Bodie, Ancient Bristlecone Forest, Buttermilk country

The long weekend comes, oh how we look forward to it!
As usual we planed the places we wanted to visit and wanted to leave on Friday night, come back by Monday evening.

Packed our stuff, read the maps, checked the weather, re-checked our stuff.
Still the camera bag wasn’t ready Dharma's various cameras and his lenses and their million accessories, what about the tent, sleeping bag, should we take the chairs too?

What the heck!

This weekend pleasure trip not a business drill.

Let’s slow down.

We’ll pack slow, relax, enjoy.

So, we packed our stuff leisurely and slept of. Slept as long as we could. Till Rebecca got up, and wouldn’t lie down nay more.

And off we went.

We started well, and drove on 50, got a glimpse of Lake Tahoe high up, hmm not very blue right now.

395 is a scenic route. It looks beautiful every time we travel by.
We stopped by the river for a short break; let Rebecca play a little, snacks and stuff.
Parked on the shoulder, and walked down to the river. Searched for a safe route down, finally walked by the shrubs and made out way.
The water was cold as ever. Kicked off our shoes, splashed the water, had our snacks, and lazed around.
Spent 2 hrs there instead of 20 minutes.
So far so good.
The weather was cool and just perfect. Next stop was for lunch at a day use area by the Walker River. We have stopped here almost 3 years back, and I can remember the place as if I visited it yesterday.
Dharma went to the river, and I was just getting Rebecca out, and she punked.
Again.
Cleaned her, distracted her with the squirrels , the chirping birds and the pine cones.
She seemed okay, we sat down for lunch, and yet another splash in the river.
Beautiful day and we set out to look for a campground.

We have wanted to visit Bodie every time we have traveled 395, but just haven’t been able to. Next time, we'll make it.

This time, we hadn’t planned Bodie, and yet as we approached 167 on 395, we made the turn.

Worthwhile.

Bodie is a ghost town - the largest presently that flourished when gold and silver was found in the mountains. In its hey days, the population was close to 10,000.
This is the year 1878. William S. Body found gold here in 1859. The mining camp grew slowly from 1860 to the mid-1870s
and then declined after the lure was somewhere else, several fires, World War I, and finally the fire of 1932, and that was the last straw indeed.

Today, about 150 well preserved buildings remain (about 5% of the original) thanks to the efforts of the state park. This was a large town, no city by its day’s standards.

There is the Methodist Church, saloon, school firehouse, Bodie hotel, several homes all frozen in time.

And the empty mines.

Too bad the firehouse had clogs and bad maintence issues and couldn’t save much.

All of them are in arrested decay - preserved but no restoration will be done -as they were after the fire, as the residents left them.

Homes have the wallpapers peeling away, beds, dressing tables, dining tables, kitchen with the utensils still in place. The Carriages and tool boxes are still intact. With layers and layers of dust. The materials are slowly tearing away and fading.

As you walk by each home, it is as if you are indeed visiting a home that has current residents. The current poor shape seems to diminish, and it’s like you can actually imagine life thriving among the deterioration.

You can walk into some homes, others are locked, yet you can peep through the windows to look in.

Interesting to see the sizes of homes then.
Small.
Much smaller to an average American home today.

so, we walked past homes that had the only best green garden in the town, home to the town sheriff's father, home of the family that ran stagecoaches, home of the man who brought lumber to the town.

Yet well decorated and well equipped.

The saloon, bars and shops are well stocked and still have the merchandise on the shelves. pool tables waiting for the putt.

In spite of the harsh weather, high on the sierras, the treeless terrain is dry - summers are punishingly hot, winters bring good amount of snow, gold and silver brought people here.

I can imagine dance halls, saloons and the church with folks gaily going about their lives.

This was a bad town too.
'Goodbye God, we are going to Bodie' - the prayer of a little girl wrote says it all. Legend has it that she prayed as she learned her family is moving to Bodie.
Crime thrived here just as any place where gold was discovered. Stagecoach holdups and murders.

The Wild West.

Bodie state park is more different than what I had read and imagined about. This is bigger and in better shape.

The best way to visit is to spend 2 to 4 hours.
Slow down.
Think and let the surroundings take you to a different time in the same place, listen and see.
It is worth the while.