Classic Bus+Bike+Hikes

Classic Bus+Bike+Hikes

 WTA member Dick Burkhart has been hiking via bus and bike for many years. He wrote an article on busing and biking to trailheads in the September 2006 issue of Washington Trails. Here, he describes some classic bus-bike-hike routes:

Issaquah and North Bend

The classic bus-and-hike is to bus to Issaquah and hike Tiger Mountain. Going further gets you to North Bend, where a bicycle on the rack is helpful (all buses provide at least two spaces for bikes, some more). Take the Sound Transit 554 from downtown Seattle or the Eastgate park and ride to the new Issaquah Transit Center. From here the Metro 200 shuttle (free) leaves every half hour, weekdays only, to the downtown Issaquah Community Center. From there you can walk a quarter mile on E. Sunset Blvd to a small parking lot in the trees at the base of the Tradition Plateau. A trail leads up to the famous Tiger Mountain network of trails, many of which are fine walks, even in mid-winter.

King County Department of Transportation

From Issaquah, on Saturdays, you can also take the Metro 209 shuttle bus, which leaves every hour or so.  The 209 takes you directly to the E Sunset Blvd trailhead, or onto to Tiger Mountain trail access at High Point or Preston (consult maps and guidebooks carefully). You can also travel on the 209, noted for friendly folk, all the way to North Bend. From there you can bike the Snoqualmie Valley Trail, or access many of the nearby trailheads (Mount Si, Little Si, Mailbox Peak or Rattlesnake Ledge) by bicycle.

To get to the Snoqualmie Valley Trail, walk from downtown North Bend a block east on North Bend Way from Bendigo, then 4 blocks north on Main. You can walk the trail west for several miles through farmland to a deadend at a bridge, but my favorite is to walk it east and south 7 miles to Rattlesnake Lake. From here the great views from Rattlesnake Ledge are a relatively easy  2 more miles. Even in winter the trail is often open. After April it is not that much further (21 miles round trip) for fast walkers to do a full traverse of Rattlesnake Mountain, walking back to downtown from the new Snoqualmie Point Park on SE North Bend Way. The firmly graveled Snoqualmie Valley Trail is an easy mountain bike ride.

As a firmly graveled old railroad bed, the Snoqualmie Valley Trail is also fine for cycling. At around 2 miles, the Little Si trailhead is even closer than Rattlesnake, about a quarter mile after crossing the Mount Si bridge, reached by either E North Bend Way or the Snoqualmie Valley Trail. Another favorite of mine is to bike the 4 miles to the Mount Si trailhead. More ambitious destinations include Mount Teneriffe, Mailbox Peak, and Mount Washington. With a lightweight overnight pack, you could venture far up the Middle Fork, or all the way to Snoqualmie Pass on the John Wayne Pioneer Trail. The latter even has a Friday-Sunday summer shuttle bus from Rattlesnake Lake to Hyak 3 times daily with intermediate dropoff points possible (www.busup90.com). Note: the I-90 shuttle has been discontinued until permit issues are resolved.

The Pacific Crest Trail

Some longer bus-bike-backpacking trips are also possible. My favorite is to hike the Pacific Crest Trail from Stevens Pass to Stehekin, about 100 miles over 6 to 8 days. Pack light, PCT style, and enjoy spectacular views of Glacier Peak for days on end (for current trail conditions see this Pacific Crest Trail Association site) . Unfortunately Greyhound no longer stops at Snoqualmie Pass, but Northwestern Trailways will pick you up or drop you off at Stevens Pass twice daily, from Seattle to Wenatchee.

Once you’ve completed the cross-Cascades hike to High Bridge, a shuttle bus runs to Stehekin four times daily. Then catch the Lady of the Lake down to Chelan (runs twice daily: www.lakeofthelake.com) . From the Chelan dock, route 21 on Link Transit will take you to the Columbia station in Wenatchee. The service runs every 30 to 90 minutes on weekdays, several times on Saturday, but does not run on Sunday. [Editor’s note: Northwestern Trailways recently began a new “Apple Line” bus with daily service beginning between Ellensburg and Omak, with stops in Wenatchee and Chelan, among others.] Once in Columbia station in Wenatchee, go downstairs in the station and book a Northwest Trailways bus from Wenatchee back to Seattle.

With the new I-90 shuttle, another possibility is the 75-mile stretch of PCT between Snoqualmie Pass and Stevens Pass. This is a great 5- to 6-day hike, especially spectacular from Mount Daniel south. Of course with the shuttle, a variety of loop trips in the I-90 corridor and Snoqualmie Pass area become possible. Likewise, the Northwest Trailways route that stops at Stevens Pass enables loop trips in that area, or longer trips between the pass and stops at Lake Wenatchee or Leavenworth.

Note that Trailways pickups at Stevens Pass and other non-station locations are “flag stops,” where you flag down the bus and pay the driver cash. For other areas on the PCT, transit hiking isn’t readily available: there is no scheduled service over the North Cascades Highway or over White Pass, but there is limited everyday local bus service along the Columbia River from Vancouver to Stevenson.