![]() The road is steep in places and not for vehicles with low ground clearance. It's just outside the boundary of Death Valley National Park at 8,500 feet elevation and eight miles east of Keeler off California Highway 136. Don't worry about it being spooky they are only seen at night. But today's caretakers say they may have left a few stray spirits behind. Over the next 50 years, the mines produced silver, lead, and zinc. By 1868, the richest veins played out, silver prices fell, and mining ceased. Mule-drawn wagons had to haul the ore 275 miles to Los Angeles, an expensive process. The old general store doubles as a museum.Ĭerro Gordo's silver mining history began in 1865, but it was almost as hard to get to then as it is now. Structures still standing include a hotel, bunkhouse, the 1877 Hoist Works, a private residence, and other buildings. You can get tour tickets at the Cerro Gordo Mines website. To offset that, it has far fewer buildings, and it's harder to get to.Ĭerro Gordo is privately owned, and the only way to get a look around is to take a guided tour. Some people say Cerro Gordo is a better ghost town than Bodie because it's less crowded with sightseers. In the winter, the road becomes impassable, except by snowmobile. The last three miles of rough dirt road will take you 10 minutes or more to cross. A Visit to One of California's Most Hidden Ghost Towns - Sunset Travel WildLands A Visit to One of California’s Most Hiddenand ToxicGhost Towns Hannah McKelson Written by Hannah McKelson ApShare this story Editor’s Note: This is Part 2 of a two-part series documenting a visit to the California ghost town of New Idria. The paved section of the road to it takes about 15 minutes to drive. But in fact, the curse was invented by park rangers, who wanted to keep people from stealing things.īodie is a California state park, located east of the Sierras, 13 miles east of US Highway 395 between Lee Vining and Bridgeport at 8,500 feet elevation. Legend has it that any visitor who dares to take anything-even a rock-from this Gold Rush ghost town, isolated beyond the eastern Sierra, will be punished. ![]() It has almost 200 structures still standing, kept in a state of "arrested decay." The large site with so many things to see is unparalleled among California ghost towns.īodie is also said to be not spooky or haunted but cursed. Today, Bodie is a pilgrimage site for people who love ghost towns. The wild, wide-open mining town was so wicked that some people thought even God had forsaken it. At its peak, more than 10,000 gold-seekers lived there. If you only see one ghost town in California, Bodie is the one to visit.īodie was a gold-mining town the started in 1876.
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