7. Additional areas
Updated April 2010
See also: Got Lost?
Long Beach / Oysterville
This is in response to a request for a route to Long Beach peninsula just north of Astoria, Oregon. It’s an absolutely stupid run: you get to spend more than an hour in Olympia, then another hour and a half in Aberdeen, and then an hour and fifty minutes in South Bend. Total time, Seattle to Oysterville: twelve hours. I could probably ride my bike there in less time.
Seattle to Oysterville (Monday through Friday only)
| Sound Transit 590 leaves | Seattle 2nd & University | @ 6:21 / 6:38 AM | Arr. Tacoma Dome Sta | @ 7:11 / 7:28 |
| IT 603 (Oly Express) leaves | Tacoma Dome Sta. | @7:35 | Arr. Olympia Sta. | @ 8:45 |
| GHT 40 | Oly Transit Bay K | @ 10:00 | Arr. Aberdeen Sta. | @ 11:25 |
| Pacific Transit System (PTS) 14 | Aberdeen Sta. |
@ 1:00 PM | Arr. Raymond / 5th & Commercial | @ 1:50 PM |
PTS 32 |
Raymond / 5th & Commercial | @ 1:55 | Arr. South Bend / Pacific & Hwy. 101 | @ 2:15 PM |
| PTS 50 / 24 | South Bend / Pacific & 101 | 4:05 PM | Arr. Ilwaco Port | @ 5:50 PM |
| PTS 20 | Ilwaco Port | 6:00 PM | Arr. Oysterville | @ 6:35 PM |
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Mt. Baker Wilderness
Seattle to Concrete (Monday thru Friday)
I’ll add this information with a disclaimer right up front: the distances involved (that you’ll have to walk even before you reach any trailhead…) are such that this approach is only for the young, the iron-legged, those with no money but with huge amounts of time to kill, or those with the balls, the stupidity, or enough boundless faith in inherent human kindness to believe they can stick their thumbs out, hope for a lift, and have to not worry one iota about the possibility of being slowly yet skillfully dismembered and then scattered across three or more counties. You can make this trip without hitchhiking, but a lot of hard work is required, and reasonable options are limited. Take a good look at the thumbnail sketch map; note the two red lines -- those represent how close you’ll be able to get on transit.
Public transit will take you east along U.S. Highway 20 (North Cascades Highway) only as far as the town of Concrete, at the outlet of Lake Shannon, and south of even the closest entrance to Mount Baker Wilderness Area by about 20 miles. The only other reasonably close trip would be east of Lake Shannon, into the primitive, trail-less Noisy-Diobsud Wilderness. Again, the distance from where you leave the bus in Concrete to the Wilderness boundary alone is in excess of 20 miles (and you’ll be wanting to return, too…).
For any other trips, add another ten or fifteen miles of road.
Too bad, from Lake Shannon/Baker Lake you’re midway between Mount Baker to the west, and North Cascades National Park to the east—but both are just a little too far away to easily reach. Sadly, that’s as tantalizingly close as public transit can get you. If you’re into bicycle touring, you may consider this a more reasonable way to access and explore this area.
If I haven’t shaken you off by now…I give up! I tried my best to dissuade you! Here, here’s the information you want! I’m rid of you!
Getting There
Seattle to Concrete (Monday thru Friday) EARLY RUN
| Sound Transit 510 leaves | Seattle 4th & Union | 5:55AM | Arrives Everett Sta. | 6:39AM |
| Skagit Transit 90X | Everett Sta. | 6:50AM | Arrives Skagit Sta. | 7:35AM |
| SkT 208N | Skagit Sta. | 7:45AM | Arrives Cascade Mall | 8:15 AM |
| SkT 300E | Cascade Mall | 8:15AM | Arrives Sedro-Wooley | 8:40AM |
| SkT 717 | Sedro-Wooley | 8:40AM | Arr. Concrete | 9:30AM |
Two limiting factors exist to restrain your timetable:
Skagit Transit 90X is a commuter express bus: it runs until about 8:30 in the morning, but doesn’t resume service until about 4:00 in the afternoon.
Skagit Transit 717 makes just five runs; only the first two or three get you to Concrete with enough daylight for you to get anywhere from there
Seattle to Concrete (M – F) LATER RUN
| Sound Transit 510 | Seattle 4th & Union | 7:25AM | Arr. Everett Sta. | 8:09AM |
| SkT 90X | Everett Sta. | 8:25AM | Arr. Skagit Sta. | 9:10AM |
| SkT 208N | Skagit Sta. | 9:15AM | Arr. Cascade Mall | 9:45AM |
| SkT 300E | Cascade Mall | 10:15AM | Arr. Sedro-Wooley | 10:40AM |
| SkT 717 | Sedro-Wooley | 11:40AM | Arr. Concrete | 12:30PM* |
*Once in Concrete, make sure you know—ask your driver—exactly where the bus departs from on the return trip. This may be important later.
Getting Back:
| SkT 717 | Concrete | 6:00AM | Arr. Skagit Sta. | *7:15AM |
| SkT 90X | Skagit Sta. | Arr. Everett Sta. | ||
| Sound Transit 510 | Everett Sta. | Arr. See-adl |
Concrete to Seattle (M-F) EARLY RUN
*That 717 reaches the Sedro-Wooley Station at 6:45, then continues on to Skagit Station—to your good fortune. If you choose to get up that early.
This sequence is so freakin’ early that it pretty much necessitates having camped near Concrete the night before (Creekside Campground, a pay-site just west of town at the Grandy Creek turnoff, may be an option), but it is a possibility.
There’s a 10:35AM 717 leaving Concrete, but the aforementioned gap in 90X service means you’d simply have to wait at Skagit Station in Mount Vernon for two and a half hours, and only reach Seattle one hour earlier than if you waited for “the other run.”
Concrete to Seattle (M-F) THE OTHER RUN
| SkT 717 | Concrete | 1:35PM | Sedro-Wooley | 2:20PM |
| SkT 300W | Sedro-Wooley | 2:30PM | Cascade Mall | 3:05PM |
| SkT 208S | Cascade Mall | 3:15PM | Skagit Sta. | 3:45PM |
| SkT 90X | Skagit Sta. | 4:15PM | Everett Sta. | 5:00PM |
| Sound. Transit 510 | Everett Sta. | Frequently… | Seattle |
There are two later runs of the 717 leaving Concrete, but from those the necessary connections cannot be made.
FARES: Chump change, really. A couple of bucks.
BICYCLE INFO: All buses listed have bike racks (subject to space available).
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On the subject of Snoqualmie Pass:
One used to be able to flag down a Greyhound bus at the Pass, but, sadly, no longer. So your only option for entering or exiting, say, the Pacific Crest Trail at that point can only be accomplished if you know someone with a car willing to drop you off or pick you up, as the case may be.
(From that point you would be able to head north along the Crest Trail, exiting at Stevens Pass—where Northwestern Trailways does make a flag stop. You could alternatively head south along the Crest Trail, passing first through miles of difficult-to-follow logging roads and clearcuts, returning to civilization in the Packwood area—see following section. These would both be long trips, but they are options.)