BODIE, CALIFORNIA- Gold-Mining Ghost Town.      

  
"This is Bodie, or rather the remains of Bodie. Only about five percent of the buildings it contained during its 1880s heydey still remain. Today, it stands just as time, fire and the elements have left it - a genuine California gold mining ghost town. Designated a state historic park in 1962, it is now maintained in a state of "arrested decay."
"Bodie was named after Waterman S. Body (also known as William S. Body), who discovered gold here in 1859. The change in spelling of the town's name has often been attributed to an illiterate sign painter, but it was a deliberate change by the citizenry to ensure proper pronunciation.

"The town of Bodie rose to prominence with the decline of mining along the western slope of the Sierra Nevada. Prospectors crossing the eastern slopes in 1859 to "see the elephant"-- that is, to search for gold- made a rich discovery at Virginia City. This huge hold strike, later to be known as the Comstock Lode, started a wild rush to the surrounding high desert country. 
"By 1879 Bodie boasted a population of about 10,000 and was second to none for wickedness, badmen, and 'the worst climate out of doors.' One little girl, whose family was taking her to the remote and infamous town, write in her diary: 'Goodbye God, I'm going to Bodie.' The phrase came to be known throughout the West. 
"Killings occurred with monotonous regularity, sometimes becoming almost daily events. The fire bell, which tolled the ages of the deceased when they were buried, rang often and long. Robberies, stage holdups and street fights provided variety, and the town's 65 saloons offered many opportunities for relaxation after hard days of work in the mines. The Reverend F. M. Warrington saw it in 1881 as 'a sea of sin, lashed by the tempests of lust and passion.'
 
Photo by  Adam Forfang.
This is me in Bodie, half in the shade, half out.
Sweatin. 
"Nearly everyone has heard about the infamous "Badman from Bodie." Some historians say that he was a real person by the name of Tom Adams. Others saw that his name was Washoe Pete.  It seems more likely, however, that he was a composite. Bad men, like bad whiskey and bad climate, were endemic to the area. Whatever the case, the streets are quiet now. Bodie still has its wicked climate, but with the possible exception of an occasional ghostly visitor, its badmen are all in their graves."
 -- Written in 1988. Text was printed in the Bodie Brochure they gave us at the state park gate. Author not noted, sadly. I like this piece of writing.

 EDITOR's NOTE:

 If you go to Bodie, bring $7 cash or check, 'cause they don't take debit cards at the entrance, an entrance that's at the end of an unexpected, 9 mile dirt 'road'. In quotations because it was barely a road, more of a turbulent, rock-laiden pathway smattered with giant pot-holes and eroding dirt ledges. It was close to Mono Lake, east of Sierra Nevader Mountain Range..

 Here's some shots taken from the side of the road or the car, from Highway 108 and CA-395, on the way from or back to Oakland, California.  
CA-395
Sardine Creek, off Highway 108. Good place for nature.
Bad place for eating a tin of sardines. Flies.
New Hampshire's Old Man in the Mountain
eased in to CA's Highway 108. 
Backwards Bodie

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