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Bodie Ghost Town Review

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Bodie Ghost Town

Address: Museum:, Main and Green Sts., Bodie, CA | Map It
Phone: 760/647-6445
www.bodie.net

Category: Ghost Town
Location: Bodie State Historic Park

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Fodor's Review:

Old shacks and shops, abandoned mine shafts, a Methodist church, the mining village of Rattlesnake Gulch, and the remains of a small Chinatown are among the sights at fascinating Bodie Ghost Town. The town, at an elevation of 8,200 feet, boomed from about 1878 to 1881, as gold prospectors, having worked the best of the western Sierra mines, headed to the high desert on the eastern slopes. Bodie was a mean place—the booze flowed freely, shootings were commonplace, and licentiousness reigned. Evidence of the town's wild past survives today at an excellent museum, and you can tour an old stamp mill and a ridge that contains many mine sites. Bodie, unlike Calico in Southern California near Barstow, is a genuine ghost town, its status proudly stated as "arrested decay." No food, drink, or lodging is available in Bodie. Though the park stays open in winter, snow may close Highway 270. Still, it's a fantastic time to visit: rent cross-country skis in Mammoth Lakes, drive north, ski in, and have the park to yourself.

Cost: Park $3; museum free
Open: Park: late May-early Sept., daily 8-7; early Sept.-late May, daily 8-4. Museum: late May-early Sept., daily 9-6; early Sept.-late May, hrs vary

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