I had read about Bodie a number of times. It sounded interesting, but it has always been a four to five hour drive from where we lived so it didn’t sound worth the trip.

Recently we planned a trip to Lake Tahoe. While looking at the route, I saw that a side trip to Bodie was only about a 25-minute drive down a side road (partially unpaved). That seemed much more reasonable, so we worked it in to our plans.

As soon as we arrived we knew we had made the right decision. We were surprised at how many structures were still standing after nearly 170 years! Of course many are in disrepair, yet many are in decent condition and have been preserved with repairs such as new roofs. The structures are spread over a large area and we only walked around maybe half of them.

The other surprising thing about their condition is the color of the wood they are built of. In most of the areas I have either lived in or explored in California, bare wood turns gray as it ages. In Bodie, however, the wooden buildings have retained much of that red-brown-tan color of fresh wood, which makes for picturesque scenery.

I’ll let the photos tell the rest of the story. I highly recommend making the trip, and I expect to visit again soon!