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This route gives you access to Stevens Pass and the Pacific Crest Trail which intersects it, the Alpine Lakes Wilderness to the south, the Henry M. Jackson and Glacier Peak Wildernesses to the north, Lake Chelan to the east, along with other possibilities. Catch Sound Transit 512 at Fourth and Union in downtown Seattle at 8:29AM, reaching Hoyt and California Sts. in Everett at 9:44. Catch Community Transit (CT) 720 right there at 10:15, reaching the Cascades foothill town of Sultan at 11:00. This bus actually continues east as far as Gold Bar, but Northwest Trailways (your next bus, and not public transit, but a private carrier, and a subsidiary of Greyhound) does not make pickups there. Dealing with the Devil: tips on surviving Greyhound Keep these facts in mind: Greyhound schedules are subject to change without notice. Buses can be either substantially late, or early (usually only if you're right on time), or may not arrive at all. Bus drivers can be quite surly and decidedly unhelpful. Fellow passengers will include escaped felons. Young women should never travel alone on Greyhound. If you call your local station for information twice in the same week you will likely receive conflicting information; always call the day before your trip starts to verify times. Operators will omit valuable information (at the end of a fourth call to the Everett station over a period of two weeks, the Greyhound information operator admitted, when questioned specifically on this point, that it was actually a Northwest Trailways bus on this route, not a Greyhound). It can be much like a championship round of the game of Twenty Questions. When calling their national 1 - 800 number for information, always opt off at the first available juncture to get the local station's number, and call them for local information (this may sound contradictory, but it's not. Calls on the 1 - 800 number from the Pacific Northwest are routed through Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and the dialect your operator will be speaking will both astonish and bewilder you. And your operator will likely deny that the towns and places you are asking about even exist). You may think I'm exaggerating, or being pissy, but you'll find out. Why use them at all? I only use Greyhound where there's nothing else available. They are a sometimes necessary evil. How do they stay in business at all if they're so grossly inefficient? The answer probably has something to do with their being heavily federally subsidized for more than twenty years. Greyhound was on the verge of going under in the late seventies, and the feds stepped in to keep them afloat. All of their management has existed within a sort of corporate welfare state for more than a generation: they seem to have no clue about how to actually run a real business. Okay, you've been warned. Once in Sultan, get off the CT 720 as soon as the bus leaves the highway; walk one block east on Route 2 to AM Bookkeeping, at 507 State Route 2. Buy your Northwest Trailways (NT) ticket from them; they will call to arrange the stop. NT passes there heading east at noon and 5:35PM daily. They will drop you off at Stevens Pass for nine bucks, or take you to Leavenworth for fourteen. Reaching Leavenworth around 1:30, leave NT. Link Transit, serving Chelan and Douglas counties, will carry you to Wenatchee and/or Chelan for a buck, and LINK 22 leaves the Leavenworth Department of Transportation / SR 2 Park & Ride (right where NT dropped you off) on the hour until 7:00PM. On the return trip, NT leaves the Park & Ride at 8:25AM, and 1:15PM. Community Transit and Link operate Monday through Friday only. Transit Fares
From Stevens Pass and Leavenworth, many options are open to you, including the following: Grizzly Peak
The famed Pacific Crest Trail intersects Stevens Pass, and if you've opted off here, look for the trail on the north side of the highway a few yards east of the pass, next to the PUD substation. You can follow the Pacific Crest Trail to Glacier Peak Wilderness, or to Canada, if you wish. Much closer, there are many lakes, some heavily used, and several peaks to scramble up for great views. Deception Pass
Again debarking Northwest Trailways at Stevens Pass, look for the Pacific Crest Trail heading south from the pass under the easternmost ski lift. Follow it to Snoqualmie Pass, or to Mexico. Or explore the north side of the Alpine Lakes Wilderness. Admire the big rocks with snow and ice on 'em. Another option would be to ask the NWT driver, when you're boarding, if he plans on taking a smoke break (they do that, for themselves and their riders, regularly) either at Deception Falls or in Scenic. If so, and if the driver will allow you off there, you can pick up trails heading south from either of those points, cutting about ten miles from your trip to Deception Pass. Ingalls Creek Ingalls Creek
Catching Link 22 at Leavenworth, stay on board until the bus reaches the Big Y gas station, at the junction with U.S. Route 97. Link's schedule states that only two early morning runs and two evening runs stop at the Park & Ride here, so you may have to disembark at Peshastin or Dryden, about two miles either side of the junction. I would suggest pleading your case with the driver to see if he or she will drop you off at the junction. At any rate, once there, head south seven miles, turning right onto the Ingalls Creek Road, and walking one mile to the trailhead at road's end. The trail, soon entering the Alpine Lakes Wilderness, follows the creek for a dozen miles before climbing to Stuart Pass. Enjoy great closeup views of the Stuart Range. In late summer and early fall, ford Ingalls Creek on any of the five trails heading south into the Wenatchee Mountains; they're all connected by a trail that runs along the next ridge south of there. Look south into the North Fork Teanaway River drainage. Lake Chelan You can reach the town of Chelan from Leavenworth on the same day you started your trip, but you'll get there too late to catch any of the Lady of the Lake tour boats that day. And there's no place near town to camp. Consider instead staying at Leavenworth for the night. The town of Leavenworth is surrounded by the Wenatchee National Forest, and the ranger station there assured me that one can just walk a mile or two out of town, make sure you're not on private land, and camp for the night. Lake Chelan's Lady of the Lake tour boats will carry you the fifty - mile length of the lake, and can drop you off and/or pick you up at various points along it, including Lucerne and Stehekin. To catch their slowest (and cheapest) boat uplake in the morning, you must break camp in Leavenworth early. Catch Link 22 at the DOT/US 2 Park & Ride at 6:02AM, reaching the Olds Station transfer point at 6:40, where you'll catch Link 21 at 6:45, reaching Chelan at 7:35. Tell the driver where you want to get off; you'll reach the Lady of the Lake dock just before the bus hits town. The Lady of the Lake II leaves the dock at 8:30 ($14 one-way to Lucerne; $15 to Stehekin). Reservations and prepayment are necessary to guarantee passage on either of their two faster boats. Consider also using Lake Chelan as an exit from an expedition through North Cascades National Park (via Stehekin), or through the Glacier Peak Wilderness (via Holden Village, and their daily summer - time bus rides down the steep 15 - mile gravel road to meet the tour boats). If you catch the Lady
of the Lake Express (the slow boat gets back to Chelan too late
to catch any bus out of town) you'll reach Chelan by 2:20PM,
enabling you to catch Link 21 right in front of the boat dock
at 2:25 or 3:25. Reach Olds Station by 3:10 or 4:10. Catch Link
22 there at 3:15 or 4:15, reaching Leavenworth in 30 minutes.
Camp near there for the night and catch Northwest Trailways westbound
from the Park & Ride at 8:25AM or 1:20PM. Debark in Sultan,
catching Community Transit 720 back to Everett, und so weiter.
Regarding Holden Village: If making arrangements for the bus ride between Lucerne and Holden Village, be aware that it's a good idea to make a reservation with the nice people at Holden first. They list no phone, but can be reached by mail addressed thus: Holden Village Lucerne Chelan, WA 98816 |