Ashland Mountain Adventures, Columbia Hotel and the city team up to run a shuttle to PCT trailhead near the Mount Ashland freeway exit
By Damian Mann for Ashland.news
Weary long-distance hikers on the Pacific Crest Trail are receiving an Ashland welcome thanks to a new shuttle service that debuted Thursday, July 17.
According to the city, Ashland Mountain Adventures expects the shuttle service to cost $10,000 for the season. The city is providing $5,000 to subsidize the effort.
The Columbia Hotel, Ashland Mountain Adventures and the city of Ashland have teamed up to provide a shuttle service for hikers near the PCT trailhead off the Mount Ashland exit, taking them 14 miles to the hotel for $10 round-trip.
Hikers can take a few days to take showers, rest up, do laundry, dine, maybe head to dive bars and then go on a quick resupply mission. Then the hardy hikers can take a shuttle back to the trailhead.
Curt Wexel, 70, of Florida, said the shuttle ride to the hotel was a relief after he dodged rattlesnakes, forded fast-flowing streams and trudged through winter weather while hiking from Mexico to Ashland.
“The Sierra mountains were brutal,” Wexel said. “There was snow and ice and we had to cross streams with water up to our chests.”
He teamed up with Adam Bartleson of Florida and partnered with John Purkerson of Eugene around Lake Tahoe.
Took in a couple of plays
During their break, the hikers spent a couple of days in Ashland, taking in a couple of plays at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and eating at area restaurants.
The Pacific Crest Trail does not come without its risks, and a ride to the Columbia Hotel with access to food and other amenities is a welcome respite.
Columbia Hotel owner Jay Bowen came up with the idea of shuttling hikers to the hotel. The Columbia offers shared rooms with bunk beds as well as private rooms.
Some of the shared rooms are for those who identify as women, others are for people who identify as men and others have no restrictions. Bowen said most hikers are exhausted when they arrive and want a soft bed.
World travelers
Bowen said that over the years the hotel has seen a steady stream of hikers from around the globe. One from Brazil sent updates from the trail after his stay, Bowen said. Word-of-mouth advertising has brought travelers from as far away as Slovenia and South Africa, where Bowen was born.
A hall of fame honoring the hikers adorns the walls of the hotel. When the hikers depart, they ceremoniously ring a bell and get a warm send-off from Bowen.
She’s decorated the interior with a combination of rock and roll posters, modern paintings and photographs to give it a buzzy vibe. Rooms have names such as “Harpies” and yes, there are a bunch of ghosts living in the hotel as well, swears Bowen, who didn’t believe in ghosts before.
Once the hikers get to the Columbia, the only hiking they have to do is a long set of stairs leading up to the hotel itself, which overlooks Main Street. When they get into their rooms, they get showered, do their laundry and then they want food, beer and provisions, Bowen said.
“It gets so festive,” Bowen said. “Our lobby will be so filled with international hikers.”
Bowen said the hard-core PCT hikers want to stay on the PCT and don’t like venturing onto other trails. Thus the need to transport them from the trailhead to town.
“That’s where they’ve always come out,” she said. “They won’t use the other trail systems.”
Some stay at other hotels or lodges, some hitch rides into Ashland or get picked up by “trail angels,” a term given to those who show an act of generosity to a hiker.
The gap from trail to town
Bowen said the gap between the trailhead and the city of Ashland has always been a problem, and she worried about those who try to hitchhike down the mountain.
She said the hikers encounter enough scary stuff in their treacherous travels, including bears, cougars and snakes. Women have come across suspicious men who looked out of place, dressed in street clothes in a remote area. The dangers to the hikers prompted her to work with Ashland officials and Ashland Mountain Adventures, a bike repair and rental shop, to establish the shuttle service.
It took time to rally the support, she said.
“I’ve been pushing this for more than a year,” she said.
The shuttle service is scheduled daily through Sept. 25. On weekdays in July and September, the shuttle leave from the Columbia Hotel at 11:30 a.m. Weekday departures will be at 10:30 a.m. in August. Weekend hotel departures are 10:30 a.m. now through Sept. 25. For more information, call 541-601-2087 or go online.
Bowen said Ashland Mountain Adventures, which also shuttles cyclists to the top of Mount Ashland, took hikers to other trailheads last year, but a service subsidized by the city offers more consistency.
Reach freelance reporter Damian Mann at [email protected].
