Bodie

Bodie, California lies at the end of a three mile dirt track. The first time we tried to visit, Bodie was cut off by wildfires, so we headed off to Yosemite instead. Persevering, we came back a couple of days later on a beautiful, sunny August day with one of those expansive skies you seem to get all too easily in this part of the US.

The town began as a mining camp during the 1850s gold rush. By 1880 it was a booming wild west gold mining town with over sixty saloons along its mile long main street. Over the years the town had a hydroelectric power plant and a railway.

After the frenetic years of the gold rush, the town gradually declined with the last locally produced newspaper being printed in 1912 and the last gold mine closing in 1942.

The area has now been designated a National Historic Landmark becoming Bodie State Historic Park in 1962. Over a hundred buildings are still left standing. Although this is only a small percentage of the town at its height, the park is a fascinating trip back in time with several ancient automobiles and houses and businesses with interiors stocked with goods and furniture just as they were left.