High Sierra Topix

I am planning a southbound JMT through-hike for this coming August and September. I have been looking at the Eastern Sierra Transit and YARTS bus schedules and find that it is now apparently possible to make the trip from Lone Pine to Yosemite in one day by changing buses in Lee Vining. The EST Lone Pine to Reno route leaves Lone Pine at 6:30 am and arrives in Lee Vining at 8:50 am on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. The YARTS bus leaves Lee Vining at 9:27 am and arrives at the Yosemite Visitors Center at 12:05 pm. There is a short walk (<1/4 mile) from where the EST bus drops you off in Lee Vining to where the YARTS bus picks you up.

This seems too easy. When I hiked the JMT in 2008, the EST/YARTS transfer was in Mammoth and required an overnight stay in Mammoth before making the connection. I would like to use the bus if mine is a correct interpretation of the bus schedules. Getting from Lone Pine to Yosemite in one day for about $30 sure beats the expense of hiring a shuttle driver. Can anyone confirm from experience whether I have correctly interpreted the bus schedules? I really hope that this will work out.

You can check out Eastern Sierra Transit schedules at: http://www.estransit.com/CMS/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; and Yosemite Area Regional Transportation System schedules at: http://www.yarts.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Hi Pachystima,

Welcome to HST! You read the schedules correctly, except for dept time from
Lone Pine is at 6:15 am (6:30 am is the Independence time). Also, keep in mind
when putting this together that Yarts runs on weekends only in September.

That's a welcome surprise. Hitchhiking has always worked out okay for me but it is refreshing to see a reasonable alternative is now available.... provided you travel on a Mon, Tue, Thu, or Fri in July or August. Come to think of it those restrictions would have meant I'd still have had to hitchhike each time I've needed to go from Lone Pine to Yosemite. Oh well.