Video: how to get to/from Mt Hood and Portland via public transit for great hanging!

[kwpapke]

For the past few weeks I've been hanging out at my daughter's home in Portland and backpacking on the slopes of Mt Hood. Since I don't have a car here, I learned how to use light rail and buses to get up the mountain as far as Timberline Lodge. I figured this video would be useful for PCT through-hikers as well.

If you live along the West Coast this could be useful if you are looking for a great spot to hang. Amtrak is pretty cheap to get to Portland, and the train station is right on the light rail (Max) line. Here's the vid:


--Kurt

[Alex MacDonald]

Amtrack??? Better have time to burn; they're never on schedule here! I also spent 3 years commuting on one from Roseville, CA to Davis. When it actually was on time, it got a rousing cheer. Fortunately my wife could drive to Davis to pick me up when service was suspended for one reason or another. when that happened, we were SOL, and had to figure out how to get home. I dunno.....we can put men on the moon, but we can't get the trains to run on time?

[kwpapke]

Amtrack??? Better have time to burn; they're never on schedule here! I also spent 3 years commuting on one from Roseville, CA to Davis. When it actually was on time, it got a rousing cheer. Fortunately my wife could drive to Davis to pick me up when service was suspended for one reason or another. when that happened, we were SOL, and had to figure out how to get home. I dunno.....we can put men on the moon, but we can't get the trains to run on time?

You have much more experience with this than I do. I took Amtrak last year from Seattle to Portland and it was exactly on schedule. Despite what you think of it, there are a fair number of folks that actually use it, so it is a useful connection to Mt Hood.

[gunner76]

Very informative. thanks for doing the video

[Alex MacDonald]

You have much more experience with this than I do. I took Amtrak last year from Seattle to Portland and it was exactly on schedule. Despite what you think of it, there are a fair number of folks that actually use it, so it is a useful connection to Mt Hood.

Maybe their service is better around major hub cities, but here, it's so rarely on time-the Empire Builder-that we laugh about it. The worst was a 20-hour delay, with no explanation. Today, it was only 18 minutes late, so that's pretty good. Not, mind you, that I wouldn't like to take the train, and now that I'm retired, I don't have to be someplace on a schedule, so it's a viable option for me. And my principal beef is that the Empire Builder travels through the most beautiful part of the country at night, of all the dumb things to do!

[kwpapke]

Very informative. thanks for doing the video

Glad you found it useful!

Maybe their service is better around major hub cities, but here, it's so rarely on time-the Empire Builder-that we laugh about it. The worst was a 20-hour delay, with no explanation. Today, it was only 18 minutes late, so that's pretty good. Not, mind you, that I wouldn't like to take the train, and now that I'm retired, I don't have to be someplace on a schedule, so it's a viable option for me. And my principal beef is that the Empire Builder travels through the most beautiful part of the country at night, of all the dumb things to do!

It travels through western MN and most of North Dakota at night, don't miss seeing that at all!!

--Kurt

[Montexan]

ODOT, USFS and the Counties have been working on developing public transit around Hood for a several years now, with funding and recent improvements being only a year into the project. Ski season weekends or holidays are an horrendous mess on 26. Ski rush hour! So it's great to see a video on this in action!

But there are some potential issues to note:

The Mt. Hood Express doesn't have long-term funding!
Until US-26 safety improvements are implemented, it's still a car-wrecking, Russian-roulette passing, crawl of paved misery.
And it's a "rolling project," which they sold as being more agile, but the reality is it lacks dedicated funding that could dry up quicker than Palmer did this Summer.

But the ODOT coordinators would probably be stoked to hear about people making how-to videos and spreading the word. Please consider dropping them a line with comments. Because if US-26 goes well, the next step is OR-35--which is what I'd like!
http://www.oregon.gov/ODOT/HWY/REGION1/pages/MHMTP.aspx

Edit..

Amtrack??? Better have time to burn; they're never on schedule here!

But to be clear for others reading this, if you're leaving the PCT to Portland from Timberline or Bridge of the Gods (Cascade Locks) or even flying into PDX and heading to these places, Amtrak is not involved. The author was just stating it as a method to get to Portland. But I'd argue against slAmtrak as well. It's not cost-effective and PDX is a Virgin and Alaskan Air stronghold. You'll be able to carry-on about everything--just buy a box-cutter, lighter and fuel at any stab-n-grab. Ski and golf bag (kiteboarding) fees aren't bad, but where Amtrak really wins is transport of bicycles and surfboards.

Now that I think about it, Oregon's Seven Wonders campaign had a page on using public transit.

[kwpapke]

<snip>But the ODOT coordinators would probably be stoked to hear about people making how-to videos and spreading the word. Please consider dropping them a line with comments. Because if US-26 goes well, the next step is OR-35--which is what I'd like! (And there's a direct rail from PDX to HR)
http://www.oregon.gov/ODOT/HWY/REGION1/pages/MHMTP.aspx

Thanks so much for bringing this to my attention! I immediately sent a comment and reference to the video to ODOT using the webpage you referenced.

Best regards,
--Kurt