[pct-l] Eastern Sierra Transit

[Denis Stanton]

Hi David

On May 29th I spent a night in my car at Onion Valley and then hitched  
to Horseshoe Meadows to start my hike back to Kearsarge.

If I had been packed when the camp host made his resupply trip down to  
Independence at 8(?) am he would have given me a ride.  Instead I  
stood by the roadhead until 10:15.  I got a ride down to Independence  
with a hiker heading north.  Got him to drop me at the southern end of  
town opposite the Shell station.  Gas Stations are my preferred hitch  
points because people are stopping anyway and they get a chance to  
consider whether they want to have you in their car.  I choose a place  
where stopping is easy and safe, I prop up my pack where drivers can  
see it with a pre-printed sign "Hiker to Lone Pine" taped across it.   
I hold out my thumb and smile.

Less than five minutes later I got picked up by an Independence  
resident who commutes to San Diego.  Dropped me at the intersection in  
Lone Pine.

I set up my pack again, replaced the sign with "Hike to Horseshoe  
Meadows", walked along the street to dump some trash in the bin, back  
to my pack, put out my thumb and my smile and got picked up in under  
ten minutes by some wonderful people who were only going a couple of  
miles to Tuttil (sp?) Creek, but decided to go an extra 12 miles each  
way up the precipitous road to Horseshoe just to be nice.

So Onion Valley to Horseshoe Meadows, 2 hours wait, then 3 rides  
totaling 1 hour 30 including a little shopping.

Last year (9 June) I hitched Horseshoe Meadows to Kennedy Meadows in  
three rides, four and a half hours, including a 1 hour wait on the  
roadside below Horseshoe Meadows

I don't live in the USA and I don't hitch except for getting to and  
from trails.  I've been able to visit the Sierra area several times in  
recent years and in my experience the Eastern Sierra is a very  
hospitable place and an easy hitch if you go to a little trouble to  
present yourself and chose a spot where it's easy to stop

Denis

On 29/06/2008, at 8:11 AM, David Craft wrote:

> Good Afternoon,
>
> I will be leaving the PCT at Onion Valley-Kearsarge Pass Trail and  
> need to
> get back to Lancaster.  I see Eastern Sierra Transit and Kern  
> Transit can
> take you from Lone Pine, Ridgecrest, Mojave, to Lancaster.
>
> That is allot of bus legs in a day.
>
> How easy is it to hitch?
>
> David Craft
> PCT in Pieces
> Greensboro, NC
>
>
>
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Denis Stanton
denisstanton at mac.com