Transportation changes for the 2021 Sierra Hiking Season

[Tom Taylor]

In the morning's Inbox:

Transportation changes for the 2021 Sierra Hiking Season
Date: Mon, 26 Apr 2021 19:56:01 PDT

COVID service reductions for 2021:

1. There will not be any Yosemite Free Valley shuttle, Glacier Point Tour Bus (concessionaire),
   

Tuolumne Meadows Hikers Bus (concessionaire), Tuolumne Meadows shuttle (NPS) in Yosemite.

2. The Sequoia Shuttle will not operate from Visalia to Sequoia NP, but there will be limited in-park

shuttles.

3. Mammoth Lakes airport will not have any scheduled airline service this hiking season.

4. Amtrak San Joaquins are still limited to 4 round trips per day Oakland to Bakersfield, Sacramento

connections provided by bus. There is some possibility that more service will be restored during the

hiking season. Amtrak long distance trains (Coast Starlight, Southwest Chief, California Zephyr) will

resume daily service in late May.

5. A crucial Greyhound run from Reno/Sparks to Sacramento and San Francisco that connected well

from the ESTA Reno bus is still not operating.

6. Right now, you can’t book the last San Joaquin train from Bakersfield/Fresno/Merced each day into

Richmond, because BART is closing the Richmond station at 9pm and the train arrives after that time.

Expect BART to expand it’s service hours at some point soon, so check back on this one.

7. The Gray Line tour bus from San Francisco to Yosemite is available, but on light travel days they are

sometimes combining with other tour operators to run one combined bus, which could be confusing if you

are trying to take the return bus from Yosemite to San Francisco in the afternoon.

8. Sources tell me that many rental car agencies in Ridegecrest have closed down temporarily.

Virtually all other transport providers have cut back operations, some are starting to bring back hours and

runs as COVID restrictions relax.

Service restorations:

1. The Red’s Meadow Shuttle, although not for certain, appears as though it will run this summer.
   

ESTA’s Bishop Creek shuttle is going to operate.

Service Changes:

1. The ESTA stop in Reno/Sparks has been changed from outside Centennial Transit Plaza to inside the
   

Centennial Transit Plaza. ESTA also stops at the Reno Airport.

Seasonal Dates of Service for 2021:

ESTA Bishop Creek Shuttle – June 12th – September 6th

YARTS 120/395 service – June 15th to October 15th

YARTS Hwy 41 service – May 10th to September 10th

YARTS 120/Sonora Service – May 17th to September 30th

Red’s Meadow Shuttle – start date TBD to September 8th

New services:

1. Southwest Airlines began flying into Fresno in April. This is useful for getting to Yosemite and
   

Sequoia.

2. Avelo Airlines will begin flying out of Burbank before the season starts, they will primarily fly to

smaller cities in the intermountain west using an ultra-low-cost-carrier business model, with not-

necessarily-daily service to places like Eugene, Bozeman, Ogden, Santa Rosa, Redding, Eureka,

Medford, Redmond, Phoenix, Grand Junction. They will be pricing cafeteria style ala Frontier/Spirit – baggage fees, seat selection fees, carryon fees, fee fees, etc. Could be useful for some hikers for access/egress to/from the southern Sierras.

3. Alaska Airlines, in response to the Avelo startup, is adding service from Burbank to Santa Rosa, which may be useful at the southern end of the Sierras for residents of the Santa Rosa environs..

4. Some of the San Joaquin Thruway buses are now available as bus only rides. Previously, you had to

include a rail portion as part of your itinerary. This is particularly useful for getting to Las Vegas.

Although the connecting times aren’t the most convenient, you can now take ESTA to Mojave and then

the Amtrak Thruway to Las Vegas. Additional Thruway routes may allow bus-only travel as COVID

capacity restrictions are relaxed.

5. At some point during the hiking season, a new San Joaquin train Thruway bus service between San

Jose and Madera Amtrak may be initiated. Schedule has not been published, not sure if it will be useful

for hikers, it may be oriented towards commuters going to San Jose in the morning, out from San Jose in the afternoon. Also not known is if this route will allow bus-only itineraries, but it is a short hop on the San Joaquin train to either Fresno or Merced anyway. This was originally planned for 2020.

6. Eastern Sierra Shuttle Service out of Lone Pine (not to be confused with the great guys as East Side

Sierra Shuttle of Independence) is making a renewed effort to make their service more available. Like

East Side, they are fully permitted and legit both PUC and Inyo NF.

7. East Side Sierra Shuttle out of Independence (not be to confused with the fine folks at Eastern Sierra

Shuttle Service of Lone Pine) is upgrading to do most of their runs with electric vehicles using low-

carbon solar and wind power for charging.

Thomas

 

[BradS]

Wow...lots of info there. Thanks.

The sooner we all get vaccinated, the sooner life returns to something resembling normal.

 

[DREW WILEY]

Pros and cons. Restrictions might imply less people around, but last summer at least, Forest Service and Natl Park understaffing meant that a lot more people were successfully sneaking into places, including popular Wilderness Area spots, without permits, and even holding big backcountry parties expressly where crowds are forbidden in order to preserve fragile meadows and high-altitude lake margins. And once the fires broke out, all that extra unrecorded presence made search and rescue operations especially difficult. Yosemite itself might be a little nicer than usual simply because it is easier to control excessive numbers there under these specific circumstances, with entry reservations required all summer. The Valley itself tends to be hot and smokey or smoggy in summer; but the entry restrictions are due to be removed early in the Fall, which in my opinion is a far better season to visit anyway. Forest fire smoke issues need to be researched close to the time of any anticipated visit, because that kind of thing can now potentially pop up suddenly and severely over much of the year after Spring itself. Climate change is an even bigger gorilla in the room than this pandemic.