Bodie State Historic Park is a genuine California gold-mining ghost town. Visitors can walk down the deserted streets of a town that once had a population of nearly 10,000 people. The town is named for Waterman S. Body (William Bodey), who had discovered small amounts of gold in hills north of Mono Lake. In 1875, a mine cave-in revealed pay dirt, which led to purchase of the mine by the Standard Company in 1877. People flocked to Bodie and transformed it from a town of a few dozen to a boomtown. Like most other boomtowns, drinking, gambling and prostitution were more popular than religion. Rev. F.M. Warrington described it in 1881 as " . . . a sea of sin, lashed by the tempests of lust and passion.".

The town was occupied, and ore mined, well into the 20th century, which explains the automobile remains. A fire in 1932 destroyed 90% of the town, and it was deserted in the 1940s. Only a small part of the town survives, preserved in a state of "arrested decay.". Interiors remain as they were left and stocked with goods. Designated as a National Historic Site and a State Historic Park in 1962, today this once thriving mining camp is visited by tourists, howling winds and an occasional ghost.


Visitors need to know that it's 13 miles off the highway, with a steady climb to reach it. It is high desert, at an elevation of over 8,000 feet. The last 3 miles are unpaved and deeply rutted by the tracked snow-removal equipment they use in Winter. Be ready for a slow and rough ride!