Bodie Ghost Town
Wow is Bodie ghost town frickin cool. So amazing to walk through this amazingly preserved gold mining boomtown from the 1870s and reflect on what life might have been like back then. At it's peak Bodie had nearly 10,000 residents and 2,000 structures, briefly making it the third most populated city in California. It also has an interesting story in that it had two booms - they thought the gold ran out once, but 10 years later another huge vein was discovered which gave the town a second wind. When the gold ran out for good though in the early 1880s, the place emptied. Some people remained, but many buildings were eventually lost to fire in 1892 and 1932. The remaining structures somehow withstood the harsh elements long enough until the area was designated a state and national historic site in 1962, and have since been maintained and reinforced with the goal being to "arrest decay." I had been wanting to come here for a while, and it worked out nicely that my route passing through the Eastern Sierras took me right by it.
