Quick heads up: natural parks = any place that could be considered outdoorsy. Think national parks or famous lakes like Lake Tahoe. Forest and wooded areas can also be included.
Anyways. Instead of wasting my money buying a bloated 4WD truck/SUV or even a AWD wagon like the Subaru Outback, I could just buy a roof rack for my 4 door sedan, buy or even rent a mountain bike, buy some outdoor/hiking gear and I’m all set. But then I thought of something better: how about I get rid of the car all together? If I go the car-free route, I now have to consider how I’m going to get there. While I could go cross-country on bike (and I do plan on doing that anyways), I was wondering if some quicker forms of transportation (excluding cars) could be an option. Do buses and trains go to these places? Would they allow me to take my bike? Thanks in advance!
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We can’t answer any of these questions without knowing where you live. Some places in the world have trains that go near national parks(or similar).
Generally a train that’s rural enough to stop near national parks will have space for bikes.
Honestly, for most places in the states I believe you’re pretty out of luck. The majority sentiment of this community is don’t feel bad for using a car if it’s the best tool for the job.
Fair point. If makes any difference, I live in Memphis, Tenn. where there really isn’t a cycling culture and the idea of going car free is utter blasphemy. Sure, there’s the Green Line which runs across the city and the wider Shelby County but that’s it.
I love how you’re asked where in the world you are and you reply with an abbreviated American state name but no country. That’s very American.
Generally there are few options unfortunately. This is probably the main thing that still ties me to my car.
To solve this we need to bring more nature to the city, and build out transit networks for popular outdoor destinations.
Agreed. I think I’ll go with my first thought: adding a roof rack to my car and buy outdoor gear. I already have a bike rack so I’ll just rent a mountain bike at a local shop. Now, if I really want to embrace that outdoor lifestyle and if my sedan won’t cut it then I’ll consider an AWD wagon like the Volvo XC70 or, even better, a Subaru Outback.
Honestly my Prius carries all the gear I need. Hatch back on an economy car has plenty of cargo space for all but the most gear intensive activities. And you can put a roof rack on there too.
There is an Amtrak stop right by the west entrance of Glacier National Park. It is 2.5 mile walk from there to the Apgar Visitor Center, and from there you can get shuttles through the rest of the park.
I was thinking walking the old dirt Gardiner road into Yellowstone, from Gardiner, Montana.
I’ve walked in and out of the park this way, as Gardiner was the closest bit of civilization where I could get my prescriptions filled.
Pretty flat if you stay on the road, about 5 miles. Roughly halfway there is a small, but tall hill with a tree on it. I caught it at the right time one day and watched a herd of pronghorns get a drink. Well worth the extra time it took.
In fact, one of the common hikes recommended at the beginning of the summer season for Mammoth Hot Springs actually loops up into Montana, and back into Wyoming.
I always just take a train there, if it’s a place worth visiting they’ll almost always have a train route passing by with a regular service throughout the day and evening.
For example if I want to visit the Peak District I just hop on a train to Edale and bam, I’m a 10 minutes walk from a bunch of different trails and things to see.
All the major national parks I’ve visited have been like this so far, if they didn’t have good transport links how would they expect anybody to visit? And they want people to visit, to spend money in the local towns/villages that house those transport links, etc.
It simply does not work that way in the USA. I live in one of the top50 cities/ urban areas by population and we have no passenger train service to anywhere but the freight trains are always rolling. We also have no subway, streetcars or L trains in the city, state, or region.
I’m within an easy biking distance to a national park! But this one is kinda cheating being in the middle of my city.
Damn, you’re lucky.
An electric gravel or mountain bike would be perfect. You can add bikepacking gear and some have options for extra batteries for longer adventures.
Renting a car, booking a cabin or yurt, or a resort if you’re bougie
Hahahaha you’ve made my day man thanks
In Sydney were kinda lucky in that I can get on a very early train and head north, west or south and be at a national park within 1.25 to 2.5 hours to go for a day walk.
Here in Seattle we have Trailhead Direct. https://trailheaddirect.org/faq/
It’s only active weekends and holidays but I know friends who have used it. A few disadvantages: you need to bring everything. All the water, for example. SO… not my kind of camping, because I’m a lazy shit who’s already humped too much shit and my knees are knackered lol.
I live in Southern California and I can bring my bike on the train to Lake Perris. It’s only a 6 miles bike ride to the campground.
There’s a website/app I really like using called Rome2Rio that gives you lots of options for getting from point A to point B. If there’s a car-free way to do it, it’ll typically show you.
In Canada there’s https://parkbus.ca/ which serves some parks from major cities.
Do you live next door to one? If not then no. You might as well be asking “how to travel hundreds of miles to a place with no infrastructure without a car.” It’s unreasonable. You could cycle.
You could move to the middle of nowhere and ditch your car and then you can have nature 24/7 for free, no travel required. That’s what I did.
I’m curious about how one would travel hundreds of miles to a place with no infrastructure with a car. Most vehicles aren’t built for off-roading, unless the ground is naturally flat and hard-packed, like the playas of the western U.S.
