Florence Lake to South Lake - Day and Section Hikes - page 69

move a single boulder or tree in the creation of the road, thus it remains absolutely
one lane the whole way, despite the fact that it takes traffic in both directions. Rest
assured that there are pull-outs along the way. The first feat is going over Kaiser
Pass (9,128 feet), then the road drops for close to 3,000 feet, only to climb close to an-
other 2,000 feet back up to the lake level. It is not recommended to drive this road at
night, and it's highly encouraged to have snow chains on hand year-round. A mile
past the U.S. Forest Service High Sierra Ranger Station, take a right to head toward
Florence Lake (instead of the left to reach Edison Lake). Drive the remaining 6.5
miles to Florence Lake Resort, which offers a store and ferry service across the lake.
You can buy your ferry ticket here (one-way adults, $10; children ages 12 and under,
$5), but then you need to move your car to long-term parking about a quarter mile
back form the store on Florence Lake Road. Congratulations—you've arrived! And
you thought the hard part was the hiking….
Taking public transit to Florence Lake is near impossible and would require
hitchhiking at some point along the way.
M UIR T RAIL R ANCH —To make reservations at Muir Trail Ranch for a shorter
stay, call [phone], fax [phone], visit www.muirtrailranch.com , or e-
mail [e-mail]. An overnight stay in their tent or log cabins
ranges from $125 to $150, including breakfast, a sack lunch for the trail, and dinner.
If horses are available, it may be possible to arrange transport from the ranch to the
ferry landing at Florence Lake. It's $200 to transfer luggage via packhorse and an
additional $50 if you'd like to ride a horse yourself.
S OUTH L AKE TRAILHEAD —The closest town to the South Lake trailhead is Bishop,
on US 395, 39 miles southeast of Mammoth Lakes and 15 miles north of Big Pine.
From Bishop, drive west 15 miles on CA 168 (West Line Street) to the South Lake
Road junction. Turn left and travel 7 miles to the Bishop Pass trailhead and parking.
Overnight parking is found on the upper lot.
You can take public transit as far as Bishop via Inyo Mono Transit's CREST
bus, but you will need to walk or hitchhike the remaining 22 miles to the trailhead.
The bus travels north on US 395 between Bishop and Reno via Mammoth Lakes on
Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday, and south between Mammoth Lakes and Ridgecrest
on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. There is also limited Saturday service between
Bishop and Mammoth Lakes only. For Mammoth Lakes transit info, please see dir-
ections for Tuolumne to Red's Meadow . Rates and routes are subject to frequent
change; call ahead for information and reservations at [phone] or (800)
922-1930. More information can be found on the Web at www.countyofinyo.org/
transit/CRESTpage.htm .
Lastly, you could contact the friendly folks at Mammoth Shuttle by phone at
[phone] to arrange for private transit on demand to or from the trailhead.
This is a pricey option but may be worth it for larger groups. Prices range consider-
ably from $100 (from one eastern-Sierra trailhead to another) to $600 (from Mam-