Bodie, CA

16 July

The forming mining town, now ghost town of Bodie, CA is the destination that Mary picked out for today. This was a prosperous mining town in the 1870s and 1880s and some of the best gold was mined here. It lies at 8400' near the Nevada border, nestled in the Bodie hills. I was all for it as this was a quiet day for Sadie.

I had slept well the night before, wondering why the camp was so quiet with all the young people around us. Mary said otherwise, being awakened by screaming teens around 2am, most likely from a bear wondering around. I didn't hear a thing! The hike the day before had exhausted both Sadie and me.

We left the French Creek campsite and drove on to Bodie, stopping in Lee Vining for breakfast at Nicely's, where the friendly and efficient staff is all Latino. Afterwards we stayed a bit in Lee Vining, where I was rebuffed out of the Visitor's center where I was kurtly told only members of the Mono Lake Committee could use the internet. All I wanted to do was download my photos on my laptop! I went to the Latte Da coffee shop next door to do that, although the internet was not available. I chatted briefly with a young mother from Seattle, whose daughter Sierra goes camping with her here.

We were finally on our way around 11am. Mary stopped on the north end of Lee Vining to gas up: $4.79 for a gallon of gasoline!

And then we resumed our drive north on US Hwy 395 to CA270 east, a heavily frostheaved road through the pretty Bodie hills to the state park, where a long line of cars waited patiently at the entrance. The price of entrance was $7 a person, and $2 more for the printed guide.

At first the crowds turned me off. We arrived at 12:10pm. Sadie must have been very tired as she pulled constantly as I wandered around for photos. After 45 minutes of her pulling I decided to put her back in the truck where she rested in the shade. She seemed more content there, as we resumed our walk around the well-preserved ghost town. There certainly was a lot to photograph: old cars, old mining equipment, flowers and seagulls, bluebirds and barn swallows.

The later it got the nicer the place became, as the tourists departed and the sun cast a mellow shade on the old wooden structures. We opted to take the 3pm guided tour of the stamp mill, a tour we both enjoyed as the guide, dressed as Mrs. Theodore Hoover, took us around the place.

We finally left the place at 4:30pm. We both agreed Bodie was a place worth seeing at least once. It was now time to head north on USHwy 395 to Bridgeport for dinner and then the Sonora Pass exit (CA108) and look for a camping site.

Bridgeport was a nice little town. The flora around here started resembling the high Lake Tahoe area, as the vallies widened and happy cows grazed along the road. This was all new territory for me and I was soaking it all in.

Dinner for the night was at Pop's Galley in bridgeport where I ordered a simple spicy chicken sandwich for $4.99, the special of the day. I also had a Corona. Sadie stayed in the truck and rested in the shade of a tall cottonwood. I let her out to relieve herself (unfortunately she chose the green grass of the county courthouse!) before we drove on. We were now on the final strech of our combined trip. Our last goal was finding a campsite on a Saturday night. We lucked out when we got the second-to-last spot at Leavitt Meadows campground, right over the rushing West Wilder Creek.

We finalized the shared bills, chatted some more, and then called it a night. I stayed up late to read, finally, from my Kindle: "The fiery trial of Abraham Lincoln" by Eric Foner. I was up till 11pm, knowing that tomorrow began the start of my return to Arizona, driving the long route toward the California coastline.