Does anyone have experience flying from the east to begin a southbound John Muir Trail hike?
What city is best to fly into? Reno, NV … San Francisco???
Is there reliable public transportation that gets you close to the trailhead?
Any recommendations for getting home at the conclusion of the hike?
THANKS TO ALL WHO REPLY!!!
Jeff
I flew from Nashville into San Francisco. Then I took a Greyhound to Merced, CA. The YARTS bus took me into Yosemite.
I flew out of LA going home. The toughest challenge will be getting from Lone Pine, CA to LA. We took a private shuttle from Lone Pine to Mojave ($250!!) and then the Greyhound from Mojave to LA. We took a taxi from the Greyhound station to LAX.
Have fun! It’s an awesome hike!!!
Jeffrey Hunter
Last year I fairly easily hitched from Whitney Portal to the LA area. I simply started asking fellow climbers on my way down Whitney if they were headed towards LA. Almost everyone i talked to was more than happy to give me a lift.
If you’re hitch is only going as far as Palmdale or Lancaster, you take take the Metrolink commuter train all the way to Union station, and then grab a bus, the subway, or an airport shuttle/taxi to LAX.
freebird
We flew into San Francisco, and then took Amtrak from SF to Yosemite. One Amtrak ticket gets you on a bus from SF to Emeryville, a train from Emeryville to Modesto, and from there a bus to Yosemite. We had to go to Modesto due to the rockslide. Merced might be the more direct route next summer if the road is repaired.
After our hike, we got a ride into Lone Pine and spent the night. We took the CREST bus to Bishop and then another bus to Mammoth. The next morning, we caught the YARTS bus back to Yosemite and caught the Amtrak bus/train/bus back to San Francisco. It wasn’t as complicated as it sounds, and we enjoyed wandering around Lone Pine, Bishop, and Mammoth. We were lucky with our timing. I think the Lone Pine to Bishop bus only runs a few days a week, so definitely check on that.
Susan
all the above are great ways to get to and from the JMT. here is a real helpfull link that i found when preparing for the JMT in 2005. it provides links to all the schedules for the transportation options listed above in other posts. check out the other info too.
jerm
I am doing 4 to 6 trips into the southern sierras. Laying up some whiskey caches for a future PCT trip and peak bagging. I have no set schedule but if you let me know when you are coming off Whitney, I am more then happy to drop you off at LAX. I generally head south by Saturday night to beat the traffic but friday or thursday works too. E-mail me when it gets closer
Evil Goat
I am doing 4 to 6 trips into the southern sierras. Laying up some whiskey caches for a future PCT trip and peak bagging. I have no set schedule but if you let me know when you are coming off Whitney, I am more then happy to drop you off at LAX. I generally head south by Saturday night to beat the traffic but friday or thursday works too. E-mail me when it gets closer
Evil Goat
I like the route that Susan took. We were really limited by the fact that the bus runs from Lone Pine only on select days of the week. It doesn’t run on weekends, and that’s when we finished. If I had an opportunity to plan ahead more (I didn’t - because I joined my partner who was on a fixed narrow time window to hike) I would have arranged to take the bus to Bishop.
I suppose we could have hitched, or tried to yogi a ride, but my hitchiking days are over. I hitched MANY thousands of miles as a young buck. No more for me.
Here’s a link with good info about transportation.
http://alumnus.caltech.edu/~rbell/JMTTransport.html
Copy and past that URL in your browser, and you’re off to the races.
Jeffrey Hunter
Anybody ever fly out of here to LA. The Crest Bus goes nearby to Ridgecrest from Lone Pine (about 1.5 hours) and you can get a ride to the airport. Couple of flights a day to LA.
Tuco
in 2005 i flew out of inyokern. the flight took us to LA and then headed towards our other destinations after that. it was a little pricy and if i was not in such a hurry i would have taken the bus and train, which takes about a whole day, or hitched to LA. here is the link for how to take buses from lone pine to LA.
jerm
I took the Greyhound from SF to Merced and the local bus to the Park. The only problem there was that the bus arrived after the time I was supposed to pick up my permit (10 or 11:00). I had called up and told the Park Service that I would be late, so they gave me a permit anyway, even though they had actually given away mine.
Leaving Lone Pine, I got a ride from some other hikers to Bakersfield, where I got a bus back to San Francisco.
Ginny
When I hiked the JMT this summer I got to Yosemite taking the San Francisco --> Merced train and then the YARTS bus from the Merced station to Yosemite. There is one run in the morning where the YARTS schedule aligns with the morning Amtrak train coming in from San Francisco. If the train is severely delayed they’ll run a second bus to pick up people coming off the train.
To get back to the world from Lone Pine I took the CREST bus south to Ridgecrest (the bus only runs in that direction every other day) where I was able to rent a car to catch my flight out of Las Vegas. Since my brother was with me, it wasn’t that much more expensive (not to mention a heck of a lot faster) to rent a car from there rather than continue with public transportation.
Eric
We are traveling from PA. Flying into Sacramento and either taking greyhound to Merced and Yarts to Yosemite or Amtrak/Bus option to Yosemite. If you can get to Merced the same day you arrive in CA you can get the early morning bus via Yarts. If on Amtrak you only arrive in Yosemite at 11:45am. Either way, be sure to call and have them hold you permit. If you do not, and do not pick up by 10am, it will go into the pool for walk-ups!!
Haven’t decided on the return trip - got one-way tickets to Sacramento. Was thinking Reno via the Crest Bus. Did look at trying to get to Las Vegas, LA or Phoenix - all with cheaper flights than Reno. Waiting for Southwest to open their September bookings - that usually brings down the other fares. Did look at flying out of InyoKern, but it is expensive. Didn’t think about a one-way rental - Thanks, Eric. Avis was only $40 to Las Vegas - plus taxes, etc. I’ll let you know what my return plans are once they are finalized.
Doug
Doug