2Heeldrive - Walk it off Wimp!

I’ve added a link to Topo maps for the trail here

Here is a recent post about getting from Whitney Portal back to Yosemite.

You can park your car, should you drive, at the happy isles, “long term” parking lot and it’ll be there, just a little dusty, when you get back AND DON’T FORGET TO THOROUGHLY CLEAN IT OUT BEFORE YOU DEPART. the one time I got a ride into the valley, was with a guy who had a little boy––the car was filled with all kinds of candy, and crackers, chips and crumbs and . . . I spent the night before we left vacuuming it out.

I always take AMTRAK in and it’s a deal––you should be in the valley no later than 2 p.m.

As for getting back: getting out of the Portal is never really a problem, but you’ll find it might be “crowded.” Seems there are an overwhelming amount of guys in BIG EMPTY double cab trucks up there, but the only folks who pick you up are driving tiny toyota or some such car . . . sure, come on in.

Last year I walked farther down the road that I ever have, one empty truck after another, driving by me, until a grandmother in a gear-filled Subaru picked me up. I could barely get my big dana through the door.

I suppose it helps if you clean up first and you can shower there at the Portal, but again, most people up there, understand why it is that you stink like three weeks of sweat.

I always stay in Lone Pine at the Dow Villa. laundry across the street and the hot tub is behind the pool.

You can take the community bus to BISHOP and from there, yes, there’s the CREST LINE, if you hit it on the right day, or, just walk to the north end of town to the last gas station and put out your thumb.

Again, if you’ve got a big backpack, most people around there, get the idea and are very nice about picking you up.

if you get an early start out of LP, you can be in bishop in less than two hours.

Getting from Bishop to either Mammoth or the 120/395 Lee Vining is almost a choice you have to make. most poeple are going straight through and the junction isn’t a problem, but if it’s late in the day, you might want to just get into Mammoth and get a hotel for the night. In the morning you can catch the YARTS bus from the hotel that is right next to the Mcdonalds.

The YARTS bus leaves mammoth at roughly 7 a.m. and gets you into the valley around ??? one or two p.m. ––– just enough time to catch the YARTS/AMTRAK bus out of the valley, OR jump in your dusty car and drive home.

I’ve done the JMT a few times and only once did it take me two days to get home. I usually thumb out of LP around 9 a.m. and I am home in San Francisco by NLT than midnight.

Yes, there is a lot of traffic in yosemite valley, but oddly, it’s been my experience to either catch someone going straight through from 395 or you just get a zillion people with packed cars and they are reluctant to stop.

If you miss the evening AMTRAK bus out, stay in the backpackers campground (or spluuuurge at the Awahneee!) and get the morning bus out.

WORD of warning: if you are successful at getting out of yosemite by thumb and your ride offers to drop you at the amtrak station, get them to take you to MERCED––at least if it’s after 8pm.

last summer some great guys drove me all the way through the valley and offered to drop me at merced or stockton and I chose Stockton. Don’t.

the late train from Merced dumps people in Stockton and they get on a bus to SF (or wherever) . . . I got to Stockton thinking I’d buy a ticket and be on the train (I didn’t know it was a bus connect) home, but they would not let me on the bus. Told me I had to have bought, or, “originated” in Manteca to get on the bus. It was 930 in the evening in po-dunk stockton. I actually just got on the bus, shoved a twenty at the driver and went and sat down. he didn’t bug me anymore.