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How You Can Backpack the Cascades and Olympics from the Seattle Area, and Do it By Bus!
by Dave McBee
Seattle is uniquely situated, surrounded closely by three national parks, and numerous national forest wildernesses. And we have public transit systems that range far enough and connect well enough that we can reach these recreational destinations largely on cheap public buses.
Why do this?
- It’s cheap: most of these trips will only set you back five or six bucks each way.
- It’s environmentally friendly: you’re not adding to global warming.
- If you’re visiting the area on vacation, you won’t have to rent a car just to abandon it at a trailhead for several days.
- Not being tied to a car makes it easier to hike point-to-point (entering at one trailhead and exiting at another).
- You’ll pick up more local color and information chatting with locals on buses that you ever would sitting in a car by yourself.
Here’s the challenging part: in most cases, the bus won’t take you all the way to the trailhead. You’ll have to walk from where the bus drops you off along the highway up an access road to the trailhead. Some of these roads listed are five to ten miles long, some even longer. Carry a pair of sneakers with you.
Or you can try your thumb at hitchhiking, which, admittedly, is a death sport. But driving down these roads are folks off to do the same sort of thing you’re trying to do. Use your best judgment.
You’ll still need to use your favorite trail guide and topo maps. I’ll simply help you get from Seattle to within walking distance of a whole bunch of backpacking destinations.
See sidebar for where we go….