While at Mono Lake, Hector, Angel and I and our friends Todd and Russ visited Bodie, a ghost town that in its heyday was a gold mining town of 10,000 residents.
Bodie State Historic Park is one of the best-preserved ghost towns in the country.
Bodie’s heyday was in the 1870’s, several years after gold was discovered there, and after mining on the other (western) slope of the Sierra Nevada Mountain range had declined. At the town’s peak, it had 2,000 buildings, including more than 60 saloons and dance halls.
Bodie had a red light district where miners spent their earnings. It was also known for robberies, stage holdups, and gunfights.
There is a legend of the “Bad Man of Bodie” who may or may not be a composite of several outlaws from the town.
