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Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Ghost Town

After a restless night sleeping in the car we woke up to find the road to Tioga Pass still closed. We decided to head to the nearby Bodie State Historic Park. Bodie was a gold mining town that had it's heyday in the late 1800's, and what remains (after 2 fires and the ravages of time) has been left mostly untouched since the last residents left in the 1940's.


It was really cool to see the old houses and learn about the history of the town. In 1893 the mining company built a hydroelectric plant about 20 kilometers away to power the mill. It was one of the first installations in the country to be powered by the transmission of electricity over a long distance. Apparently they built the power lines as straight as possible because they weren't sure if the electricity would be able to turn corners.






We were still a little apprehensive about out tent.  Thankfully by the time we got back in the afternoon the pass had finally re-opened, and aside from some dirt that had blown in our it was still in good order!

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