Road to Bodie CA

[ionbeam]

^^^^^ The town is being held in a 'state of arrested decay', there has been no rebuilding but there is sufficient maintenance to keep the place from falling apart. There are a few stealth houses where some park rangers live, if you didn't see the newer curtains in the windows the ranger houses would pass without notice. At the time we visited there was one water fountain near the church, I wouldn't count on it being functional. The parking lot did have a building that is an up to date and nice 'facilities'.

The only place where there are structured times and tours are the hammer mill buildings.

The middle building is mainly a museum but they sell a few mementos too and it is staffed by a ranger. Note the modern benches out front and the crowds of people in all the pictures.

We arrived shortly after the place opened and puttered around until we had to leave around 1:00 and mostly had the place to ourselves. Bodie covers a lot of area and can soak up a lot of people and still leave you feeling like you are alone. As we were leaving there were a lot more cars coming in. Between the building heat and the altitude we were gassed by the time we left. I would highly recommend getting to Bodie around opening time. We spent the night near Lake Tahoe in Gardnerville and rode ~80 miles to Bodie after breakfast.

If we are ever back in the area we would definitely stop again. And, definitely go back across the Sonora Pass (Rt 108) again for the third time.

 

[weekend rider]

Here is some more info about Bodie. The state use to take care of the park and actually repair and restore the town back in the early 70's My Good friend Tom was a ranger and worked there in the 70's and I would ride down on my honda 450 and visit and check that town out. /the state use to charge to get in until about 10 to 15 years ago than they quit taking care of the town and let it fall apart as it is doing now. the Dirt road going to Bodie is 18 miles gravel, dirt ,washboard road one way. My friend Tom was the last one to get married in that town, he was able to do so because he worked there and got the ok from the state and that was in 1974, it was done up in a western theme of the `1800's . the wedding took place in the town church there . The eve before the wedding a visitor that went hiking in the mountains there got lost that night . So all the rangers spent the better part of the night looking for him lucky that found him around midnight got hime back and taken care of and all things were ok and the wedding went of as planned and on time . Tom got relocated by the state to another park as the state was in the process of leaving Bodie and not keeping it up or restore it any more. So how you saw it it still is not to bad but one day it will be gone for ever. Once again our history will be lost thanks to the state of California. A little bit of history weekend rider

 

[biknflyfisher]

Seeing pictures of Bodie makes me think of the movie High Plains Drifter - a Clint Eastwood classic...

Biknflyfisher