Pacific Northwest

Action Alert — Pedestrian Access on the Bridge of the Gods

While house-sitting this week in Hood River, OR, I took the bus to Cascade Locks to check out transit hiking conditions at the southernmost Washington trailhead of the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT). My assessment? Mixed. And in some cases — decidedly not great. And a lot of that is because you have to cross the Bridge of the Gods over the Columbia River to continue on the PCT, whether you are traveling northbound or southbound.

I did some preliminary digging to see if I could understand why authorities have not done the most minimal separation — simple concrete curbs and a few flex posts? — to afford pedestrians real space while crossing the bridge. I didn’t find the fulll answer to that question, but did find that there is local support for a pedestrian bridge, some preliminary funding and studies were secured, but due to some byzantine federal rules about toll bridges (vehicle drivers pay tolls) the pedestrian bridge addition is on indefinite hold. As I said in my Twitter thread, I don’t know numbers for locals who cross the bridge on foot, but I do know that in 2023 people should not have to walk in a lane of traffic to cross a major river.

Just a couple weeks ago, the Pacific Crest Trail Association published a Call to Action to urge legislators in both Oregon and Washington to fund the bridge. It’s a short read and easy to sign on. Please sign and share.

Graphic with a bus and image of a waterside park. The text explains that King County Metro runs 7 days a week from Redmond Technology Station to St. Edward State Park. The closest stop to the park is 153rd Places and Juanita Drive NE.

For Ride Transit Month I Talked to Move Redmond

Move Redmond advocates for multimodal transportation in Redmond. As part of their Ride Transit Month coverage, I talked to them about Transit Trekker. I also provided a few tips on easy transit trips that can be done from Redmond. You can read all about it in their June newsletter, here. Especially note the clear, friendly graphic treatments they created to highlight the trip itineraries I offered.

Redmond and the eastside in general could use much better local transit service, IMO. That said — Redmond has great access to multi-use trails in the form of the Sammamish River Trail, the soon-to-be re-opened East Lake Sammamish Trail, the developing Eastrail network, and — with a lift from King County Metro route 224 to Duvall — the Snoqualmie Valley Trail, which will connect you to the Palouse to Cascades Trail. That last one you can ride all the way to the WA-ID border from about May to October — hundreds of miles taking in the Cascades, eastern WA semi-desert, and the Palouse. As I write that, I am amazed and grateful all over again to live in a region rich with stunning rail trails. My e-bike is in the shop awaiting repairs (and an e$timate) and I think I’m going to be planning a quick venture along the Palouse to Cascades Trail via the eastside very soon……

The featured image in this post is used with permission of Move Redmond.

A gravel trail descending into trees, with the Salish Sea in the distance and foothills across the water.

A New Salish Sea-area Fave

Vashon Island and Maury Island are both in King County but I’ve easily spent much more time on Whidbey and Camano islands, two counties away. That is about to change thanks to a Twittering Device mutual whose recent bike-packing trip piqued my curiosity about camping options I didn’t know existed.

Limited transit schedules meant I’d long postponed scouting a day trip to Dockton Forest and Maury Island Natural Area — those schedules requiring a long day trip or doing a multimodal trip that includes a long bike ride. Now that I followed in aforementioned Tweeter mutual Jawwwwwwsh’s footsteps with a mid-week trip of my own, I can say that I think a long day trip is absolutely worth it.

And I can also say that camping at Maury Island Marine Park (MIMP) is a new favorite outing and absolutely worth it. During my mid-week trip, I often had the entire beach to myself, and often had the entire park to myself — at least it felt like it.

As to be expected, weekend slots tend to book up. I can’t speak from experience but I’d bet that despite relative weekend popularity, MIMP still offers a good deal of relative peace and solitude, for two reasons. First, there are only seven campsites (including a marine campsite that is part of the Cascadia Marine Trail), placing a simple limit on the maximum number of folks you’ll be camping near. (Although most of the camp sites are close together, the park itself has plenty of room, elbow and otherwise.) Second, you must hike or bike (or paddle) in, and the elevation gain on the return to the park entrances is more hike in the park than walk in the park, limiting both day and overnight visitors. (And….heads up, transit trekking to here on a weekend is best done with a bicycle or booking to arrive on a Friday afternoon and depart on a Monday morning if your schedule allows, because….yup, transit schedules on these islands are not great.)

I’m working on adding this as a featured trip in The Transit Trekker Manual, with lots more details to make planning and enjoying as easy as possible. In the meantime, my own Tweete thread about the trip starts here (and ends with AliceLynx). You can also read my quick and sloppy trip report on the WTA site.

This post was edited to clarify and correct information about camp sites.