I’m from TX and I am planning to hike the JMT in July, starting from Yosemite and finishing at Whitney.
I am flying in/out of LA. Getting to Yosemite is easy via Amtrak, but I’m wondering how I can get back to LA after I descend Whitney? I don’t know anyone in the area and I’d rather not hitch, if possible. It’s > 200 miles to LAX. Not sure is there are any rental car or public transportation options. Any ideas/suggestions?
Lone Star
You will most likely have to hitch from Whitney Portal to the town of Lone Pine. From there you can take a bus north (CREST??) to Mammoth then pick up the YARTS bus to Yosemite then a YARTS bus to a town (whos name seems to elude me at the moment) where you can pick up Amtrak. The bus schedule was very inconvenient as you Leave Lone Pine early in the morning but don’t get to Mammoth in time to catch the only YARTS bus so have to spend the night there. It was two years ago when I did it and I’m getting old so I may have the towns and bus lines confused but I recall it was a two day trip to get to where you could get in 1/2 day by car. Merced is the name of the town where you pick up Amtrak!! Good lord my memory is shot.
Big B
You can now get the Crest bus out of Lone Pine to Mammoth and fly out of Mammoth Lakes into LAX. I also believe you can go south to Ridgecrest and get a bus from there to LA.
Good Luck!
Mar
The easy way is to catch the Mammoth to Los Angeles plane. You can get back to Mammoth from Lone Pine via the Crest bus or hitch (easy enough to do, you might even get a ride to Mammoth from Whitney Portal).
Public transportation to LAX from Lone Pine is available. I’ve done it to the LA train station (I live in LA). It’s a bus ride, then train, then bus to LAX. You have to look at the bus schedules carefully since the Crest bus doesn’t run south every day.
This link from Mt. Whitney Shuttle may help
http://www.mtwhitneyshuttle.com/E%20Sierra-SoCal%20by%20Metrolink.htm
There is an Airport Flyaway bus available at the LA train station going direct to LAX.
Still Lookin’