Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board High Sierra Trail -- ride?

My husband and I are planning on doing the High Sierra Trail, the week of 2nd July. Since we do not have a car shuttle, it is very hard to get from Lone Pine to Visalia on the non-existent public transport.

Is there anyone who could give us a ride from Whitney portal (or Lone Pine) to Ridgecrest (or Mojave)? Anyone driving south of Lone Pine would cross both the towns. We are looking for a ride on the late evening/ night of 6th July or early morning 7th July.

We can will be more than happy to pitch in for gas. Thanks!

Just in case you don't catch a ride, Kurt Schenk posted the ride schedule on 1/30/07 for the public transportation back to Visalia and Crescent Meadow.

Kurt Schenk's Post

The above is the link that I copied for it. I hope it works. You can also put in a search of Kurt Schenk's post for that date.

I also posted on 3/07/07 and got some good responses to the same question on the shuttle back to Sequoia.

http://www.whitneyportalstore.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/2995#Post2995

Maybe there is an easier way to do "links" on this message board?

Good luck....and have a great trip. Be sure to post after your trip because we will be hitting the HST the 2nd week in August.

Hey Icystair,

I did find the bus schedules on the web at other places. Our problem is that the first bus from Lone Pine to RidgeCrest runs on only Monday, Wednesday and Friday and only once a day

We are already planning to do the trail in 5 days and will not get down to Whitney Portal until Friday evening. Unfortunately bus leaves, only once, and ONLY in the morning Thanks for the suggestion though.

I am still up for more suggestions or some help in getting a ride to Ridgecrest/ Mojave!!!!

Consider starting the hike a day earlier -- get out Thursday, catch the bus Friday morning.

The alternative is to use that day before the hike to drive two cars over to WP, and leave one, and drive home. ...Ugh!

...Or convince a close friend or family member that they really want to drive over to Lone Pine and pick you up.

Hello SteveC,

Due to some travel and work constraints we cannot start hiking earlier than Monday (2nd July) and have to be out and back to Los Angeles by saturday.

We do not have two cars so cannot car shuttle. The nearest places from Lone Pine for car rental are Ridgecrest or Mojave and at both places they close by 5PM weekdays and noon on saturday We have no family members in the area and it is a bit too much to ask friends for.

If we do not find a ride, as last resort, we will leave the car at Whitney Portal and take buses to get to Sequoia trailhead. This is not too ideal since it will take 1.5 days to get to the strating trailhead.

Life would be easier if the bus from Lone Pine to Ridgecrest was more frequent.

Is renting an extra car out of the question? Would get you home faster than 1.5 days.

My boyfriend and I are doing the same hike but starting a day earlier. We were going to bring two cars, but maybe we can work out a swap? Would you be willing to start at Whitney? We also have to be back in LA on Saturday.

Hey katahdin music company: Renting car is the top most option for us but we do not want to rent for a week. If we rent for a day, we have to still somehow get to Ridgecrest or Mojave on Friday night as those are the first towns one can rent the car from.


Hey agr: When you guys are thinking of starting from crescent meadows? How many days are you planning to do the HST in? I have not looked into statistics of doing the HST from Whitney to Crescent meadows but could look into it.

Please do keep in email touch, perhaps we could work something out. I will talk with my husband this evening and let you know.

Swap sounds like your best bet. I'm going again this year Aug 1-6th. Wish i could help

Sounds good. I tried to send you a private message with my e-mail address - not sure if I was successful. If you didn't get it, let me know - otherwise, drop me a line tonight and we'll see if we can't work something out.

If you get this message before you leave, contact Bob at (760)876-1915 about a new shuttle service starting up soon in Lone Pine to discuss the possibilities.

There is a Dollar Car rental at the Inyokern Airport with better hours on weekends, but you have to be careful because the airport locks up early and the evening hours at the Dollar Car office during the week are only for late arriving flights. Their Web site does not seem flexible about one-way rentals. It may be worth a phone call to check.

RWE