High Sierra Topix

Does anyone know where I can park in Bishop, CA for 10 days? Second, how difficult will hitching be
from Bishop to North Lake next Sunday (July 17th) afternoon? I plan to either hang out at the Ranger station or walk up 168 until I get a ride.

Gotta ask, why park in Bishop then hitch to North Lake?

Here's the situation, if someone has better ideas I'm all ears .

We are starting at North Lake and heading north to Tuolumne Meadows via the SHR or the John Muir Highway if we bail or run out of time. We only have one car between and us don't know anybody remotely close enough to give us a lift. The commercial shuttles are too expensive. We can take advantage of the YARTS bus back to Mammoth and the ESTA bus back to Bishop. I don't want to deal with hitching at the end of the trip, so it makes sense to park in Bishop so we can hop off the bus and get to the car to drive home.

Sit outside the door of the Bishop Ranger Station and ask for a ride or hold a sign that says you want a ride. You probably will score a ride within an hour. Most people come in to pick up their permits in the morning. I have done this before with success. You can easily get a ride to the junction between South Lake and North Lake. May have to wait longer for a ride up to North Lake. Best luck would be to do this on a weekend. If you offer to pay $10 towards gas, you will get even more offers of rides.

One advantage of driving to North Lake to start with, is that when you get back to Bishop using public transportation, you do not have to worry about having someone haul packs up to North Lake- may have better luck getting a ride without the pack issue. Be sure to go to the public swim pool and take a $2 shower first so you smell nice! I have found that lots of people are willing to take a person, but do not have room for packs.

there are at least 10 people on this forum who live in Bishop or near there. Seems like you could park at their house and get shuttled rather simply, sporting gas money or a meal in payment. Now, you just have to find one of them willing.

Thanks for the tips. rlown: I did contact the person you PM'd me about and we'd be happy to make such an arrangement should someone be willing.

jfelectron wrote:Thanks for the tips. rlown: I did contact the person you PM'd me about and we'd be happy to make such an arrangement should someone be willing.

any luck with a parking spot?

Well digging around the Bishop Municipal Code, there is 72hr parking law. However, this just seems to be a ploy for the city to pocket $25 from backpackers. There is no mention of towing or impounding, and you can just drop $25 in some city office. I'd prefer to just buy a parking pass of some sort from the city, but if they'd rather issue a ticket and have me pay a fine that is laughable by city standards then OK!. Heck, I'd pay someone $25 to park in their driveway or $40 for a parking spot and lift to the TH.

I guess we could drive to the TH, but then we'd have to hitch back there from Bishop at the end.

jfelectron wrote:Well digging around the Bishop Municipal Code, there is 72hr parking law. However, this just seems to be a ploy for the city to pocket $25 from backpackers. There is no mention of towing or impounding, and you can just drop $25 in some city office. I'd prefer to just buy a parking pass of some sort from the city, but if they'd rather issue a ticket and have me pay a fine that is laughable by city standards then OK!. Heck, I'd pay someone $25 to park in their driveway or $40 for a parking spot and lift to the TH.

I guess we could drive to the TH, but then we'd have to hitch back there from Bishop at the end.

So... There's no one in Bishop that want's to park a car for a cohort, and maybe get treated to a meal?

kinda sad... Russ

We don't smell...I promise....beer or a donation, your choice . We travel light, so no massive packs.
We'd be grateful! Hello Bishop residents out there....