(And another word to the wise -- have PLENTY of gas BEFORE the trip. I vastly underestimated and wound up paying for a gallon of gas at the Barcroft laboratory after my planned 4 mile round trip hike to there and back to the gate. And THAT was just barely enough to get me back to a gas station in Big Pine. AND -- I was lucky to get someone to actually sell me that gas.)
just go down Silver Canyon Road to Bishop when low on gas - you are mostly running on gravity on that road, and it is a lot closer to the nearest gas. The road is a little rougher, though, but I've seen plenty of 2WD vehicles go down. I drove it in a lifted 4x4 and it was disappointingly well maintained after all the warning signs I passed. On the other hand, last time I was there is now almost 20 years ago, so don't trust what you read on the Internet
found my old Silver Canyon road write-up
http://didnt.doit.wisc.edu/offroad/travels/SilverCanyon/index.html
