Hitching NORTH out of Portland/Eugene (HWY 5) | Squat the Planet

Hitching NORTH out of Portland/Eugene (HWY 5)

Linda/Ziggy

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Hey Folks !

Can someone PLEASE post details:
re HITCHING NORTH OUT of Portland OR Eugen
for folks hitching to Washington for Rainbow Gathering ??? Or folks going north in general ?

Need info re :
Best spots to hitch out of , on ramps & street directions , etc!

Much appreciated!!
 

flashinglights

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North out of Portland kind of bites. You have to pretty much hitch from Vancouver WA, which doesn't allow walking on the shoulder (WA state law) so you have to stand in front of the "No Hitching" signs at an onramp. From downtown Couve, to hitch, either walk to Mill Plain Blvd (highest traffic going to freeway downtown) or take a Hwy 99 bus to Salmon Creek Park and Ride (there's an express from downtown Portland to Salmon Creek).

There's also some kind of cheap shuttle bus to Olympia from Vancouver that is probably a better option than hitching - sorry I don't have the details but you should be able to search and find it - and you can get city buses from Olympia all the way to Bellingham.

e: this bus is the CAP bus, see Jimi's post below.

North out of Eugene is really easy, take the EMX from Eugene to Springfield and get off at Glenwood Blvd & Franklin Blvd, the only stop before Glenwood Station in Glenwood. Walk south on Glenwood Blvd and you will cross the tracks and eventually reach the I-5 onramp. Due to the messed up freeway layout in this area this is actually a very common way for people to head north on I-5 from the university area of Eugene.
 

jimi

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Yeah, taking the CAP bus out of Portland northbound has usually been the easiest way to go. It's only $1 to Longview, and another $1 from there to Olympia. I always meet cool kids on that bus. It only runs twice a day (earlish) if you want to go all the way to Oly from Vancouver in one day. A few more than that leave to Longview later in the day, but you wouldn't be able to connect to the next bus. It doesn't run on Sundays.

Upon looking at their website just now though, it looks like they will be changing the schedule soon.. Only running as far north as Chehalis? I really hope they don't stop running it to Olympia, that would suck a nut.

http://www.lccac.org/schedule
 

flashinglights

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Yep it's the CAP bus I was thinking of for northbound, thanks.
 

Rolling Blackouts

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I've had luck at a NBD I-5 onramp right off Broadway St, in the inner NE of PDX.
It's immediately adjacent to a gas station, not too far NE from the Convention Center.
Bit of a hassle to get out of the inner city, particularly considering short ramps, but it's very busy and most folks are nice enough to give you a ride at least to better hitching spot.
Failing that, catching buses up to Jantzen Beach area, or Vancouver, WA is always a fallback plan.
 

flashinglights

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Oh yeah that Broadway ramp isn't bad either, good visibility, traffic, and pullouts prior to the ramp.
 

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