There’s nothing quite as good as a perfect zero day when thru-hiking a long trail. Giving your tired feet a break, sleeping indoors, washing the clothes you’ve been living in, eating a meal someone else cooks for you… it’s everything dreamed of when logging mile after mile after mile all the way to 2,650.
On thru-hikes like the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT), zero days usually happen in tiny towns, often with a lot of charm and not a lot going on. But every zero day can be relaxing, and fun, in its own unique way.
What is a “zero day”?
Hikers on the Pacific Crest Trail, Appalachian Trail, Continental Divide Trail and other long thru-hikes periodically take rest days and call them zero days because they’re not doing any miles on the trail. They usually go into a nearby town for a zero day, but some people take zero days on the trail to rest, do another activity like fishing, or wait for fellow hikers to catch up or do a side hike.
How often do thru-hikers take zero days?
Most hikers plan their zero days around when they’ll cross the easiest exits into towns. This way they can pick up resupply boxes, get groceries, do laundry, take a shower, etc. when they’re taking a rest day. But it’s up to personal preference, fitness level and each individual’s timeline for completing the trail.
According to last year’s Halfway Anywhere annual PCT hiker survey, the average thru-hike took 144 days with 18 zero days (averaging to one zero day every eight days) and just slightly fewer “nearo days” (nearly zero days). Sometimes hikers take multiple zero days in a town, and the average longest consecutive number of zero days on the trail was five.
Everything you need to know for your zero day in Mammoth Lakes, California
Ridge Merino is headquartered in Mammoth Lakes, CA, a popular stop located at mile 906 (northbound) of the PCT and mile 60 (southbound) of the John Muir Trail. We love seeing thru-hikers in town and chatting with them when they come by. We’re biased but we think Mammoth is the best trail town, and Mac at Halfway Anywhere calls it his “favorite town in the Sierra (and possibly the entire PCT).”
Here’s everything you need to know to have a great zero day here.
Getting around
Mammoth's charming free trolleys run around town and up to the Mammoth Lakes Basin all summer. Photo from Visit Mammoth
Mammoth Lakes has free public transit all around town, so once you get into town, you can hop on a town bus or trolley anywhere you see a bus stop. It’s a small and easily walkable town too, especially if you’re staying somewhere centrally-located.
To get from the trail to town, hikers often take the (paid) shuttle up from Reds Meadow/Devils Postpile. Tickets are $15 for adults–bring exact change. People often have luck hitchhiking from Reds Meadow into town if the bus doesn’t work out.
Note: this year (2025) Reds Meadow Road is under construction, so this road is only open on weekends. The easier way to get into Mammoth Lakes in summer 2025 is via Mammoth Pass ending up at the Horseshoe Lake Trailhead. This puts you in the popular Mammoth Lakes Basin, and you can hop right on the (free) Lakes Basin Trolley into town.
Where to stay for a Mammoth Lakes zero day
Mammoth has a variety of lodging options for hikers, some of which even offer hiker discounts. It’s always worth asking!
On the cheap end, there’s the Holiday Haus Hostel and Motel 6. There are also campgrounds in town and up in the Mammoth Lakes Basin. For a bit more money, the Quality Inn, Empeiria Inn and Mammoth Creek Inn are decent options.
Only slightly more expensive is the Alpenhof Lodge, which is homey, charming and centrally located right in The Village. Airbnb and VRBO have lots of condo options all over town but usually require some advanced notice to book. For more of a splurge, the new Outbound Hotel is a good option, with individual cabins and condos available for rent.
All of these are centrally located in town. Some hotels offer guest laundry facilities (Outbound and Motel 6 as of publishing this, but others might as well).
An aerial view of The Village in Mammoth Lakes; photo from Visit Mammoth.
Where & how to resupply in Mammoth
Resupplies by mail
If you’re mailing boxes of supplies, sending them to the Mammoth post office will probably be your best bet. You can mail it General Delivery to the post office via USPS. The Mammoth Lakes post office is typically open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekdays (closed on weekends).
If you’re ordering something from an online retailer, note that mail delivery in Mammoth can be tricky. Only USPS mail can go to the post office, and there’s no USPS home delivery. FedEx and UPS packages can’t go to the post office and must have a physical address. If you’re staying somewhere in Mammoth, ask if you can have a package sent there and ask what address they recommend—better yet, include a street address and a general delivery post office address on the shipping address.
Red’s Meadow Resort, a small lodge located right on the PCT/JMT, offers resupply package pick-up and storage, but call them to get more information and make a plan if you don’t plan to come all the way into town.
Getting food and gear in town
Even though it’s a small town, Mammoth has pretty much everything you could need to resupply after nearly 1,000 miles of hiking.
For food for the next leg of the hike, Grocery Outlet gets the most bang for your buck with tons of snacks and interesting foods. Anything they don’t have at Grocery Outlet, they’ll likely have at Vons. For backpacking meals/dehydrated food, Mammoth Mountaineering is the best. This gear shop also has everything you could need to replace or change out when backpacking.
If you need a new article of clothing, come by Ridge—our storefront has sun hoodies, tees, hats, beanies, base layers, women’s shorts and men’s and women’s underwear that all work phenomenally for backpacking. PCT and JMT hikers get a 15% discount.
Ridge Collective in Mammoth Lakes - your go-to if you need new clothes for the trail.
If you’re looking for other clothing, Footloose Sports or Mammoth Mountaineering likely have what you need, and we have two thrift stores in town: Second Chance and The Cast Off (check their hours before you go).
Cleaning up on your zero day
If you need to do laundry in town, the Mammoth Lakes Laundromat has tons of machines and is right next to Black Velvet Coffee, a nice cafe to hang out in. Hollywood Soaps & Suds and Aloha Sudz (adjacent to another great cafe, Looney Bean) are other options.
For showers, this post from Visit Mammoth lists the best options. The local gym, Snowcreek Athletic Club, offers day passes for $30 if you want to snag a shower in addition to enjoying their hot tub, steam room or outdoor pool.
Restaurants & things to do in Mammoth
The beer garden at Mammoth Brewing Co.; photo from Visit Mammoth.
One zero day in Mammoth might not be enough… two is even better. Most people book two nights of lodging so they can have a full zero day in town. Some of our favorite restaurants for a good meal are:
- The Warming Hut - great breakfasts (don’t miss the pancakes) and fresh lunches
- Shelter Distilling - incredible cocktails, mocktails and small bites
- Mammoth Brewing Co. & The Eatery - great beers, burgers/fries and outdoor seating
- Liberty Bar - a good ol’ small town pub experience
- Latin Market - burritos and tacos loved by thru-hikers and locals
- Café Crêpe - a food truck that serves authentic French crêpes and creative lattes
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Looney Bean - great drinks and breakfast burritos with nice patio seating
- Rolling Chef - Latin American fusion food truck with locations in Mammoth and Bishop
If you’re looking to do more than just rest, Mammoth has options. You can head up to Mammoth Mountain’s main lodge and get a ticket for the Panorama Gondola for a scenic ride to the top of the mountain. After getting to summits by foot for 900+ miles, it’s kind of fun to get a ride straight to a mountaintop. Mammoth Mountain also has a mountain coaster and a via ferrata.
In town, there’s a bowling alley, a movie theatre, axe throwing, yoga classes and massage/acupuncture practitioners. You can rent e-bikes at many shops in town, or rent a paddleboard or kayak at Pokonobe Marina up in the Mammoth Lakes Basin. No visit to Mammoth is complete without jumping in one of the many lakes in and just outside of town.
Mammoth Mountain's via ferrata; photo from Visit Mammoth.
Paddleboarding in the Mammoth Lakes Basin; photo from Visit Mammoth.
Take the easy way up on the gondola to the top of Mammoth Mountain; photo from Visit Mammoth.
Bonus: taking a zero day in Bishop, California
Bishop isn’t as easy to pop into as Mammoth Lakes is from the PCT, but it’s still a popular resupply/rest stop—and it was hikers’ second favorite resupply stop according to Halfway Anywhere’s last survey.
The best way (and the most popular, per the survey) to get into Bishop is to go over Kearsarge Pass to the Onion Valley Trailhead near Independence. Hitchhike down to U.S. 395 or all the way to Bishop. From Independence you can catch a (paid) bus from Eastern Sierra Transit Authority to the Bishop Vons.
The other option to get to Bishop is via Bishop Pass ending up at the South Lake Trailhead. Just down the hill from the trailhead you’ll find Parcher’s Resort, a small lodge that offers resupply storage and pickup for thru-hikers if you don’t want to come all the way into town.
If you come through Bishop over Memorial Day weekend, you can have the added fun of attending the biggest mule festival in the world with a mule parade through downtown Bishop.
Like Mammoth, Bishop is very hiker-friendly. To get around Bishop, walk or use Dial-A-Ride Bishop ($3-5 per ride, pay with exact change). For lodging, many hikers stay at The Hostel California. Eastside Guest House and the Quality Inn are good options too. For camping, Brown’s Town Campground and the Tri-County Fairgrounds are the best in-town options.
If camping, your best bet for showers is The Hostel California, Bishop United Methodist Church certain days of the week or getting a day pass to one of the gyms in town. There are two laundromats downtown.
To resupply, Bishop has more options: a Grocery Outlet and a Vons, plus a Smart & Final and two dollar stores that sell food/snacks downtown. Eastside Sports is the gear shop in town that has everything you might need, including a small selection of Ridge gear if you need something before you make it to Mammoth.
A few great ways to spend a zero day in Bishop: taking a dip in the Owens River or the artesian wells just east of town, hanging at Mountain Rambler Brewery, catching a movie at Bishop Twin Theatre, eating pastries at Schat’s Bakery or bowling at Back Alley Bowl & Grill (some say they serve the best steak in town). For the full Bishop experience, grab a late night drink at Rusty’s Saloon.
To plan or not to plan?
PCT thru-hikers at our Trail Magic event at Horseshoe Lake earlier this summer with Visit Mammoth.
The advice we’ve heard most often from PCT hikers is to not plan zero days too rigidly. Go with the flow and see how you feel once you start hiking. You might be hiking more or fewer miles than you plan, and you might want a zero day more or less often than you envisioned.
Whether you’re taking a zero day in Mammoth or Bishop or you’re just visiting and want to check out some of our favorite spots, Mammoth and Bishop are great places to spend some restful summer days.
Back to the trail - thru-hikers return to the PCT via Mammoth Pass at Horseshoe Lake; photo from Visit Mammoth.
