[pct-l] Horseshoe Meadow Trailhead Hitch to Lone Pine

[Reinhold Metzger]

[pct-l] Horseshoe Meadow Trailhead Hitch to Lone Pine

Aaron,
Ignore the Yogi's Guide warning.
That warning applies to early PCT thru-hikers that may attempt to
exit via Cottonwood in late spring or early summer when the
Cottonwood Road may still be closed due to snow.

However, by the time you will arrive at Cottonwood the road will
be open and since the road dead ends at Cottonwood Campground you
will have no trouble hitching a ride because the road is primarly
used by hikers and campers and hikers and campers are like brothers
and tend to look out for each other and will usually give you a ride.

I have hitched a ride to or from Cottonwood (in the summer) on more
than one occasion without any trouble.

BTW...if you exit via Cottonwood, be sure to climb Whitney first,
because if you bypass Whitney, since the Southern Terminus of the
JMT is Whitney, you will not have "thru-hiked" the entire JMT.

Enjoy your hike.

JMT Reinhold
---------------------------
Hello List,

I'm planning a SOBO JMT hike this summer, with my get-back plan relying on
public transportation from Lone Pine.  Apparently I've missed the lottery
for Whitney Portal permits (oops...).  First, I was wondering if by chance
any of you knows of any way to get a Whitney Portal permit after the
lottery has closed (probably a lost cause at this point).  Second, I have
some questions about an alternate exit route:

I was thinking of exiting at Cottonwood Pass (750.2), Trail Pass (745.3),
or Mulkey Pass (744.5) to Horseshoe Meadow Trailhead/Campground and
hitching into Lone Pine, but I'm noticing that my 2012 edition of Yogi's
Guide warns that it is a "VERY hard hitch".  Has any of you successfully
hitched from here before, and if so, what was your experience?  I was
thinking that if I showed up at Horseshoe Meadow around midday on Sunday
that there would be a fair number of weekend campers driving back to Lone
Pine as I'm *pretty sure* that's the only road out of there...

Any thoughts?  Or alternate exit strategies?

Thanks,
Aaron