This post summarizes my impressions of Bodie State Historic Park, which I visited for the first time last October (2020). Despite the heat, dust and smoke from wildfires, I did enjoy the visit. My friend Beth and I were in the midst of a fall colors chasing expedition when we found ourselves in the area. The small detour to the park was a good way to take a break from yellow leaves.
For those who don’t know, Bodie was a bustling town with more than 10,000 residents and produced more than $35 million in gold and silver, from 1877 to 1882. Now, long past the days of the gold mining of California, it counts with almost 200 abandoned wooden buildings in a state of “arrested decay”. The buildings are not maintained and at the time of our visit, quite a few sites had restricted public access due to collapsing structures.
Scroll to see all photos in the slide show below.
Location: Bodie State Historic Park of California is located in the Eastern Sierra close to Bridgeport, CA, USA
Equipment: Nikon D750, Nikon Z50, AF-S NIKKOR 24-70mm F2.8G and AF-S NIKKOR 70-200 mm F2.8G).
Settings: variable, compatible with hand holding the camera.
Tips: get there early, particularly in the summertime. No cell phone reception in the park. Bring plenty of water, a hat, suncreen. To give the photographs an old look, I lightened the sky and and grass using with the blue and aqua and green and yellow color sliders in Photoshop, respectively. I also added grain and a white vignette to that effect.