High Sierra Topix

Greetings and not sure if this is the right forum or I can move to the Hiking forum.
Question: Hiking out via River trail and JMT. Curious about parking the car. Back in the old days you can park down in the Agnew Meadows pack station lot, and we left a note stating in/out. I've tried reached MMT Ranger station but no one answers the call. Not even a voicemail.
I am assuming we have to take the shuttle down from main lodge and leave the car there but looking to see what the forum has to share.
Thank you.
Hope all is well out there.

You can drive through the gate before opening hours (8AM?), otherwise it's the shuttle for you.

I think it's 7 am before the gates close.

7am to 7 pm have to take shuttle, can park car at agnew any other times

Thank you for your responses. Just to confirm: one can park at Agnew Meadows and leave the car? Rangers won’t have an issue, no permit for parking? (I do have my wilderness permit).

And yes, while the Park service discourages vehicle traffic during peak times, you can drive down before 7am, and after 7pm. Otherwise, 7am-7pm mandatory shuttle, $15 per adult, $7 for children (steep IMHO).

Just to confirm: one can park at Agnew Meadows and leave the car? Rangers won’t have an issue, no permit for parking? (I do have my wilderness permit).

Correct, and no.

Thanks @maverick .

Might be worth pointing out, that even with the strongly encouraged (and time depending, required) shuttle service, the past few years I've arrived at that parking area before 6am and felt lucky to get one of the few remaining spots. So unless you go mid-week, even then, maybe plan to get there well before 7am if avoiding a possible shuttle trip is important.

@avizzini, good point and thank you. I think we’ll be ok. Departing on a Wednesday. And even if we had to take the shuttle I’m ok with that. This question was more about planning and setting expectations with the rest of the lot that’s joining me. and what we used to experience in the past.

I did a short backpack trip out of Agnew Meadows in mid-July & car camped the night before at the campground there. You don't need to use the shuttle if you're car camping in the Reds Meadow area, so the ranger at the kiosk next to Minaret Vista just waved us through, gave us some kind of dated tag & didn't even request the amenity fee (%15, I think) they can charge for folks who don't need to use the shuttle. I can't recall the amount of the campground fee. I moved the car to the backpackers' lot when we began our hike (a Monday), & there weren't tons of parking spaces, but I found one without difficulty.
But yes, i believe there's still only a ranger there 7am-7pm, so if you arrive outside of those hours you could likely park at Agnew Meadows without having to negotiate with a ranger. But we had to show the original tag to the ranger when we drove out after our trip (before 7pm)

Also- there were only 2 bear boxes at the trailhead parking, so I wouldn't bring boat-sized coolers or huge boxes of food.

https://www.nps.gov/depo/planyourvisit/ ... mation.htm