Yogiing
To Yogi: To get free food or other help from bystanders impressed with your grandiose hike.
Once I sat on a cliff overlooking the valley of Hat Creek, enjoying the view of Mount Shasta and Mount Lassen and resting after a long ascent. A car pulled into the empty parking lot behind me and a family emerged. The dad came over and asked: "There are no cars here. How did you get here?"
Me: "Well, this morning I walked up here from near that road intersection." while pointing miles down into the valley.
Dad: "Where before that?"
I pointed at Mount Lassen and said "Yesterday I hiked from just this side of Lassen."
"Where did you start?"
"The Mexican Border east of San Diego."
Dad's eyes widened: "Where are you going?"
"Canada"
Dad yelled: "Honey, this guy walked here from Mexico and he's headed for Canada."
Mom threw open the ice chest and started digging: "Would you like some grapes?"
"Fresh fruit is really hard to get on the trail - that would be great!"
"Here - take the whole bag."
"Well - I don't want to eat all your food."
"This is left over from camping and we'll probably toss it when we get home."
They gave me ice cold water, carrots, grapes, and a nectarine. They were thrilled to have met someone doing something so ambitious. Giving me food made them happy.
That's yogiing. Random strangers are so happy to meet people who are doing something so much more interesting than working their lives away that they will go out of their way to help.
Even when you explain that you don't need help, food, or whatever, they want to help. I've tried to understand it. Maybe they want to be part of a great story: "Today I met a guy walking to Canada and I gave him the only fresh vegetables he'll get in the next week." Maybe they want to exercise the charity in their hearts and they just found a guy who will benefit from a little kindness. This is not some scammer, but somebody they can really help. I don't really know why it makes some people so happy to help transnational hikers but it does. Sometimes when I see people's eyes I know they will be very happy if they can help me. So sometimes I accept help that I don't actually want...
At an Arkansas B&B I talked a while with an older couple. In the morning they offered me a ride to the trailhead. It was only a 10 minute walk away, and I wanted to get out and enjoy the day, so I turned them down. But when they offered again, I could see that the lady really wanted to help. And why was I in a hurry anyway? The B&B was in the same beautiful woods as the trail I would be hiking. So I waited and helped rearrange the car, and less than an hour later I walked away from the trailhead. The payoff came at the next town when I got an email from the B&B owner raving about how thrilled the lady was to talk about me for the rest of her stay.
The Opposite of Yogiing
Once a hiker said to me: "I'm going to drop down to so and so campground - it's Sunday and the yogiing should be excellent." I imagine he approached various car campers eating or packing up their camps, talking about how far he'd walked and how great the food looked... A combination of being a beggar and a braggart. Gross. I hope that when I tell people I'm a long distance hiker they won't associate me with bums like this.
Of course you would ask for help if you needed it. The point is that if you're smart and tough enough to walk from Mexico to Canada or wherever, you don't need much help. You carry enough food to get from town to town, you know how to navigate, etcetera. The only help I ask of strangers on a regular basis is hitchhiking to and from towns to buy more food and supplies. And I wouldn't hesitate to stop someone for a broken bone or snakebite.
But panhandling in a campground?
Really?