7. Additional areas
Updated May 2009
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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As access to this approach to North Cascades National Park was listed in a previous edition of Backpacking by Bus, I wish to update.
Skagit River / Ross Lake
Skagit Transit, because of budget cuts, eliminated their daily run to Newhalem, just ten miles from Ross Lake. Their bus now only reaches to the town of Concrete; once in the early morning, too early to connect with if starting from Seattle, and a second run in late afternoon, reaching Concrete after six in the evening. This would leave you more than thirty miles from Ross Lake and North Cascades National Park, so I have not attempted it.
From Concrete, it would be about twenty miles north along Lake Shannon and Baker Lake to reach Mount Baker Wilderness. You would have to seek accommodations for the first night at or near Concrete, and head north the following day. I have not attempted this one, either.
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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.)