Trail Pirates: Trail Angels in Disguise
There’s an epidemic plaguing the long-distance trails of the United States. From the Pacific Crest Trail to the Continental Divide Trail to (probably, but who cares?) the Appalachian Trail. What is it lurking at trailheads, road crossings, and behind facades of friendly folk?
Trail pirates.
What is a trail pirate? Well, to understand trail pirates, you need first to understand trail angels and trail magic. Simply put, trail angels are people who – whether by serendipitous circumstance or by intentional staging – assist hikers on their long and often arduous journies. Trail angels can be former thru-hikers looking to pay it forward or remain a part of the community, a couple of day hikers with too much food in their packs, or parents dropping their kid off at a trailhead.
Anyone can be a trail angel.
Did you do something nice for a hiker out of the kindness of your heart with zero expectation of anything in return? Congratulations, you’re a trail angel. The acts a trail angel performs in service of a hiker are called trail magic (which is why trail angels should be called trail magicians, but that’s another discussion).
That said, some trail angels have taken their role in the hiking community too far. Other so-called trail angels have even started charging hikers for their so-called acts of trail magic.
You could call them unlicensed businesses; you could call them misguided would-be do-gooders; you could call them sad, lonely people who are looking for some no-cost human interaction; or you could call them what they are, trail pirates.
Trail pirates are the fallen angels of the trail who have strayed from their once-altruistic paths of trail magic.
If you want to volunteer your time as a trail angel to help hikers, that’s awesome. But don’t expect anything in return—especially money.
Trail pirates prey on hikers when they’re at their most vulnerable—often when they’re trying to get to or from town. A frequent flavor of trail pirate is the shuttle driver trail pirate. Want a ride to town? Simply make a mandatory minimum donation of $20 to cover gas, and the ride will be yours!
Two things, trail pirate:
- Mandatory donations given in exchange for rides are not donations; they are payments. Trail angels do not accept payments.
- Donation (noun): something that is given to a charity, especially a sum of money
- Payment (noun): something given as a reward or in recompense for something done
- Accepting payments directly contradicts and effectively excludes actions from being called trail magic. If you’re not performing trail magic, you’re not a trail angel; you’re just someone charging for rides. Do you potentially make things more convenient for hikers who would otherwise have to hitchhike, call a rideshare, or walk to town? Sure. Are you doing trail magic? No. Are you a trail angel? No. You’re a trail pirate.
Is the shuttle driver trail pirate the only flavor of trail pirate? By no means. Trail pirates, like real pirates, can come in all shapes and sizes.
“I’m just trying to recoup my costs” is a frequent trail pirate retort. However, if you’re exchanging products or services for money and hikers are your target demographic, remember that you are not a trail angel or doing trail magic. You are, at best, a terrible businessperson and, at worst, a trail pirate.
Still confused? Perhaps this incredibly detailed and comprehensive flowchart will help clear things up.
So what should you do if you encounter a trail pirate in the wild? First, and perhaps most importantly, don’t let them call themselves a trail angel. If you want to pay these people for their services, go ahead. However, do not let them ask you for a donation. There is no such thing as a compulsory donation, just like there’s no such thing as mandatory volunteer work (that thing the court-mandated you do is called community service).
Can you help people while also charging them money? Sure, people do it all the time. Paid for a ride to town? Neat. Paid for massage? Awesome. Paid for someone to repair your gear? Cool. But you wouldn’t call the people performing these services trail angels. You don’t go to a restaurant and get food from the trail angels who work there, just like you pay someone at a trailhead for something and call them a trail angel.
But what about the trail angels pirates who need the support of hikers to continue being trail pirates? I have news for you, trail pirate: the hikers don’t need you. If you’re a trail angel performing so much trail magic that it has become a financial burden, then stop doing trail magic. Nobody is forcing you to spend your time and money to help hikers.
Also, part of what puts the “magic” in trail magic is its spontaneous nature. I won’t go so far as to say that the people out there scheduling trail magic events aren’t doing trail magic, but when it’s something that’s expected, a bit of the magic is undoubtedly lost. That said, that’s another entirely different discussion, and we can fight about it some other time.
Are you a trail pirate looking to reform your ways? Great! All you need to do is stop charging hikers. If you want to start a trailside business because you need an opportunity to make a buck off hikers, go for it! Plenty of awesome people (and a few garbage ones) have done this and are out there year after year helping out hikers, but they don’t masquerade as trail angels.
So before you head out to the trail to do trail magic, ask yourself, am I a trail angel – or am I a trail pirate?
We don’t let money change hands. Our biggest concern is how our hosting is contributing to more hikers every year. We’ve seen more who should not undertake such an effort, haven’t prepared and are expecting more help than is available. Wanting to leave the trail because it’s too hot, too wet, to long between water is now a common excuse. We’re seriously considering ending hosting, something we very much enjoy.
I just got back from a week of doing trail magic and I can agree that there were a surprising number of people who seemed woefully underprepared for the hike. It’s a serious undertaking with real life consequences, not just a nature walk at Disneyland like the internet may make it out to be for some people.
how about Trail Merchant? They charge a reasonable market rate for useful services, but are up front about it being a fee for service and not hiding behind some veneer of altuism?
I think anyone who runs a legitimate business can claim the title of Trail Merchant, but if you’re running an unlicensed businesses or shuttle, you’re still a Trail Pirate.
So if someone runs a donation based shuttle you consider them a Trail Pirate…interesting.
Sounds like you understood the assignment.
I’ve started calling lemonade stands run by kids street pirates thanks
Sounds like you misunderstood the assignment.
Yeah I’m confused by this article. If I call a shuttle service, it’s not any different than me calling a taxi. I don’t expect a free ride. I have gotten free rides from shuttle services due to them being generous or getting a big tip from a previous hiker, but no free rides aren’t to be expected. I’ve also paid way more for a shuttle than I should have, but again that was my choice. I could’ve tried hitching harder, walked to town or called other drivers. Most of the shuttle drivers have been amazing people who love to talk trail and branding them with the title of “trail pirate” is honestly hurtful. Now if I’m hitching, I may or may not give someone cash or buy them lunch for helping me out but I’ve never had a ride flat out ask me for money. Never seen or heard of food trail magic asking for money. By this logic, are hostel owners also trail pirates? They offer a service in exchange for money? What about the donation based church ones? As long as people are upfront with the costs, it’s definitely not trail piracy. I legitimately thought this article would be about someone stealing your stuff.
Do you own and operate a business? Not a trail pirate.
Are you bored and having hikers subsidize your hobby of shuttling a captive audience to/from town? You’re a trail pirate.
I support Trail Pirates. Why? Hiking is experiencing explosive growth. Demand for services has dramatically increased. Gut Hook (Far Out) has helped minimize the need for “old school” hiker skill sets. Overall self-reliance has diminished. It’s easier to “Call your mother!”. American ingenuity and free enterprise to the rescue! If you need a service, budget correctly.
Are you a thru-hiker or a trail pirate, Bob?
As a septuagenarian, I pray to never be thru hiking! Quest for the Crown, well over halfway there!
Serious question – what’s the Crown? The Triple Crown? But you pray never to thru-hike? Help me understand; something doesn’t add up.
(except for the septuagenarian trail pirate part – that definitely checks out)
Yes, I’m not through hiking, Boomer humor! Triple Crown, yes! Thru hiking, yes, have done. Currently LASH hiking 1,200-1,800 trails continuous miles per season. Funding is provided from my winter seasonal job, shuttle driving skiers to/from airport to lodging accommodations at Deer Valley, Park City, Snowbird and Alta. Have photo ID airport badge. Badge requires passing an annual physical, a good driving record, an FBI background check and drug testing. As a result, my viewpoint is dual lenses, one as a hiker and another as a driver. So naturally, I want to appropriately compensate all drivers. Have educated myself on your previous ventures on this subject. The current and future demand very likely exceeds the existing authentic Trail Angel capacity and structure. What is your crystal ball revelation for the future? Interesting subject.
Hot take, Bob.
Up next: Renting is smarter than buying & Millenials broke the economy.
Hell yeah, I’ve been calling these losers Trail Pirates for years, glad the term is catching on. Thanks for spreading the word! It’s become so common for hapless new hikers to pay $40 for a 10 minute ride into town; FarOut is littered with assholes promoting their illegal, predatory, unlicensed taxi services
My goal is to be hiking and hear someone use the term Trail Pirate.
As a courtesy for your time, effort and contributions to the hiking community, I will duly add Trail Pirate to my trail-oriented vocabulary.
Much appreciated, Fenway!
YES! Thank you for exposing this practice for what it is–piracy. These people are running small businesses, ducking taxes. There are some absolute rackets out there, disguised as “angeling”. :cough: Julian :cough:
We love real trail angels … Unfortunately, these posers give all trail angels a bad name.
Exactly. Trail angels? Awesome. Trail pirates? Not so much.