Yeah, we realize it is criminal to write a west side blog and go east to Sacramento during Hardly Strictly Bluegrass. Unfortunately, the pull of nu-metal nostalgia was too strong to resist.
The good news is that this trip fits right into our Bay Area Transit focused issue. Last Wednesday, we took the Amtrak Capitol Corridor from Berkeley to Sacramento for Aftershock, a 4-day rock music festival where I caught Tool (one of my favorite bands of all time), along with Wu Tang Clan, Baby Metal, Danny Elfman, AFI and many others.
Berkeley Amtrak Station, Photo: FoglineSF
If you haven’t ridden this route before, it’s worth checking out. It’s a smooth ride that takes less than 2 hours, and you can spend much of it just looking through the window watching the scenery roll past. The route passes through cities like Martinez, and gives you some great views of the water and bridges along the way. There is free wifi on the train if you need to get some work done on your laptop, but I ended up tethering to my phone anyway since I found the wifi a bit flaky. The ticket was $30, which seems pretty reasonable, and is even less than some Uber rides I’ve taken within the Bay Area.
View from the window, Capitol Corridor route, Photo: FoglineSF
The Capitol Corridor connects San Jose and parts of the East Bay with Sacramento. There are connecting buses from Sacramento to places like South Lake Tahoe, Truckee, and Reno. And as we mentioned in our Transit Popup post, the Gold Runner line serves Merced, where you can transfer to YARTS and head to Yosemite Valley (with a combined ticket that includes both the bus ride and park admission).
Not a bad way to travel for a weekend of great music. Next time you're heading out of the Bay Area, skip the traffic and give the train a shot.
Tool, Aftershock Festival @ Discovery Park, Photo: FoglineSF