The Guide To Bodie

The gold discovery in Bodie in 1859, the murder of its discoverer, the boom of 1879 and its long decline. Covers all the neighboring sites of the Eastern Sierras with lots of pictures.  Bodie State Historic Park, off of Highway 395 in the High Sierras between Bishop, California and the California/Nevada state line, is a place where spirits still wander the dusty streets and abandoned buildings. There are no ice cream parlors, souvenir shops or video game arcades occupying what were once historic buildings. A boomtown, most of Bodie's buildings were hastily erected wooden structures barely capable of surviving the punishing winters. The few buildings still standing serve as park rangers' quarters and a museum that sells books and video tapes about Bodie and other ghost towns. The only creature comforts are restrooms and a drinking fountain.

Bodie is best visited in the summer, when even the warmest days are more like spring at lower altitudes. The journey begins on a paved road that seems to be leading to nowhere. The last 3 miles of the road leading to Bodie are unpaved but still navigable without the benefit of all-wheel drive. Once the pavement ends, you are now travelling on the same dusty stagecoach trail that brought hopeful miners and their families to Bodie while providing escape for those whose dreams were shattered there. Williams, 72 pages