High Sierra Topix

Anyone have recent experience hitch-hiking with backpack from North Lake (Piute Pass trailhead) to South Lake (Bishop Pass trailhead) in the Bishop Creek drainage? I have a permit to go over Bishop Pass from South Lake on July 31 and have decided to do a South Lake to North Lake "loop". I'm thinking I should park my car at North Lake (my planned exit) and then hitchhike in the morning when I'm still clean-looking over to South Lake to start the hike. This will be a Sunday morning. Any thoughts on how easy it will be to get a ride?
-Phil

Not recently, but about 12-15 years ago I went from South Lake to North Lake via roads. I had planned to hike via Tyee Lakes, but a minor injury changed things. Traffic was (and probably still is) very sparse on weekdays. Waited over an hour with no luck (2 vehicles), then started walking. Finally got a ride from about the Tyee trailhead near South Lake to the North Lake/Sabrina intersection and walked to the North Lake trailhead parking from there. Walked a total of about 4 miles. The folks who picked me up kindly drove the stretch towards Sabrina even though they were headed for Bishop. There is much more traffic on weekends, so you may do much better.

My last experience was about 10 years ago. The young lady working the store at Parcher's resort assisted me and my buddy, following us to North Lake and then shuttling us back to Parchers where we stayed the night before hiking out of South Lake. Perhaps someone there or at Aspendell will be willing to help. Alternately if you hike North Lake to South Lake you can catch the Eastern Sierra Transit bus at South Lake and get dropped off at the North Lake road junction. Put you on the trail around 10am. Both Parchers and Aspendell are good places to have to lodge before a hike (a bit spendy though).

And agree with possible light traffic during the week, about 20 years ago I ended up parking at South Lake, hiking it, camping at the North Lake campground and then doing the N Lake to S Lake hike.

There's always a kind soul out there. Like an old wise (or wise-ass) man stated here before his passing that if you look legit, smile, somewhat clean and have a pack, there's always a ride... I agree during the week and mid day traffic may be slow. I met a guy in the NL parking area seeking a ride down the hill to the turnoff. Clean, legit pack and the like...HOP IN! Took him all the way to SL and gave him a roadie beer. He had only some freeze dried food and and or ClifBar which I declined both. Payment was getting to know Elton from NorCal for 15-20 minutes; delightful.
A Sunday morning maybe a better chance as there are parties coming off the hill and ending a hike.

Phil,

Last night I slept in the South Lake Parking lot after coming down from Bishop Pass in the evening. My car was at North Lake. Today I planned to take the 8:45 AM Bishop Creek Shuttle (ESTA) from South Lake to Lake Sabrina and have it drop me off at the road to North Lake. It turned out at 8:00 AM I was able to secure a ride to North Lake from South Lake. This was quite unexpected and I consider myself quite lucky.

I observed this morning that between 6:00 AM and 8:00 AM numerous people arrived at South Lake, but only one left. I would guess that same was true for North Lake. Getting a ride out of North Lake in the morning might not be easy for you and result in a late start from South Lake for your hike.

Suggestion: On July 30 drop your car off at North Lake, walk or hitch to the 168 and then take the Bishop Creek Shuttle (leaves Lake Sabrina at 5:10 PM) to a hotel in Bishop. On July 31, take the 8:00 AM Bishop Creek Shuttle from Bishop to South Lake (arriving at 8:45 AM) to start hike. This would also work if you slept at one of several campgrounds on the Shuttle route.

Several times in the past I have had no problem in the late afternoon hitching from South Lake to North Lake. But I would guess that hitching in the morning from North Lake to South Lake is risky if time is of the essence.

I would enjoy hearing what you end up doing and how it plays out. It seems that sometimes this Transportation Challenge can be more difficult than making it up the Mountain!

Jim

Thanks everyone for your experiences and suggestions.

I have decided not to do this hike after all. I've got so much going on at home that I need a less stressful trip than driving all the way over to the east side from the Bay Area and dealing with this hitchhiking issue. I cancelled my reservation and the permit was snapped up right away that day by someone else. There are multiple options closer to home on the west side - I'll see how this Oak fire smoke is going toward the end of the week to decide where to hike next week.

-Phil