question for the PCT vets out there.what resupply did you use after KM muir ranch? VVR? other? seems like hikers have to really load up on food for this part of the pct becuase resupply looks difficult.
cheeserTOM
Resupply after KM
system
#2
a little less than 10 miles after forerster pass is the kearsarge pass trail, it will take you to onion valley(7.5m) where you can hitch into independence, ca and then on to bishop. and i believe there is another place south of whitney, cottonwood pass???, where you can hitch into lone pine.
jerm
system
#4
We went from KM to VVR. Including a day to climb Whitney, it was about 10 days. We left KM on January 6, arrived at Vermillion on the morning of 1/15. It would have been less but we got snowbound just before Forester and lost half a day.
Ginny
system
#5
I went out at Kearsarge Pass to Bishop once, and I went straight through from KM to VVR twice. Hiking through the Sierra without leaving for resupply is an amazing experience, but you leave KM with a REALLY heavy pack!
Most of the 2004 and 2005 hikers who have contacted me have said that if they hiked the PCT again, they would go over Kearsarge Pass to Independence or Bishop and resupply in one of those towns. Then they would skip VVR and resupply next at Mammoth Lakes.
Yeah, the Kearsarge route adds miles (9 miles one way), but it’s one of the prettiest passes! Think of it as 18 extra miles you GET to do in the Sierra, rather than 18 extra miles you HAVE to do.
yogi
yogi
system
#6
Tom: another option that has not been mentioned yet is to leave KM with 2-3 days of food, exiting the pct @ Trail Pass - dropping to Horseshoe Meadows, and hitching to Lone Pine. Horseshoe Meadows is only a couple miles off the trail here. There tends to be a lot of traffic at the trailhead @ Horseshoe Meadows during the weekends. From here you could load up with a weeks worth of food rather than 10 days to get you to VVR. But… before you decide to resupply @ VVR, be sure to read the thread entitled “the rumors about VVR” posted by Dirty Thumbs on 11/2/05. I passed through VVR the first week of October last year heading back to Whitney on a flip-flop pct thru hike & was able to fully resupply out of the two 55 gallon drum hiker boxes there. It was all high end freeze dried meals that would have cost a lot otherwise. Of course this was the end of the season, so i have no idea what would be there this June. Good Luck!
freebird
system
#8
Not a hike, it’s a hitch. Hike 9 miles from the PCT over Kearsarge Pass to the Onion Valley Trailhead. Then hitch to Independence or Bishop.
yogi
yogi
system
#9
re: is it a tough hike from onion valley to bishop/independence?
if you don’t mind a 15 mile road walk.
just hitch a ride, the road out of onion valley only goes to one place–independence. you’ll come out on 395. from there, north is bishop, easy hitch or you can ride the bus. there is a vons and an outfitter in bishop. also don’t miss galen rowells mountain light gallery. i highly recommend the bishop grill if you are there for breakfest.
if you don’t need an outfitter, independence has a grocery store right down from the road where it comes into 395. actually all you need is right there at that intersection. the courthouse motel. the PO is right there on the corner and the grocery store is next to it. the library w/ internet is across from the hotel.
also, there is good pizza at the pizza factory if you make it to lone pine.
jerm
system
#10
cheesertom–get the pct handbook from yogi, it has all this in it. i hiked the jmt south last summer and we resupplied in independence so we would have an excuse to go to the mountain light gallery.
i am thinking about hiking from campo to whitney in a year or two and will definitely picking one up. but what i will be asking myself is how i will keep myself from hiking onto yosemite knowing what the sierra’s have in store. OK, i just convinced myself that it will be from the border to tuolumne.
jerm
system
#12
got to get back for the fall semester. one of these days. i’d thought i’d go from campo to whitney since i’ve done the section from whitney to tuolumne, but how could i not keep going, just under 200 more miles right. by the way, i just listened to yogi’s podcast interview over at trailcast, excellent.
jerm
system
#14
The Kearsarge Pinnacles, Bull Frog Lakes, and the Onion Valley are really beautiful and those 9 miles are some of the best in the Sierra. They’re not hard, either. Go for it!
Chipper