High Sierra Topix

Due to an accident onTioga Road, I arrived at the Mono Lake station at 5:05pm so won't able to pick up my Agnew Mdws permit (for the HST meetup) until tomorrow morning. This means I won't be able to drive directly to the trailhead before 7am since the permit office doesn't open until 8. I've never used the shuttle system here and am confused since there is a free bus and a pay bus. Plus there are numerous threads on how full buses often pass AG trailhead on the way out. What is the best strategy to get to the TH and back?

RR, hopefully you'll see this before you take off tomorrow. As you probably now know, the Reds shuttle leaves from the Mammoth center. The problem isn't getting a ride down to AM, it's getting a ride back. Since AM is the last stop on the return, and if it's a busy weekend, the bus will just pass you by if it's full. You have a couple of options:

One, you could try to catch the bus down to Reds from AM so as to be on first on the return. Or, you could actually hike down to Reds via the JMT or SHR.

Two, you could hike out to Yosemite (maybe tag along with Kpeter), Tuolumne, Cathedral lakes (anywhere really), and then catch YARTS back to Mammoth. The last YARTS stop is ... you guessed it, the Mammoth center.

Three, just tell the staff @ Minaret summit that you're driving down to a campground. There's something like 6-7 campgrounds down there - they have a chalkboard listing the availability. You still pay the $7, but you get to drive your car. DO NOT mention you're actually backpacking - just act like a normal car camping tourist, then go park at the AM TH.

I was originally going to do #3 - I've actually car camped down there a few times, and have also done the AM TH game. Even better, if you have a kayak, fishing tube, etc, they'll let you down even just for the day. However, I decided I didn't want to backtrack, and having never been down/up the Merced/Lewis creek and Vogelsang, I decided to hike out to TM and take YARTS back.

I was even thinking about springing for $70 to get both dinner & breakfast @ Vogelsang HSC. That would cut out 1 day of food, and would allow me to leisurely stroll to the TM store just 6 miles away after breakfast. However, I decided I'm just gonna gun it the 19 miles back on Friday with just a little bit of food, and rely on getting dinner at the the TM store before catching YARTS. (It closes at 8pm during the summer).

Here's the YARTS schedule: http://yarts.com/routes-schedules/

Hobbes, those are good ideas.
Which bus would I take from AG to Reds? Also, a noob question, where is minaret summit? Is that different from the mammoth center where I would hop on the shuttle?

I found minaret summit on the map.
What are the chances of getting a campsite On a Sunday? Since I need to get my permit first, I won't be there very early
Also, since I'm exiting on Monday, maybe the buses won't be as full at AM?
Anyways, I'll figure it out one way or another. Thanks and see you later this week.