I am driving to California to hike the JMT (Southbound) in August. I want to leave my car near Whitney. I have 2 questions.
Does anyone know of any shuttle services that will take my group (4 people) from Lone Pine to Yosemite? I don’t think that we will have time to catch the buses, so we need to hire a ride.
Where can we leave our car near the end of the trail? Can we leave it at Whitney Portal for 3 weeks, or should we try to find someplace in Lone Pine?
Thanks in advance.
Crimson
You can park long term at the Whitney Portal Parking lot. They warn you to make sure there is nothing in your vehicle that will attract bears.
I don’t know about shuttle services, but have you considered renting a car at Mammoth Lakes, driving down to Whitney Portal to drop off your vehicle, returning to Mammoth Lakes, spending the night, and then taking the 7 am YARTS bus to Yosemite? It is $15/person one way and runs 7 days a week in July and August (www.yarts.com). I know you can rent cars at the Mammoth Lakes airport which is a couple of miles outside of town.
Also, Mammoth Lakes is at an elevation of 7500 feet so spending a night there helps in acclimation. There are plenty of hotels and campgrounds to stay at plus a lot of really good restaurants.
Snowball
I recommend going to www.whitneyportalstore.com and searching the archives for ‘shuttles’ or something like that. You could also call the store, I think they might give you some names (they did when I was there in person). If you search this forum I’d expect you’d find past rec’s.
Len
Last year 5 of us took a shuttle named Wilderness Outdoor Shuttle Service from the portal to Twin Lakes. Cost only $240 total. I think it would have cost about $5o more to take all the way to Toulumne Meadows.
I don’t have the phone number anymore.
Hope this helps,
SierraShade
Rod
Inyo County transportation (800-922-1930) leaves Lone Pine daily at 6:30 and 8:30 AM to Bishop. Bishop to Mammoth leaves at 4:00 PM. Then Yarts to Yosemite.
Lot’s of Luck - the Sheb
shebmeister