rural transit

A dark brown cat sniffs a promotional pin for Trailhead Direct's Mt. Si route that is sitting on a topographic map of the Mt. Si trailhead. But her head obscures the actual trailhead.

Trailhead Direct and Hurricane Ridge Season is Almost Here

These two seasonal shuttle services start May 24, 2025

The weekend of May 24 kicks off the annual start of at least two seasonal shuttles in the Salish Sea region designed with hikers in mind. Both run through September 1.

Trailhead Direct

Trailhead Direct wooshes citydwellers from a few key light rail stops including (NEW this year) S. Bellevue Station ~~and Eastgate Park & Ride~~ directly to at least seven trailheads in the Issaquah Alps, Cougar, Squak and Tiger Mountain area. If you’re willing to walk short distances, it’s also easy to discover several other trailheads that this weekend & holiday service will open up to car-free hikers. Right now I’m keeping my fingers crossed that earlier routes like Mailbox Peak will finally return after a pandemic-induced driver shortage, which would open up some pretty incredible car-free backpacking opportunities.

Cost

Standard Metro fare ($2.75 ish); use an ORCA card, exact change in cash, or whatever other fare payment options Metro currently offers (there are too many to keep track of these days).

Hurricane Ridge Shuttle

The Hurricane Ridge shuttle makes my heart sing because it offers daily service, not just weekend and holiday service, showing once again that smaller cities and less-resourced counties can and are lapping Seattle and King County — hey, I love them, I live in them, but I also love to see underdogs doing things better. The shuttle runs several times a day from Port Angeles up to Hurricane Ridge, has capacity for two or three bikes (call the agency to confirm), and puts some epic hiking in Olympic National Park (ONP) into reach for car-free folks.

Pro-tip for bikepackers from the Seattle area: Take the early run of the Clallam Transit Strait Shot from the Bainbridge Ferry Terminal to Gateway Transit Center ~~Ferry Terminal~~ in Port Angeles. From there, hop on the Hurricane Ridge Shuttle to deliver you to your chosen trailhead.

Cost

You must purchase an entrance pass to ONP before boarding, then pay up to $1 in Clallam Transit fare. The Clallam Transit link above helpfully provides more details and links on purchasing ONP passes.

Sign Up & Support

Support Transit Trekker here. And Sign up to get notified when The Transit Trekker Manual: Washington State is available.

Header image My cat’s head obscures the Mt. Si Trailhead on my Rattlesnake Mountain region topographic map, next to which I’ve placed a Trailhead Direct pin featuring the Mt. Si route.

tree-topped cliffs above a beach on a cloudless day

Transit Trekker in Coupeville — More Car-Free Adventure

I can’t say no to public libraries, so on Thursday, June 5 at 3:30 p.m. I’ll be presenting another Car-Free Adventure talk at the Coupeville branch of Sno-Isle Libraries. I’ll be sharing resources for planning your own car-free adventures and details for a few transit treks near and far. You know I’m a fan of using bicycles to transit trek, so we’ve invited a local transit agency and a local bike shop to join, and, I hope, to offer the post-event opportunity to practice putting bikes on and off bus bike racks. TBD! ~~I’m not yet sure if registration is required to attend, so pencil in the date and check back~~. UDPATE: No registration required — just show up. See the library’s event page at this link for questions about ADA accommodations and other library-specific information.

The library is located at 788 NW Alexander St in Coupeville on Whidbey Island.

Take Transit

Island Transit Route 6 stops directly in front of the library, in both directions. Between Clinton and Oak Harbor, northbound and southbound runs of route 1 stop a short walk from the library on Coveland St. near Alexander St.

Ride Your Bike or Roll

I find Whidbey’s backroads fairly mellow to ride. Island County posts PDF and GIS version of its bikemap here. If you take the Coupeville ferry from Port Townsend and wait for the traffic to dissipate, Engle Rd into Coupeville is likely to be low-traffic and pleasant for most of the way.

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Support this work here.

Header image Ebey’s Landing trail along the shore looking northwest

Paradise Should Be For All of Us

When my friend and fellow transportation advocate Jason Rock pointed me to this recent OpEd in the Seattle newspaper bemoaning the pilot timed entry system that Mt. Rainier National Park rolled out this year to manage the parks ever-increasing car traffic, I had a few things to say. Jason, our friend and trailblazing nondriver advocate Anna Zivarts, and I drafted an Op Ed in response, and it just dropped in The Urbanist. Take a look. Be sure to check out the video excerpt from a PBS documentary that explains why the Puyallup Tribe is pushing for the renaming of the mountain.

The park service took public comment on the timed-entry pilot in the fall and I suspect a lot of the public asked for transit access to the park. So I’ll be keeping an eye out for any developments as a result of the public comment process and updating here. Stay tuned.