or something like that) of Round Table and when he let me off at the Round Table he had been heading to he gave me a coupon for a free large pizza. NICE! He also warned me about how there were a lot of cops in the area and I should be careful with my sign, which I had updated to say "89 s."Sure enough, as soon as I went back to the side of the road and held my sign up a sheriff SUV came towards me. I stuck the sign behind my back and put my phone up to my ear. I didn't know what the law is about hitch hiking or sign holding so I took the better-safe-than-sorry route. Two minutes later another cop drove by me, just staring as he passed. This was obviously not going to work. I began walking down the highway in the direction I needed to go and came across a gas station. Perfect! I could just ask people getting gas if anyone was going my way. I went up to a nice looking young man in a truck and asked if he was going down 89. He was, but then crossing over to 50. Well, anything helps so I got in his truck and he offered me some hospitality. I ended up talking to this guy the whole drive and it was a hoot. He had driven across the country from Wisconsin and had the THICKEST Wisconsin accent I've ever heard. It was great listening to this guy talk. He let me go where 89 crosses 50 and I ran across the highway to 89 and started walking again.
According to my GPS the road I was on offered no alternatives to a destination other than Kirkwood except at one point where the highway split and went to 88 the other direction. This meant I had a 50% of making it to Kirkwood with my next ride. Not too many cars were going this way so I figured it would take a little longer to get picked up. After maybe five minutes someone drove by slowly and looked at me. I yelled "Kirkwood" and he pulled over. When I got to his car he informed me he was going to Mammoth and would be taking 88 but he could at least get me to the split so I got it. Anything to get me closer to Kirkwood would help. I had a nice time with this guy. He was a little older, maybe in his 40s or 50s but he was an avid shredder and we had lots of snow talk on the way. He gave me trail mix. It was awesome. Once we got to the 88/89 split I wished him happy shredding and was on my way.
Now I was on the last stretch of 89 where the only option was to go to Kirkwood. I was almost there. Seeing the 14 mile sign stoked me out. I was so proud of how far I had made it.
And it had only been two hours! Three cars passed before someone pulled over. This guy's name was Adam and he ran the demo shop at Kirkwood. I told him that I was staying at my uncle's cabin in Kirkwood and my uncle was trying to get me a ticket, or at least a discounted one. Adam, this wonderful guy, says "Well if something happens and that doesn't work out I've got like 7 extra tickets left this season that I won't use so come see me if you need one." Score! This guy gives me a ride and offers me a lift ticket. I lucked out on this trip. Every person who gave me a ride hooked it up in some other way as well.Adam dropped me off in the village and I was elated. I had actually made it to Kirkwood!! I sat down in their village and called my uncle. I didn't know where the cabin was and that hadn't really been a top priority that day. My uncle didn't answer his phone though. I sat in the village and hung out for a while. Finally my mom called and told me that my uncle, who's a fire fighter, had been called in to duty and wouldn't be coming up. Uh-oh. There goes the cabin. Well. I'm good at figuring things out, I wouldn't be stuck outside. I had made it this far and now I just had to wait for something else to come my way....
Coming soon: Queen of the park weekend part 2. and coverage of the competition.
