Chasing Ghosts at Bodie State Historic Park

If you try to visualize an Old West ghost town, with its weather-beaten, ramshackle buildings and empty, wind-swept streets, you'll probably picture something very much like the town of Bodie, California.

Located in high desert of the Eastern Sierra near Mono Lake, this old gold mining town is now Bodie State Historic Park — an authentic open-air museum of the Wild West and an amazing destination for a family road trip. It's beautiful, haunting, fascinating, and unlike any place you've ever visited before. The Eastern Sierra region is gorgeous and a lot of fun to explore, and you can pair a visit to Bodie with at Mono Lake a short distance to the south or even Yosemite National Park to the east.

Bodie was founded during the California Gold Rush in 1859, but it wasn't until the 1870s that it really hit its boom times, unearthing millions of dollars in gold. Unlike the placer mining towns associated with the Gold Rush, Bodie was the site of hard-rock mines in which gold was extracted from quartz ore by a process of stamping, sieving, and separating.

Boomtown Bodie was a place of saloons, gambling dens, and noisy steam engine-powered stamp mills that crushed the ore dug from the town's mines. At one time, it was even California's third-largest city, with a population of over 8,000! By the 1890s, however, Bodie began to slide into decline as it became more and more expensive to extract gold from the increasingly poor quality ore. Bodie was still sparsely inhabited into the 20th century, but a fire that wiped out much of downtown in the 1930s and limitations on mining imposed during World War II sealed its fate.

Bodie became a California State Park in 1962 and has been kept in a state of "arrested decay," meaning that buildings and structures in town remain unrestored and are preserved in the state they were when their inhabitants abandoned them, For example, if a building had intact windows in 1962 and one breaks, then it's repaired, but nothing is restored by the park service beyond this. This is what makes Bodie so authentic and different from tourist-oriented "ghost town" attractions like others in the American West.

Wander the streets of Bodie and explore the buildings once home to miners, families, and businesses. All the buildings have a distinctive weather-beaten bare-wood appearance imparted by the harsh weather conditions of the region: Bodie experiences long, snowy, and cold winters with temperatures that regularly fall well below freezing; summertime temperatures are usually pleasant during the day but can drop below freezing at night.

Some of the buildings appear to be in better shape than others, with newer chimneys and curtains on the windows. These are the California State Parks ranger station and residences of park staff, many of whom live on site all year round.

Look in the windows of businesses like general store — still stocked with goods for sale with many bearing familiar labels, saloons (there were more than 60 in town during its heyday), gambling halls, family homes, hotels, the schoolhouse, which seems ready to welcome students for their lessons, and even the morgue, where you can see a macabre array of Victorian coffins both adult- and child-sized.

Several of the buildings are open for exploration by visitors, including the Miller House, complete with tattered furnishings and peeling wallpaper, the Methodist church, and the park's museum and visitor center, which operates out of the old Miner's Union Hall, which served Bodie's inhabitants as a community center, theater, church, and more.

Despite the condition of the buildings in Bodie, it's not hard to imagine the people who once lived here. Some buildings, despite their age and dilapidation, almost look as if the inhabitants just stepped out briefly and are due back at any moment.

We highly recommend that you go on the guided tour of the stamp mill, which are offered from May to October at 11 am, 1 pm, and 3 pm most days. Purchase tickets at the visitor center ($6 per person) and meet at the massive stamp mill on the hill overlooking the town.

Built in 1899 after the original burned down, the mill processed ore from the Standard mine just above it on the hill. You can see the mill's massive machinery and the remains of the gondola system, designed by San Francisco cable car inventor Andrew Hallidie, that transported ore directly from mine to mill.

Stamp mill tours are really fascinating and really popular, so get your tickets as soon as you can after you arrive at the park since they often do sell out. The tour is the only way to see the stamp mill complex, which is off-limits to visitors for safety reasons.

Other guided public tours, including special evening "ghost walk" paranormal tours, are offered at Bodie, as well as interesting history talks by park staff. Another way to tour Bodie is to purchase a $3 self-guided tour booklet at the park entrance and explore on your own.

Make sure you also head up the hill above the town to explore Bodie's cemetery. It's atmospheric, peaceful, and affords great views of the town. You can pick up a guidebook to the cemetery ($3) at the gate. It's really informative and tells the stories of many of Bodie's inhabitants who are now interred there. 

Bodie is a truly unique experience. It's charming, a little eerie and otherworldly, and makes you feel a connection to our past in a way few other places do. It's truly a special place that's worth the effort it takes to get there. Learn more at www.parks.ca.gov or www.bodiefoundation.org

If you go

Bodie State Historic Park is located at the end of California State Route 270 (Bodie Road) in Mono County, off US Route 395. To get there from the Bay Area you can take several routes, but the easiest is probably to go up I-50 like you're going to South Lake Tahoe and then turn south on Highway 89 at Meyers. Follow 89 to Highway 395 and head south to the town of Bridgeport. In total it's a 4- to 5-hour drive.

You can also reach the area by going over the Sonora or Tioga passes, the latter of which goes through Yosemite National Park. Both mountain pass roads are subject to seasonal closure and usually close in October or November and open in May or June.

Bodie is open year-round; its summer hours (usually Labor Day Weekend through the end of September) are 9 am to 6 pm. While the park is open during the winter, getting there can be extremely difficult and often the park is only accessible via snowmobile or skis, since the Bodie Road is usually closed due to snow from late fall to late spring. If you are planning to go in the off season, make sure to check their website first for important updates on park conditions.

The drive to Bodie from the Highway 395 turnoff is approximately 13 miles; the first 10 miles are paved but the last 3 are rough dirt road. It's a bumpy ride that most cars can make with no problem (stick to the 15 mph speed limit), but you'll definitely be happier in a high-clearance vehicle like an SUV. The drive from nearby Bridgeport to Bodie takes approximately 45 minutes. There is an alternate route into Bodie from Bridgeport, but it's unpaved and is only recommended for a high-clearance four-wheel-drive vehicle driven by someone who knows what they're doing.

No food or other services are available in Bodie, so make sure you bring enough food for your family to keep them going while they explore the park. Clean restrooms with flush toilets, drinking fountains, and water bottle fillers are available. There is a gift shop at the museum and visitor center selling books, T-shirts, and various souvenirs. You can also purchase tickets for guided tours here.

Bodie is located at over 8,400 feet and it's dry and warm during summer days, so make sure everyone stays hydrated and understands the effects of the high altitude on your unacclimated body. You will be walking outdoors a lot, so good walking shoes, hats, and the aforementioned water bottles are a necessity. As mentioned earlier, the weather at Bodie can vary a great deal, so layered clothing is a must.

The closest town to Bodie is Bridgeport, the Mono County seat, about 6 miles north of the Bodie turnoff. There you can find a small selection of motels, B&Bs, and restaurants. On our visit we had the use of a VW camper van and camped at the Bridgeport Reservoir Campground, which was clean, quiet, run by nice people, and made a great home base for our explorations. Tent and RV sites come with picnic tables and fire rings, and, most importantly, bathrooms are clean and showers are hot and have great water pressure.

Bridgeport is also your best bet for restaurants and food. Restaurants range from the sit-down historic Bridgeport Inn to the Barn, an open-air burger and burrito joint. The small Bridgeport General Store on Main Street is the only game in town for groceries; while the selection can be a bit limited, service is friendly and it's a good place to grab coffee, snacks, drinks, and deli sandwiches for your Bodie visit. The next closest town is Lee Vining, about 18 miles south of the Bodie turnoff, and it offers quite a few lodging and dining options.

Note that there are no gas stations between Bridgeport and Lee Vining so make sure you plan accordingly. You can find an electric vehicle charging station at the Shell station on Main Street in Bridgeport and there's a Tesla Destination Charger at the Virginia Creek Settlement motel and restaurant 5 miles south of Bridgeport off Highway 395.