Hi, I'll be arriving in LAX in a few days, and want to start my hike from Kennedy Meadows south. Has anybody tips on how to get out of LA asap and also to catch a good resupply. I'm European and have no clue how the us transportion system works. Thanks. PS I want to buy dried refried beans and minute rice (that can be cold soaked) where can this be bought? Only at specific bit shops or basically anywhere. Thanks :)
IIRC (and I'm probably talking out my asshole here), Winco Foods carry dehydrated frijoles refritos. You have to look in the Mexican foods aisle. I don't often hit that aisle at my local unless I need, like, tortillas or taco seasoning, so take it with a grain of salt.
Minute Rice is available pretty much everywhere. I've even seen it at a local motocross retailer (seriously).
Thank you! :)
You're welcome, hth.
- LAX > Union Station: Flyaway bus
- Union Station > Lancaster: Metrolink, Antelope Valley Line
- Lancaster > Pearsonville: Eastern Sierra Transit Authority bus
- Pearsonville> Kennedy Meadows: hitch
Highly unlikely you can make that whole journey in a single day.
Dehydrated refried beans are hard to find; I only found them like twice on my last PCT thru hike. Minute rice is everywhere.
Thanks :)
Here are some PCT public transit resources (also available from the r/PacificCrestTrail sidebar):
You're better off starting from Walker Pass, which is a day or two trail-south of KMS. It's directly served by Kern Transit, they should be able to drop you off right at the PCT if you ask the driver. KMS is a small, remote mountain town with no public transit service.
Walker is much easier to reach if you can somehow fly into Reno instead of LAX. Eastern Sierra Transit Agency has a route from Reno to Inyokern, where you can transfer to Kern Transit.
Coming from LAX, you'll need multiple connections with multiple agencies, and it could take more than one day if you miss a connection (not uncommon if busses/trains are running late), unfortunately. Google Maps can be incredibly useful for this, here's a link for LAX to Inyokern: https://maps.app.goo.gl/ErMuz1QhRYVFTbWV6 . If you can afford it, consider taking an Uber or other private shuttle/rideshare for as much of the way to Inyokern or Walker Pass as possible, it will save a massive amount of time and hassle, including possibly needing a motel room overnight in order to wait for a bus connection.
If you opt for busses instead I recommend calling beforehand to confirm that a particular route is running. Some are seasonal, some are only certain days of the week, some get rescheduled, etc. Public transit can be much different in the US compared to some parts of Europe.
Minute Rice is available at nearly any grocery store in the US. Dehydrated refried beans are less widely available, but shouldn't be too difficult to find at grocery stores in Southern California.