Bodie State Historic Park: California's Gold-Rush Ghost Town

Gold first drew prospectors here after a strike in the hills north of Mono Lake, and a rich ore vein exposed by a mine cave-in in 1875 turned a rough camp into a roaring city. By the late 1870s the Standard Company was working the lode and Bodie had swelled to roughly 8,000 people, with somewhere near 2,000 buildings lining its streets — saloons, stores, a school, mills, and miners' homes packed into a windswept basin at over 8,000 feet.

The boom did not last. Decline set in by the early 1880s, fires in 1892 and 1932 erased the majority of the original town, and mining finally ceased in 1942. What survived is what makes Bodie extraordinary: California State Parks preserves the standing remnants in 'arrested decay,' stabilizing buildings without restoring them. Walk the dirt lanes and you can peer through wavy glass into homes and shops still holding furniture, bottles, and goods.

For RV travelers, Bodie is a marquee stop on an eastern Sierra loop. The townsite is a day-use experience reached by a long approach road and explored entirely on foot, so the rhythm of an RV trip — base camp nearby, day trip to the ghost town, then on to Mono Lake or the high passes — fits it perfectly. Bring layers; the elevation makes for cold, clear air even in summer.