Experiences with Eastern Sierra Long-Distance Shuttle Services?

Run by a guy named Paul. Not super cheap… But reliable.
Nice guy, arrived early. Took me from N. Lake to S. Lake when I did the Evolution loop.

I have used Original Mammoth Shuttle and was very satisfied. Rolf is a nice guy, reliable and fun to talk to. I would not hesitate to recommend his service.

"Run by a guy named Paul. Not super cheap… But reliable.
Nice guy, arrived early."

+1 He's all of the above and, IME, cheaper than a lot of the other alternatives. At least for the shuttles I priced out.

I assume you have checked out air schedules, etc well enough to be sure you are saving a whole day?.

For me, Mammoth simply doesnt make sense on return trip. Late afternoon flight out to LA, red-eye from LA and connections gets me home next morning at 9am dead tired anyway. It saves zero time, not going to work that day.

Wait till next day and take bus to Reno, Im home at 11pm thru Reno.

Im back at work the 3rd day regardless of where I depart from, and Reno is much cheaper.

Yeah, I looked into it- since the flight looks like it only leaves Mammoth once a day, I'll be getting into LAX 7ish. My flight home (to Philadelphia) would be leaving at 10ish for a 6AM arrival the next day. I'll be going to work (albeit an hour or two late) that day, and have no illusions about not being a zombie. I've done red eye flights before and been reasonably functional, so I'm hopeful.

That said, I'm not under any illusions that this is an ideal way to do the JMT and the return logistics. In a perfect world, I'd have as much time off as I wanted, and I would just hang out in Lone Pine for a day before ESTA started up again. If shelling out $220 for a shuttle and having a crappy Monday at work is the price I pay for getting to go at all, I'll definitely do it.

FWIW, thanks for the Reno suggestion, even if the flights don't happen to work better for me personally (looked into it). Depending on where you're going, that could definitely be a nicer option for getting home for a lot of folks.

Another vote for Paul at East Side Sierra! Price-wise, he is much lower than the others when I have got quotes from him. He is very knowledgeable on topics related to the Sierras, and is a pretty talkative and friendly guy. One of his vehicles caught me a bit off-guard on a pick up one time, ( a beat up looking Mercedes with a home made looking Thule on top ), but it ran well and he was on time!

Yeah actually now that I remember, Paul was cheaper than the other place I priced out. So I take that comment back. ;)

Based on the feedback here, I'm reserved with Paul. FWIW (and in case someone else stumbles across this thread in the future), he did end up being the cheapest of all of the options, so that (plus recommendations and the fact that a lot of people seem to be using him on the JMT list, even if they aren't chiming in on the experience) definitely sealed the deal.

Follow-up stupid question (although I am getting a bit ahead of myself here, since it's 5.5 months away)- what is the tipping/gratuity etiquette when dealing with trail shuttles? I'm a city dweller, so I'm used to tipping taxi drivers on the rare occasions that I need one, but I'm not totally sure if/how that translates to a long distance shuttle.

"Follow-up stupid question (although I am getting a bit ahead of myself here, since it's 5.5 months away)- what is the tipping/gratuity etiquette when dealing with trail shuttles? I'm a city dweller, so I'm used to tipping taxi drivers on the rare occasions that I need one, but I'm not totally sure if/how that translates to a long distance shuttle."

Paul doesn't seem to expect anything beyond the price he quoted you, at least not that I could pick up on. I'm sure he wouldn't turn extra money down, as he lives on his shuttle income, substitute teaching, and nature photography, but he definitely doesn't come across as expecting a gratuity.

We used Paul at East Side Sierra last August and agree with the above comments.
I did tip him but I do not remember how much. Probably $20.

I'll second what Tom said. I think his 'quoted' price is intended to be the 'actual' price. I do think he'd appreciate any tips he did get however if you feel it's warranted.

+1 with Paul.

And, when you get close to your pickup date, try to get in contact with Paul to see what his schedule looks like.

I asked for a 7 am pickup and got it, but he drove past my motel at 4 am, and I could have been at the trail head by 6 am instead of 9:00. And it would have cut out 120 miles for him.

Just got back from the JMT, and we used Paul Fretheim for 3 services: He drove us to Mammoth from Independence; he picked us up at Whitney Portal at the end of our trip; and he kept our car for us while we were on the trail (it's a Hybrid, and shouldn't be left for 3 weeks without being driven).

Everything went perfectly, and I would NOT hesitate to use his service again!

FYI, he's a substitute teacher for the local school district, and he does the shuttle work in the off-season. We met a lot of "moonlighting" teachers, including our YARTS bus driver.

I actually meant to add something onto this thread as well. I did end up using Paul for a Lone Pine to Mammoth Airport Shuttle after my JMT thru (I HAD to use Sunday as my travel day, so ESTA wasn't an option), and he was fantastic- gave me a call about 2 hours ahead of time to confirm, showed up EXACTLY on time, and he had a lot of great knowledge about the mountains and the surrounding area that passed the time rather nicely. If I ever need another shuttle in the area, I'm definitely going to give him a call. FWIW, his prices on the routes I looked at were also substantially cheaper than any of the other services.

(Edited to change "YARTS" to "ESTA" because I am a silly.)

Do not use East Side Sierra Shuttle.

Check out recent (2024) Yelp reviews.

Paul Fritheim, the owner, will take your money and not show up, ruining your planned trip.

Paul Fretheim entered a contract to shuttle our party from Whitney Portal to Happy Isles with a 50% deposit ($450) for our group 4 months before our trip.

The week before the trip, we texted and emailed him repeatedly to confirm final pickup time and location.  Unfortunately, he did not reply until the day before the pickup.  Paul sent a text that he would not be providing the shuttle service due to “personnel issues”.  We were left without a shuttle.

After the trip, we sent several emails and texts requesting a return of our down payment.  We have not seen a response from Paul, or East Side Sierra Shuttle, nor a return of our downpayment.