Resupply at RM and VVR?
Are the stores at Reds' Meadow and VVR stocked well enough that I can resupply without mailing myself a resupply box?
VVR has a very good camp store with food, snacks, and drinks that are all doable for resupply. If you're passing through mid-season (and the PCT bubble hasn't cleaned them out) you might find the hiker boxes stuffed with options for you as well.
Order a double breakfast on your departure day and hit the trail with some fantastic food in a zip-lock for lunch/dinner.
Are you headed NOBO or SOBO?
The Sierra Nevada is getting hammered with snow again this year. So unless you like snow travel, I hope you are planning late July or later. I personally prefer long trips there in September. If you are there by early September, you should find what you need, provided you don't arrive after a large group passed through (say around Labor Day or when the PCT hikers are going through in Mass which will be later this year). Any later, a box would be safer. VVR use to have a hiker box that you could turn to if you really needed something; don't know if they still do as it's been a few years since I was last there. Red's Meadow has a decent store supply. Worse case, you can go into the large town of Mammoth Lakes from Red's as there is Bus Service through Labor Day or so; hitching works as well.
Red's Meadows has NOT announced what they are doing this year.
The National Forest Service has announced the road to Red's will be closed from Sunday night to Friday morning for road improvements.
The announcement on Red's website makes you think Red's is still in negotiations with the Forrest Service. But the road closure announcement was made months ago.
So at the moment, we don't know if Red's will be open at all this year.
If Red's Meadow doesn't work out you can get to a full resupply at Mammoth Lakes by going over Mammoth Pass to Horseshow Lake which has bus service to town. Make sure the bus season matches your schedule. I have done this from Crater Creek and it added about 3 1/2 miles each way.
https://www.estransit.com/routes-sch...basin-trolley/
I am going SOBO, starting on August 23rd. Will the bubble have hit by then?Originally Posted by ADK Walker
PCT NOBOs will be long gone. SOBOs will not have likely hit in any significant numbers till September. There may be a few who are jumping around different points of the trail who were trying to avoid the snow. You will be in the late summer hiking bubble of the non-PCT hikers who want to finish their trips by Labor Day due to kids going back to school. You'll probably be alright, just don't show up late on the weekend or the following Monday before they can restock.
Red’s has since announced that the road in and out of Red’s will be closed Monday-Thursday for construction. Resupply services however will be available 7 days a week. The store and the Mule House Cafe will also be open 7 days a week through the hiking season, which kinda surprised me.
Tuolumne Meadows will have no services or resupply available in 2024, so Red’s is the closest place to the northern end to resupply unless you leave your resupply in one of the bear boxes in Tuolumne. Also, no camping at Tuolumne, closest places are Cathedral Lakes or south of the Ireland Lake cutoff (just over 4 miles into Lyell Canyon).
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