Originally Posted by
skidder
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I've done a few simple credit card tours here on the West Coast last year using hostels and it was quite nice not to have to carry all the camping gear. The only odd thing I found was that some don't have linens on the beds (bring your own sleeping bag or you get charged for linens), and I tended to be the oldest person staying there (59 y.o., most others were 20-somethings). Overall its a great way to travel and I'll definitely do it in the future. Booking.com lists hostels (a lot, not all of them) so they're easy to locate.
Some do not provide towels, add that to your bring list.
Indoors where a sleeping bag can be too warm, also having a sleeping bag liner can be pretty nice.
Before I go somewhere, I like to look up all the HI hostels in the area that I will be going through, and adding their locations to my GPS in case I would rather stay indoors than camp for a night.