Originally Posted by
cooker
Since you had to go a long way north and then a long way south again,and had a bike with you, could you have used the bike somewhere in the middle to hop over the spine? Or not feasible?
Well, sort of. There are two possible routes, one by road and one by trails that require a mountain bike (which isn't an issue, since I have one). By using one of those, I could go about 10 miles out of the way instead of 15. Both routes are extremely steep, though, and I'm not a strong climber, so I'd probably have to walk a lot. There are no public roads or trails that go more directly across.
I did discover (after my trip) that I could ride 5-8 miles on each end of the trip and take a different bus over the steep middle part, though. That probably wouldn't save much time but it would be a lot more fun, especially since the second bike segment would be a pretty trail along the beach. I think I'll try that next time!