Passenger Trains > Getting to West Coast Scenic Wonders by public transit

National Geographic article highlighting several scenic locations along the West Coast which can be accessed as follows

From Seattle
Olympic National Park: ferry & bus
Second Beach/La Push: ferry & bus

From Portland
Cannon Beach: bus (from Portland Union Station)

From San Francisco
Muir Woods National Monument: bus
Big Sur: bus [One could also ride CalTrain to San Jose and transfer to a to go to Monterey and transfer to another bus to get to Big Sur]

From Los Angeles
Mammoth Lakes: train & bus
Point Dume, Malibu: light rail & bus

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/destinations/north-america/united-states/west-coast-without-a-car/

 



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 12/07/19 14:52 by RuleG.

Not much by train. Mostly bus runs.

TJY

The Surfliner or the Coast Starlight from Santa Barbara to San Luis Obispo passes through some nice scenery.
 

Oregon: They left out Multnomah Falls and the Columbia River Gorge: https://www.ridecatbus.org/columbia-gorge-express/

Yosemite - train/bus

In at least the cases of La Push & Lake Crescent, the writers conveniently leave out that it's a looooong trip on transit buses from Bainbridge what with the connections and the mostly two-lane, slow highways.  It can be done, yes, but at some point you have to ask if it really makes more sense than driving..



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/07/19 23:10 by yorknl.

yorknl Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> In at least the cases of La Push & Lake Crescent,
> the writers conveniently leave out that it's a
> looooong trip on transit buses from Bainbrdige
> what with the connections and the mostly two-lane,
> slow highways.  It can be done, yes, but at some
> point you have to ask if it really makes more
> sense than driving..

Not everyone drives...

Mammoth Lakes?  I guess you could take a train to LA but that would be a loooooong (300+ mile) bus ride to Mammoth Lakes.

Tahoe would make more sense.  Rail to Truckee or Reno and then some kind of bus ride.  Tahoe City is only 20 minutes or so from Truckee.
 

hotrail Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Mammoth Lakes?  I guess you could take a train to
> LA but that would be a loooooong (300+ mile) bus
> ride to Mammoth Lakes.
>
> Tahoe would make more sense.  Rail to Truckee or
> Reno and then some kind of bus ride.  Tahoe City
> is only 20 minutes or so from Truckee.
>  

I don't even know if there's bus service to Mammoth.

Eastern Sierra Transit has 1 round trip a day weekday bus service Lancaster Metrolink to Mammoth.

It's an interesting article but they did leave out very important routes where you could visit natural wonders in So Cali by train. Much of the content in the article discusses only buses and ferries. Many of those bus routes are infrequent. In Malibu, the bus that they mentioned is pretty frequent for a beachside resort town. I rode it in 2012.
     South of San Juan Capistrano, one has access to Amtrak's Pacific Surfliner service which would take them to various seaside areas along the Pacific Ocean. There is limited Metrolink service as far as Oceanside. The San Clemente Pier is a classic and there are nature preserves nearby. Amtrak stops at the pier while Metrolink drops people off about a mile north. Torrey Pines State Park has buses that probably connect people from the park to Solana Beach station for those coming from the north while from the south, the buses probably leave from the Old Town Light Rail Station. In a few years, you will be able to ride MTS to the top of San Diego very close to the ocean.