Transit Trekking

A trail bordered immediately by low shrubs, possibly wild blueberry bushes, which are in turn bounded by tall conifers in every direction. The blue sky above is dominated by puffy clouds.

Car-free to Mt. Rainier

I thought I’d be writing a no-frills post about the only service I’ve (finally!) found to date that serves overnight adventurers to Mt. Rainier National Park. But my discovery came with a bonus: connecting with a fellow traveler and nature lover who is also clamoring for public transit access to the outdoors.

“I’m a one-guy operation who loves the mountains and likes people,” John McLarty tells me. “But I keep dreaming of being part of something bigger than me and my car…It is inexcusable that you can’t get to Mt. Rainier [by bus].”

A trail runner, one of the first things he says on our call is that “In a perfect world I’d run for 20-30 miles from one place to another and hop on a bus [to get back]. If I want this, there’s got to be other people.” So, the Enumclaw-based retiree — also a poet, former editor, and geology enthusiast — launched Talking Rocks Trailhead Shuttle service in 2022.

That first year, he booked three shuttle trips. He figured he’d double his trips to six in 2023; he booked 25. As I write in March 2024, he’s already getting inquiries and booking reservations for the summer.

The base price is $1.11 per mile plus $29 per hour, and $20 per additional person; these are calculated from Enumclaw, so if you take transit to Enumclaw, you’ll knock a chunk off the price tag.

I’m outlining some basic details below; see the Talking Rocks website for more.

  • Six-passenger capacity in his primary shuttle vehicle, a Mitsubishi SUV
  • Two bikes, in same. He can haul more in the bed of his secondary vehicle, a pick-up truck with room for five passengers.
  • For adventurous families with younger kids, he can install one or two car seats he keeps on hand for visits from his out-of-state grandkids

McLarty encourages travelers to book specific service as far in advance as possible; he does offer “emergency” service. It’s not the 911 kind of emergency, but the “things are not going as we planned and we need a lift” kind of emergency. About 20 percent of his trips in 2023 were from parties that needed to be bailed out of trips that went awry.

An older white man with salt and pepper hair and a beard, smiling. In the background is a forest in winter, with fairly deep snow in the background.
John McLarty

McLarty is keenly aware that his rates aren’t readily affordable for everyone. Another of his stated dreams is to reduce the per-person cost of his services. One first step was to post information about future reservations so that hikers might be able to share the ride with others. You can check the Talking Rocks website or Facebook page to see scheduled trips that, with the consent of the confirmed hikers, you might be able to join. (McLarty is gracious and responsive: I suggested he post confirmed reservations on his site for those who don’t have Facebook accounts; he added the Scheduled Trips tab to his site within 24 hours of our conversation.) One way he’s thinking about being part of “something bigger” is by looking for other drivers — not to hire them but to facilitate additional shuttle service by linking drivers up with potential passengers — which could potentially mean lower prices.

For some travelers, Talking Rocks is a (comparative) bargain. Last year after warning a pair of inquiring hikers about his rates, the duo booked their trip through McLarty after comparing the cost of a car rental for their planned adventures.

In recent years McLarty has hosted several geology tours in the Southwest U.S., and is available for other tours. He plans to organize some 1- or 2-day geology tours in the Enumclaw-Mt. Rainier area this year, and is available for custom tours and transportation to other hiking and outdoor destinations in the Rainier region.

I suspect that public transit to Mt. Rainier would increase demand for private shuttle services. The option would be attractive for folks like me who can’t drive to take transit at the start of a longer backpacking trip and then spend some money to have a quicker, less logistically challenging trip back home than transit can offer. There are probably a lot of other use cases I’m not considering. But another of McLarty’s dreams is this one: “That my service would go out of business because it gets supplanted by scheduled service — public transit.”

Image: A trail in or near Mt. Rainier National Park, courtesy John McLarty

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.

More Than a Travel Guide

A few things about why I’m working to make The Transit Trekker Manual more than just another travel guide:

Those of us who cannot drive deserve the same kind of access to outdoor recreation spaces as those who can drive and have enjoyed that access for nearly the last 100 years. Nondrivers are much more likely to be disabled, BIPOC, and/or low income, which suggests that one of the most effective ways to increase equitable access to the outdoors is to make sure transit serves our outdoor recreation destinations and includes safe routes for walking and rolling.

Many people who can drive would prefer the option to use transit for outdoor recreation as well as other travel — because they hate driving, would prefer not to bear the financial burden of owning a car, or because they recognize it is imperative to tread much lighter in the face of climate change. About ¾ of the people on the Transit Trekker mailing list say they want or are trying to drive less. The rest are nondrivers, some by choice, most not by choice.

Rural communities neighbor many recreation destinations. Contrary to popular assertion, many have large proportions of non-drivers. Nondrivers in these regions need and deserve the same mobility our transportation system delivers to drivers — be it transit, walking, biking or rolling. 

The manual will offer readers detailed trip guides to help them find the best transit treks possible from their communities, eliminating hours of research and planning and logistics coordinating transit schedules and connections to figure out the best days and times to travel.

The manual will also encourage readers to take up advocacy prompts — small acts they can take as they plan and enjoy their transit treks that can show the unmet demand for increased rural mobility and transit-accessible recreation to decision makers and funders — think state and local governments, recreation businesses, transit agencies, departments of transportation, and so forth — and direct readers to statewide grassroots organizations working on mobility justice that they can learn from, support, and engage through. 

In addition to one-time support you can now pledge monthly via the cooperatively owned and operated Camradery, an alternative to Patreon.

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