If you’re going to go to Mono Lake, you might as well hit up Bodie. That’s right, the abandoned ghost town you’ve always heard of, but never thought to go, since it is a bit off the beaten path. Just off HWY395, this point of interest sits inside a valley roughly 13 miles away from the main highway. A forewarning though, the last three miles of road are unpaved. My Ford Focus made it without any issues, but it was slow going. Once we did slave through gravel and dirt we were greeted with about 20 or 30 abandoned buildings from the old mining town, circa late 1800s. If nothing else, this is one for the cool factor.
A bit more touristy than I was expecting, there’s plenty of room to park, eat a lunch, even use the facilities. Everything is set up to be walkable, but not so polished that it feels like a Disneyland. I definitely enjoyed the textures, but sometimes other tourists got in the way. You can’t have everything sometimes. What I did managed was a few snapshots of derelict building. Who doesn’t love a good wood building who’s moisture has been sapped by sand over the years?
ELIAS VISUALS 
Very cool picture if the interior!
Thanks, wish I could have gone in!
On my bucket list! These are great. Did you have to shoot the interior through a glass window or are some of the buildings open?
Some of them are open, some of them, like this one, were closed. I was able to reach the camera through some steel wire to grab the photo. Hope you can go soon, just don’t forget that dirt road. 🙂
I’ve been to a few of the smaller California ghost towns, but I’m always a bit put off by the crowded “tourism experience” aspect. How bad is it up there? Is there an off-season that’s a bit less crowded?
If you aren’t into tourists and want something more intimate, I would skip it. We actually went during the off-season (I think) and it wasn’t nearly full, but there were plenty of others roaming around. Nothing is guided, so at least you don’t have hokey people in costumes walking around. Hope this helps!
Good to know! Thanks.