Hello,
We have three people trying to get from Whitney Portal to Onion Valley on Monday, July 22nd. We're looking at taking the shuttle and splitting the cost. Anyone with a similar agenda interested in jumping in or throwing out an alternative idea to the shuttle?
Thanks!

The only alternative I know of is to drive the car to Onion Valley and then just one hitch-hike back there after the end of the hike. Hitching is always easy from the Portal down to Lone Pine. I don't know about the section to Independence or to Onion Valley. There is a shuttle bus that runs from Lone Pine through Independence, so if you drove your gear up to Onion Valley, then parked back at Independence, and tried hitching up to OV, that might work.

Give these folks a try:

http://eastsidesierrashuttle.com/

It's a little expensive, but better than sitting along to the road trying to hitch.

Last year my group of 3 had no problem getting (hitching) rides from the Portal to Lone Pine, and then from Independence to OV, on July 5 (we did the same thru hike you contemplate but earlier in the season). One of our rides was a retired forest service guy who gave me some great tips that turned into a later backpacking trip (Miter Basin).

Thank you all for the great suggestions! We decided to go with the Eastside Sierra Shuttle. But it's nice to know that hitching is a reasonable option if things don't go the way we plan.

Thanks again!