The Resupply page on PCTWashington.com lists many places to access the trail by private vehicle. This page covers public transit. This information is organized by major east-west highway crossing the PCT.
There are only three places on the PCT you can reach by public transit alone. Those are Stevens Pass, Bridge of The Gods, and High Bridge (Stehekin). All other access points require covering some distance between the last transit stop and the PCT trailhead.
Where public transit will not get you all the way to the trailhead, you can use the PCT Washington Trail Angels Facebook group to seek rides to close the gap in your route. For safety reasons its best to wait until the day-of to do that and only state places and a date, then cover details in private Messenger. When you meet have them tell you thier name so you know your pickup is not someone else in the group.
The Canadian border is closed. Hikers are prohibited from crossing into Canada.
The closest public transit will get you to the trailhead is Hope, BC which is 43 miles from the trailhead. The easiest way to get there is by rail on the VIA line from Abbotsford. You can also get there by bus.
Note: State Route 20 closes when the snow begins to stick to the road. The earliest that has happened was October 31st 1994, the latest that has ever happened was December 30th 1974.
SR 20 will typically open before May 1st, well before the trail begins to emerge from the snow. 2022 was a heavy snow year it opened May 7th 2022. This millenium the earliest SR 20 has ever
opened is March 22nd 2001, and the latest was May 25th 2011. Historical Mountain Pass Open and Closure dates
The closest you can get to Rainy Pass from the Seattle side is Concrete, WA which is still 69 miles from Rainy Pass. Skagit Transit Route 70X will take you from Mt Vernon Park & Ride (address below) to the Concrete Park & Ride located at on N. Superior Ave, Concrete, WA 98237 skagittransit.org/
To get to Mount Vernon, WA (which is 103 miles from the Rainy Pass trailhead) from Seattle, a Greyhound bus runs twice daily. The bus station is located right next to Interstate 5 at exit 226 (which is poorly marked). The bus station address is 105 E. Kincaid Street, Mt Vernon, WA 98273 greyhound.com/
To get there from Vancouver BC you can take either an Amtrak Train or a Greyhound bus. They both leave from Pacific Central Station in Vancouver BC and both stop at the same Mt Vernon station.
If you need a hotel in Mt Vernon, there are four inexpensive hotels one highway exit north of the bus stop, or about 1.5 miles walk north from the bus stop.
To get to Seattle from the airport.
Take the Light Rail Northgate Line to the Stadium Station which is one block from the Seattle Greyhound bus station.
soundtransit.org/ride-with-us/popular-destinations/sea-tac-airport
High Bridge Ranger station is one of the few places you can reach entirely on public transport. From there you can take the “red bus” (now painted blue) to Stehekin, which is operated by the North Cascades Lodge at Stehekin. From there you can take any of the three ferries to Chelan.
You can also exit the trail much further south at Suiattle Pass via Cloudy Pass, then catch one of these same ferries to Chelan from Lucerne, WA.
From Chelan, Link Transit bus route 21 will take you to from the Chelan City Hall on E Johnson Ave to the Amtrack Station in Wenatchee.
stehekin.com/stehekin-shuttle/
stehekinferry.com/
ladyofthelake.com/
linktransit.com/routes_and_schedules/intercity_routes/route_21_wenatchee_to_manson_via_entiat.php
Greyhound bus 0736/0737 makes two stops daily at Stevens Pass, one at 10:30 AM eastbound to Leavenworth, and again at 1:30 PM westbound to Skykomish, Monroe, Everett, and Seattle. People will refer you to Amtrak, Greyhound, and Northwestern. They are all the same bus operated by Northwestern. I think the Greyhound app is the easiest for booking. greyhound.com/
There is a new shuttle service between Snoqualmie Pass and Seattle. They have four buses. See the link below for more details on the winter operation.
The summer schedule is TBD at this point, so interest from the hiking community will help them plan summer service.
Possible stops could include REI downtown, Husky Stadium, light rail, station, and the Safeway in North Bend.
tothemountainshuttle.com/
The closest King County public transportation will get you is North Bend, WA. King County Metro bus 208 runs from downtown Seattle to the North Bend outlet mall which is on the north side of Interstate-90, right next to it. kingcounty.gov/depts/transportation/metro/schedules-maps/hastop/208.aspx
The closest Cross-County public transportation will get you is Issaquah, WA which is kind of the gateway to Snoqualmie Pass from the greater Seattle area. Sound Transit bus 554 runs from Seattle to Issaquah. soundtransit.org/ride-with-us/routes-schedules/554
The closest public transportation will get to Chinook Pass is Enumclaw, WA which is 44 miles from the trailhead. King County DART Route 915 will take you to Enumclaw from Auburn. You probably want to get off near the Enumclaw Safeway. kingcounty.gov/depts/transportation/metro/schedules-maps/hastop/915.aspx
The closest public transit can get you to White Pass is 20 miles away at the Packwood Senior Center (12931 US-12, Packwood, WA 98361). You can catch a bus from there to the Centralia Greyhound station (1232 Mellen St, Centralia, WA 98531), via LEWIS Mountain Hwy Transit 360-496-5405 lewiscounty.com
There is another bus to Centralia, but it only goes to Morton, WA which is only about half way to Packwood. twintransit.org
Many of the trailheads between Mt Adams and Old Snowy are accessed via Packwood. So you might be able to hitch a ride from those points off the PCT as well.
The closest public transport will get you to Trout Lake is Hood River, OR which is 27 miles away. The Columbia Gorge Express route run by Columbia Area Transit (CAT) will take you to 224 Wasco Loop Rd, Hood River, OR. If you want to hitch the rest of the way to Trout Lake, then you will want to be on Highway 141. That is 6 miles north, across the Hood River Bridge. If you go a bit further, 6.7 miles, there is a wide turnout on highway 141 here 45.74154000333097, -121.52243914670967
Trail angels offer a shuttle ride from Trout Lake to the Williams Mine Trailhead on FR 23 troutlake.org/pct-trail-angels/
Columbia Gorge Express route run by Columbia Area Transit (CAT) will take you to the Thunder Island Brewing Company in Cascade Locks, OR. The CAT busses are purple and white. ridecatbus.org/columbia-gorge-express/
From there it’s a 0.2 mile walk south on US-30 to the bridge where you can cross into Washington and access the PCT trailhead on WA-14