Bodie

I want to thank Ed & Toni for all the work they did to set up such a fantastic run! I took my Mom and a friend along too. The trip was part of my Mom’s 70th Bday gift. She called the trip the “trip of a lifetime”!

Although the snow made for a longer trip up for us, the drive up 88 in heavy snow & then over Monitor Pass (Hwy 89) made an extra scenic loop trip for us.

2 friends & Mom & I met at my place in Mountain Ranch (between Arnold & Jackson) on Thursday for joint Bday celebration and to do some work at Mtn Ranch.

When I woke up FR AM I checked & found local passes closed but 88 still open. Ed had left email + phone messages regarding closures & we talked & left cell messages back & fourth. I decided to head up 88 & get passes before even that route closed.

I think we arrived at VCS about 2:30. Lots of “popcorn” snow was falling and Ed & Darrel were standing out in the parking lot. I asked my Mom & friend if they wanted to see about upgrading to HEATED motel room & they quickly said yes.

Turned out that due to the snow a couple of motel rooms were available including the one I was originally planning on reserving since it had 3 beds.

I took Sierra for a walk in the snow before going in and enjoying a nice warm meal in the VCS restaurant where we met & dined with other Ed4 members.

Sat AM was clear & cold & it took a long time to scrape enough snow & ice off my Bronco to be able to drive it. My rear window + one valve stem were frozen solid. Used some warm water to melt ice keeping back window from rolling down & was able to finish tire air down after driving to the start of the unpaved route.

The day was beautiful made much more so by all the fresh snow. It was fun to see the old mining ruins & drive through such a snowy wonderland on our way to Bodie. The snow not only made for a non dusty route but also cushioned the route & added so much to the scene. I was surprised how many people were in Bodie considering the weather.

The stampmill tour was great! I have visited Bodie many times before but had never taken the stampmill tour & I’m sure glad we did it when we did because for now at least public tours have been suspended due to Haz Mat I assume. I enjoyed walking out the boardwalk in the Co Park to see Mono Lake up close & the tuffa towers too.

The stop at the big visitors center overlooking Mono is always nice too, great book selection in their gift shop).

Mom & friend & I enjoyed the evening socializing & meal in the heated tent at VCS too. I think everyone had a great time on the trip.

In the AM Ed came knocking at the door to say breakfast had been moved to inside the restaurant. It was fun to have another group meal & say goodbyes.

Since only local pass open was Tioga, we headed that way stopping to take in Lundy Canyon & the beaver pond on the way back. Sierra wasn’t happy that I wouldn’t let her swim in the icy beaver pond.

Ed & Toni went more than the extra mile to set up such an involved exciting trip! Thank you so much!!!! We all had so much fun! My Mom enjoyed meeting all of you that went on the trip & wants to know when we can go again!

My 89 Bronco turned over 1/4 mil. miles as we crossed Monitor Pass, I’ve been noicing since 100 miles of washboard rd on trip to Saline Valley last year, spare tire rack has been rattling & now I see that part of rear fending is ripping due to so many miles & many rough miles. I need to somehow reinforce/repair the weakend metal, anyone know of good place to go to see about repairing it?

Thanks again for everything! Loro

Bodie

  Bodie Trip Report

My adventure to Bodie actually start last year. When we had confirmation that we would be making the move west I purchased a couple of books on the old mining towns in northern California. Of course you cannot talk about mining camps without a prominent description of Bodie.

Fast forward to Friday the 5th of October, I grabbed Lexi from School and we started the journey to Bridgeport. Being new to the west I was not familiar with the concept of a pass. Ed was kind enough to give us the heads up that Sonra Pass (highway 108) was closed. That meant that after Lexi and I battled the bay area rush hour, we were headed toward Yosemite to take the Tioga pass on highway 120. As we approached, we learned that pass was closed. We turned around and headed north for highway 4 and found that pass closed. Our last attempt was highway 88. It was late and thankfully Lexi was fast asleep in the back seat. We rolled into camp in the wee hours of Saturday morning. We were cold and tired, but we were there.

It was a cold night in the little tent cabin. In the morning we met the group at the restaurant for some very much appreciated hot chocolate and breakfast. With that, we were on our way. We hooked up with Dennis and Ava on our way north into Bridgeport to the start of the trail. Our first photo op was after a few minutes on the gravel road looking back over the Bridgeport reserve.

Bodie

Hi all For those that did not make it, boy did you miss out!!!!

Kathy and I started out of San jose on thursday around 2:30 and headed up to Jamestown to meet up with our friends, Lynn and Carla. We stayed night with them and headed out on friday morning. Lynn had gotten up early and was checking on the Highway passes. CLOSED 108, 4, 120. Lynn called his friend that works for the CHP and Mike was checking for us as to when the passes would be open. The call came back that they may be closed for the day, but maybe 108 would be open late in the day. Mike called the CAL TRANS facilities office and was informed that indeed 108 could be open late in the day. We messed around and killed some time heading up 108, thinking all of the time that we really should turn around and head for 88. Stubborn as I am, I kept saying let’s just take our time and I am sure the pass will be open by the time we get up there. Several calls back and forth with Ed, who had met up with Richard and decided to go up 120, finally called back again and said that 120 was closed and they would meet up with us on 108. We all meet up at Strawberry some had breakfast and we visited for awhile. We headed up the hill and went right by a couple of gates, hey looks good. I think they said it was closed just to discourage people from coming up, OH NO, the next gate was closed and a couple of people had been waiting there since 4:00am to get through. There were two vehicles ahead of the three vehicles in our group. We talked to each other for some 45 minutes to an hour. All at once the gate was opened by CAL. We all looked at the gate and were amazed. Not quite knowing what to do, we sat there and the lead car, said that he was going and if he did not come back in an half hour, it should be OK. Some discusion was going on after waiting a half hour. A couple of us said LETS GO. As we were heading up the hill, we meet a CAL TRANS plow coming down the hill. Oh %$$%$@@ now what!!! The driver stopped and talked with each one ahead of us. As the truck got close to us, Carla said, “I know that guy, it’s Tim. Lynn regained some color in his face and we talked with Tim for awhile. He said that the pass should be open, but somebody in Sac. thought that it should be closed. There was another CAL TRANS man that opened the gate at the other end and let us through.

We arrived in Bridgeport around 2:00 pm and at the Virginia Creek Settlement around 3:00 pm. Snow was with us most of the way. It snowed the rest of the day and evening off and on. Others were still trying to get there and some actually did make it by going up 88. Way to go Loro Mary Diane, Ava Dennis, and David with daughter Lexie. David should be commended being from Chicago and still making it up there, even though it was around 2:00 in the morning on Saturday. We woke up to around 4-5 inches of snow on the top of our vehicles.

We left the campgrounds Esprit de Late around 7:45am, after scrapping the ice off our windshields. The scenery was fantastic with all of the snow. We were glad that our heaters were working, because the temp was 15. We made a couple of stops along the way to Bodie at several mines. Some of us saw 8-10 deer with a couple of bucks showing off for the does.

We arrived at Bodie and had made up the time from leaving fashionably late. This place was amazing. We had our lunch and met up with our tour guide Ranger Rod. Rod informed us as to how lucky we were to be here at this time. The EPA had been there this last week and said that the Stamp Mill will be shut down. We are very likely the last group to have been able to tour the Mill. What a treat. The history of this area is very hard to believe. There were at one time some 10,000 people living there with approx. some 2,000 buildings. There are maybe around 200 left today with some of them being restored to original. This is an area that sees winter temps around 40-50 below 0 with winds that have been clocked at upwards of 190 miles per hour. 40 degrees did not seem so bad.

We were then lead to Mono Lake to take a look at the Tofa formations and over to the visitors office to see a short movie on the lake and what has happened to it. This lake is breeding ground for Brine Shrimp and Flies. It is also a Seagulls paradise.

I heard about some Beaver dams that are located at Lundy Lake. Not having enough time before dinner, it was decided to go there on sunday morning before leaving to go home. The dinner was very good and we all ate way to much. Some of us played a dice game, some visited, others just enjoyed being by the propane heaters.

On sunday morning, we were back in to eat more and say our goodbyes to the host and to some new and old friends. Well, the 108 and 4 passes are still closed. That ment for the 120 option through Yosemite and in the direction of the beaver ponds. Up to Lundy Lake only to the dens and dams, but no Beavers. Back on the road and through Yosemite. A little detour to the Yosemite Village for a soda and back out headed to Jamestown.

I am so glad that Ed headed up this Trail Tour of an area that I really did not know even existed. Thanks ED and TONI for all that you guys did for this trip. I even learned things.

Darell, Kathy and our friends Lynn and Carla.

P.S. Another thanks to CAL or CAL TRANS for the gate miricle.

Bodie

A 500 mile round trip to Sacramento Left San Jose at 8am to get to Bodie. We were going to take 120 after Ed had called and said 108 was closed. Got to where 120 split from 108 and there was a sign that said both 108 and 120 where closed. The weather was sunny so we decided to continue up 120 thinking the road would open later in the day.

The closer we got to Yosemite the darker it became, Got to 20 miles from the entrance to Yosemite and heavy rain started. We had been calling the Caltrans road number and listening to the am station. Both said the roads were closed but nothing else. Stopped at a fire station to see if they and any road info. The nice lady there called up the weather report on the computer. It was only going to get worse.

Headed back down the mountain to Sonora. Stopped at a Caltrans maintance station. Went inside to ask about the roads. The guys said 108 and 120 were all locked up and they didn’t know when they were going to be reopened. I then decided to drive up to Jackson after lunch.

Stop in Sonora for lunch. I didn’t notice that this was where I needed to turn to reach Jackson. I got back on the highway and headed out. Around the town of Twain Hart I figured out I was going the wrong way. Stopped at a hardware store for directions. Back to Sonora. Made the right turn and headed toward Jackson. Do to very heavy traffic it took 2 hours to reach Jackson.

It was now 2:30 and we had been driving for 6 hours. The skies were dark and it didn’t look like it was going to get better. A look at the map and saw that we were an hour from my friends house in Sacramento. I called him and he was up for an early dinner.

Drove to Sacramento and had dinner with his family. After dinner decided to drive back to San Jose.

13 hours and 500 miles later we were back where we started.

For me this trip reports actually should start back in June when my wife Toni and I went out to Bridgeport California located on the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. We were able to map out both a SUV trial and a moderate to easy 4wd trail from Bridgeport Reservoir to Mono Lake. For most of us this trip started early Friday morning. For me that meant 4:30am checking road conditions since a winter storm came through Thursday night. Wouldn’t you know it, highway 108 closed during the night. I check the computer and called Caltrans to find out highway 88 and 120 through Yosemite were still open. I sent an email off to all going on this trip hoping they would check their computers when they get up. At 7am I started calling and was only able to get hold of a few going.

Richard Beard spent the night at his bother Calvin’s house in Modesto so we made arrangement to meet up at 7:30 and caravan out together. While on our drive I received a phone call from Loro and she told us highway 120 through Yosemite was now closed. GREAT! Darell and Kathy were staying with friends in Jamestown so I called them. They were on there way up 108 to have breakfast in Strawberry because they were told Highway 108 should open a little later in the morning. Richard and I decided we would meet up with them in Strawberry saving about 4 hours extra of driving time.

While driving up 108 nearing Kenney Meadows a white car with Idaho plate could not wait to pass us. He blew by us crossing a double yellow line and within 2 minutes we were all stop the gate closing the road. As I pulled up to the gate (3rd vehicle in line) a guy came out of the 1st truck in line and he stated Caltrans was up check out the road conditions.

At this point some of our morning humor begins! Richard brother calmly shuffles over to the gate and find it is unlocked. So what does he do? He opens it! We were all standing back looking and laughing on what’s going on. None of use wanted to be the first thought the gate. Well it did not take long and the white car with Idaho plates was off blasting up the mountain. We all came to agreement that if the white car was not back within the hour we would continue up the mountain. Well we waited about 35-40 minutes and decided to go. Since I was leading I was the first of our group to see a Caltrans truck coming down the hill to us after we were about 2 miles in from the gate. I played STUPID!! He told me that the gate was closed at the other end and another truck was letting someone out (white car Idaho plates) and he has on his way down to check the gate. I thought he was going to turn me around but he said it’s not bad over the summit but be careful of the ice. There was ice and if you drove slow it was ok. As I was looking for away around the closed gate at the other end a large orange Caltrans blow truck pulls up and opens the gate for us.

When we arrived in Bridgeport we all stopped at the mini-market and filled up our tanks. Richard and Calvin decided they were hungry so the were going to brake away from the group and get something to eat. The rest of us headed to the Virginia Creek Settlement (VCS) to get checked in. It was now about 1:30 in the afternoon.

Next to arrive was Loro and here group in her white & silver Bronco who came out highway 88. Dirk and one of his boys arrived a little latter coming down from Sparks Nevada. Since it was pretty darn cold both Loro and Dirk upgraded from tent cabins to Motel rooms with heaters!

Now the snow starts falling and the skies start getting dark. Since there is no cell phone coverage where we were staying I headed back to Bridgeport to see if I could get a hold of the others that our on there way. When I could see bars on my cell I stopped and saw I had 7 messages in my voice mail.

After several attempts I got through to John Ruiz. He said they got turned around in Yosemite when highway 120 got closed. Then they got lost in the Sonora area and when they finely made it up highway 49 to Jackson. The family had enough of the 8 hours in the Jeep and they were going to stop at a friend’s house before heading back home.

Jim Hodges was the next call I returned. By the time I got a hold of him, he to had turned around and was heading back home.

That meant we were waiting on two more to show up and I did not have cell phone numbers for them.

Before heading back to the V.C.S. I picked up Saturday lunch at the market & deli in Bridgeport.

The snow is still falling.

At about 5pm everyone decided that they are getting hungry so they went to the little restaurant that was at the V.C.S. while Toni and I went back into Bridgeport. Nothing was in my voice mailbox so we had dinner at Rhino’s a local’s hangout.

When we went to bed at 8:30 there was about 4 inches of snow on the ground and we were waiting for 2 more people to show up.

At 4am my cell phone started beeping stating I had 3 messages. I tried calling out with no luck. I got dressed and headed back into Bridgeport again. This time I had a heck of a time getting any bars on my cell and when I did I was standing the middle of highway 395 going through Bridgeport. Good thing for me the is NO traffic 4:45 in the morning up there. It was David Crumbman that left a message stating he was in Jackson trying to find highway 88. Tried calling his cell but had no answer so I headed back to the V.C.S.. Before going up to my room I decided to take Ozy (chicken dog) for a walk through camp town. When I got to the end of camptown where Richard and Calvin were staying I see David’s Chevy Tahoe. I guess he and his daughter made it!

Most of us met for breakfast at 6:30 in the V.C.S. restaurant. Needless to say we did not make the 7:15 departure time. In typical Esprit DeLate fashion we were now running 30 minutes late.

By the way I never said my Blazers heater core went the week before this trip and I did not have time to fix it. I just by-passed the heater core with a piece of hose.

The skies are now clear with a little blowing snow from the wind. While we are driving to the trailhead one of the wiper bladed on my Blazer blew off so I had top stop and fix that. Think about it, No wiper and No heater/defroster? It’s a little cold at this time of the morning!

When we arrived to the trailhead (Masonic Road) there was a blanket of snow covering most of the mountain . The dirt/snow road was very easy to see so we all but it in 4wd and off we went.

Fist Stop was Chemung Mine where we were able to get out of our vehicles and walk around in the snow. There were several old buildings that we were able to explore. We were at this stop for about 20 minutes before heading off to Masonic. While traveling up and down the snow-covered terrain we were able to see many of the trees in the fall colors. Also on the way into Masonic if we look careful we could see some of the old mine entrances dug into the sides of the mountains. When we got to Masonic everyone again got out of the vehicles and walked around for about 15 minutes.

No we were off to the old ghost town of Bodie. Again most of the way we are on snow covered dirt roads and we were as high as 9300 feet according to my GPS. Many beautiful sights to see and everyone was taking pictures along the way. As we crested on town top we were able to see the town of Bodie off in the distance. While driving the mountain road some members saw a small heard of deer hiding in a group of bushes and trees. This was the last weekend of deer season so they must have been trying to hide from the hunters out there.

When we arrived in Bodie at 10:50 the women all jump out of the vehicles and headed to the restrooms. We all hung out in the parking lot and had lunch. If you we in the sun with something blocking the wind it was pretty nice. The breeze that would come through would make it pretty brisk!

Our guided tour of Bodie started at 11:30. The tour guide walked us through part of the tour and gave us a little history lesson of the town of Bodie. Then we walked over to the old stamp mill on the side of the mountain overlooking the town. This was the most interesting part of the tour. We were able to go inside of the old mill and our tour guide explained how they processed the many tons of ore everyday. The mill workers made about $4.00 a day back then. By the looks of things it was very hard work. After the tour ended most of the group wandered around Bodie for about an hour. For me I got to go back up to my Blazer to get my rear window up. It went down when we were getting our lunch but would not go back up.

It is now 2:00 and we are off to Mono Lake. Most of the snow is now melted and it is a bumpy ride on the dirt roads! When we arrived at Mono Lake we stopped at Boardwalk Park. This is a nice green park and most everyone walked down the boardwalk to the lake and viewed some of the tufa formations. We all air up our tires in the parking lot and said good-bye to Dirk and his boy. They needed to head back to Sparks Nevada. We then headed off to the Mono Lakes visitors center. While in the visitors center we were able to view a movie and look through their museum.

It is now almost 5:00 and time to head back for 7:00 dinner. At the V.C.S. they had some outdoor tents set up for us with heaters. We all socialized about our trip today while having a few cocktail. Richard and Calvin were giving lessons on how to play dice. For dinner we ate lasagna, spaghetti, green salad and bread. Dessert was chocolate cake. They had more food prepared than we could eat. I think by 8:30 everyone was heading off to bed with a very full belly!

Sunday morning we met for breakfast at 8:30 and after breakfast we said out good-by’s. Dennis and Ava were off to Apple Hill, Darell’s group was ofF to the beaver ponds, while David and is daughter along with Richard and Loro’s group were off to see Yosemite. Toni and I just headed home and arrived in Modesto before 2 o’clock.

It was tough for everyone to get out to Bridgeport on Friday so I would like to give a special thanks to all that endured the driving headache.

I sincerely hope everyone had a good time!