Today we visited the Bodie State Historic Park. (This was started just before Barb decided to test the theory of gravity hence the delay in posting!)
It is a ghost town (in arrested decay) in the middle of nowhere! The 13 mile road from the 395 is now paved for about 10 miles. We were very surprised to see this improvement. The last time we visited, about 1 mile was paved and we ended up with a flat tire along the 12 miles of dirt road!
Our flat tire changing site and view of local mountains!
Cost is $8 per person. Allow about 2 hours to wander the premises and visit the museum. Guided tours are also available.
All quotes are from the guide book. Pictures were taken by us June 2017.
Today was an easy day with short walks to allow us to acclimate to the altitude. Rock Creek Lake is at 9600 feet above sea level and still has ice. This is the most we have ever seen here at this time of year – we usually go up on Memorial Day weekend and it is usually ice free.
The campground we usually stay at nearby is still closed and not expected to open until June 20th.
Lunch next to Rock Creek near East Fork Campground. Our favorite creek and lunch spot!
After lunch we drove to the town of Mammoth Lakes. Along the way is the Mammoth/Yosemite Airport and the Hot Creek Trout hatchery. We decided to actually drive up to the terminal. They have one flight leave for Los Angeles every afternoon (after the flight from LAX arrives)
Some fish at the hatchery and a view from the hatchery of the mountains.
Mammoth Lakes Resort – Skiing is still happening in June!
We ended up coming home on the 6th day. She just couldn’t handle the RV life with the amount of residual pain. Besides that, follow-up appointments and physical therapy at our home facility will be more convenient and much less costly than paying out of pocket.
As a side note, we have a reputation of ER visits during vacations – kidney stones, broken arm, urinary tract infection, scratched cornea are just a few reasons for ER visits.
As we traveled today, we progressed from an elevation of about 400 feet above sea level to about 9600 feet above sea level.
We never saw the ocean or beach. We did see plenty of palm trees!
We didn’t eat In-N-Out today. Lunch was fruit, crackers, and cheese while driving.
We passed through/along the following National Forests/Parks:
*San Bernardino National Forest
*Sequoia National Forest
*Coso Range Wilderness Area
*Kings Canyon National Park
*Sierra National Forest
*Inyo National Forest
We passed or were within a short drive to the following: by the way, we have visited all but the actual peak of Mt. Whitney.
*Death Valley National Park (Lowest elevation in US at 282 feet BELOW sea level)
*Mt Whitney (highest elevation in contiguous US at 14,505 feet above sea level)
View of Mt. Whitney as we drive along the 395 near Lone Pine, CA
*Manzanar National Historic Site (Japanese interment camp. John’s mom, who grew up in this area, remembers driving by it during WWII and not understanding why they were on the other side of a fence guarded by men with guns.)
