On our fourth day in the Eastern Sierra we drove north from the McGee Creek Campground to the old Ghost Town in Bodie State Park (a boomtown which had its heyday in 1880), then went to Bridgeport for lunch, fly fished in Lee Vining Creek, drove south to Mono Lake to visit Mono Mills where the Bodie Railroad terminated, after which we drove to Rock Creek Road and spent the night at the East Fork Campground. It was a busy day!
When we woke up that morning at the campground, the storm clouds of yesterday were gone. Snow now dusted the nearby high peaks of the Sierra, as well as the taller summits of the Inyo Range across Owens Valley. We didn’t rush too much getting ready, and managed to eat our breakfast under some warm sunshine in camp.
We couldn’t stay in camp forever, so we packed up and headed north on US 395, the Eastern Sierra Scenic Byway. Great name for a road. Descriptive, too. We had an hour or two of driving to do, and the views were fine the entire way. We passed Mammoth Lakes, June Lake, and Mono Lake, and eventually arrived at the side road to the town of Bodie.
There were signs on the road to Bodie warning that it wasn’t plowed in Winter. This was a ghost town that was left for the ghosts when it got cold outside. We drove along for quite some time, until the pavement turned to gravel, and then a few miles more. There was an entry booth at the state park, and we paid our fees to enter, then parked at the main lot up above the town itself.
We got out of the car and headed for the informative displays. We were also armed with a map of the town. We were up on a hill, so we could see the town spread out below us, and the old stamping mill on the hill across the valley. The houses and buildings seemed rather spread out and isolated from one another. Reading the brochure, it turned out that there had once been many more houses, but big fires burned down most of the town on at least two occasions over the years. Time and weather had done in many more. Once a building loses its roof it doesn’t take long before the rest of it rots and collapses. Just the same, there were a number of structures left, and many still had furniture inside. When this valley ran out of gold it ran out of people, too. And it was so remote that when they left, they left almost everything behind. The bodie.com website calls this “arrested decay,” meaning that the park doesn’t restore the buildings but instead lets them decay naturally. It’s a lot more real this way. And a whole lot cheaper.
Unfortunately for us, we missed the morning’s Guided Tour. This was sad, as the tour guide has the keys to many buildings, and plenty of knowledge to give. If I ever come by again, I will be certain to arrive on time. As it was, we did the best we could, by studying the map and the numbered buildings, so we almost felt like we knew where we were. First stop: The old Methodist Church. Like many wild west mining towns, Bodie started out rowdy but got civilized fast. Or at least it appeared civilized to the higher levels of society that arrived soon afterward, all of them lured by Gold. But take the “L” out of Gold and you got the church, which still had its pews and an organ. There was even electric lighting! But I suspect that the lighting came after the Boom was over, when the town lingered on into its twilight with a greatly reduced population, relying on smaller quantities of gold, once the big veins were played out.
We continued walking down Green Street until it reached Main Street, which obviously suited its name. This was where the Old Miner’s Union Hall still stood. There was also the old electric and water utility building. Other nearby buildings were locked, but had interesting collections of antique bottles and memorabilia in the front windows. When they still had windows. These were buildings with intact roofs, like I said.
The Miner’s Union Hall was also the visitor center and museum. Many items that remained in the town were collected and put on display inside. Old motors, mercury flasks, mining tools, weighing scales, and even kitchen cutlery were placed within cabinets for preservation. Cool stuff, if you like looking through a window in time, into the Good Old Days of vanished generations.
We continued wandering around town. We saw that the main mill was closed off to public access, which made us even sadder that we missed the guided tour. Next time, like I said. There were several old buildings, plenty of unusual hunks of rusty steel and iron, and even some old cars from the early 1900’s.
We walked the other way on Main Street and came to the site of the Bank. Not much was left. Only the bricks of the Vault, and its locked iron door. Inside was the unlocked safe where much of the gold was stored. When the gold ran out and the people left, the real estate became worthless, too. Then the bank withdrew and left the heavy safe behind.
Now, Bodie was known far and wide back in those early days. It was more infamous than famous. It was a well-known Den of Decadence and Debauchery. Alcohol was flowing much faster than gold. Main Street was lined with bars and dance halls. What else was a miner to do with his free time and easy spending money? Whatever gold was left over went directly to the brothels across the alley behind the bars. Maiden Lane and Virgin alley were the names of those two locations. No buildings remain from that era, only a sign indicating where they used to be.
We headed generally back toward the car after that, passing odd buildings that mostly seemed to be made of lean-to’s on lean-to’s on lean-to’s that were added to the original structures. By the time you got to the far end the roofs were rather low, and you’d have to duck to walk inside. We got to the parking lot and read yet another informative sign about the Boomtown that was Bodie, California. It really only boomed for three years, but boy did it make a sound!
It was after noon by that time, so Vicki and I decided to have some lunch. We headed east on the Bodie Road to US 395, then drove a few miles further north to the town of Bridgeport. We chose a small burger joint and went inside. We bought some food but knew right away that it was more than we could eat. We did our best, and took the remains with us in a box. Looks like we had some dinner, too!
But leftovers weren’t guaranteed. I might still get lucky and catch a trout for Vicki. She loves fresh trout. So we drove west up Highway 120 (that leads to Yosemite) and turned off on Power Plant Road. We were there back in 2023 during the big snowmelt, and we hoped that this time Lee Vining Creek would be flowing a bit slower, so I might have a decent chance at a trout. We went to a big pool below a culvert and I cast and cast my Tenkara line. There were a couple of trout in the pool; I could see them hovering stationary in the crystal clear water. But they also managed to completely ignore my proffered fly. It seemed that they were always located just a short distance further than I could cast it. Aggravating.
Since we were still, technically, in a “Bodie” mindset, we continued south of Mono Lake and took Highway 120 to the east. Somewhere up ahead was the forest that produced all the wood for Bodie’s buildings. You may have noticed the lack of trees in that town.
It turned out that the big money interests in Bodie even invested in building their own private railroad! It went about thirty miles from Bodie to the nearest trees. And its only purpose was to carry milled lumber from the forest near Mono Lake up to the town itself. But it was worth it. People were making a fortune in real estate and the building trades. Everybody was lining up to collect a share of that Glorious Gold. Once the gold ran out, the town shut down, and they even sold off the railroad itself, including the tracks. Nothing is left of the Lumber Mill now. Just old photos under an information Kiosk. But it was still cool to check it out.
By that time the afternoon was getting on. We had travelled as far north today as this trip was meant to go, and now it was time to head south. By tomorrow evening we would be back home in San Diego. But not just yet. We had another location to check out on the way. But not today. Right then we needed to find a spot to spend the night. We decided to revisit Rock Creek, where we camped back in late June 2023. We liked that campground, and Vicki recalled that I caught several trout there. It was worth a try. So we drove down US 395 to Toms Place, and headed uphill on Rock Creek Road to the East Fork Campground. We chose a spot, paid our fees, and got my “camperized” car ready for bed. I ate what was left of my burger, and Vicki cooked up a freeze-dried meal.
After dinner, we took our usual Evening Constitutional around the campground. We said hi to a few of our neighbors, and checked out the trout which were rising actively in a slowly-flowing pool in Rock Creek. Vicki told me not to bother fishing now, as she had already eaten. That was fine by me, as I was getting tired of being shut out repeatedly this trip. Thus far I’d only caught one fish, at a kiddie-pond with stocked trout! Sad but true.
The valley was already deep in shadow by then, and the air was cooling significantly. We looked up at the snowy slopes of Mount Morgan and marveled that, technically, there were still two days left in Summer! But in the High Sierra, cold weather comes early, and I’ve even been hiking during a light snowfall in mid-August! Both of us enjoyed the beauty of the evening light on the mountain just the same. And then we dove into the car and got under our goose down quilt!
For a topographic map of the hike see my CalTopo Page
For LOTS more photos of the trek see my Flickr Page
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