Bodie State Historic Park, California
On a cross country trip during the Spring & Summer of 2011 I visited Bodie Ghost Town near Lee Vining, CA. Actually, I made two visits, the first on May 8th, and the second on June 4th.
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Bodie is open year round, however there are times the road into the park is closed. The first 3 miles or so of the road into the park is paved; after that is is a somewhat rough although quite wide dirt road.
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During my May visit the road was closed about 1 1/2 miles from the town. There was room to park along side the gate - there were about 10 vehicles parked when I arrived. It was a easy (although uphill - Bodie is at 8375' elevation) hike to the park on a road mostly cleared of snow. It was obvious why the road was closed - the parking lot was still heavily snowed in.
Although it was a cold day & a long walk into the park, a number of people were walking around the buildings. The gift shop & museum was not open but there were a number of volunteers & rangers in the area.
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The buildings are beautifully weathered and photograph well against the blue skies & snow:
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In addition to the many buildings scattered around the park, there includes the smelter used to process the extracted gold, and old machinery and vehicles throughout the area.
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After spending most of the afternoon at Bodie, I enjoyed the view walking back to the car:
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By the June 4th visit the town had officially "opened" for the season. Much easier to drive all the way to the parking lot.
More machinery and no snow!
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The museum & gift shop were open & quite busy:
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While in the Bodie area (which, when CA 120 is open, is about 1 1/2 hours from Yosemite National Park) be sure to take some time to visit Mono Lake, about 20 minutes south of Bodie:
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More photos of both areas are linked from my State & National Parks web page.
Mono Lake has long been a favorite of mine too
