TRIP LEADER: Roger Vargo
On this easy 4WD Mini-Vacation we explore and compare three of California's best-known ghost towns: Cerro Gordo, Bodie and Columbia.
WHAT:
James Marshall's chance discovery of gold in 1848 was the magnet which attracted
swarms of people to the wondrous land called California. Some found their
riches. Most didn't. As the gold and silver deposits played out, the population
moved on, and towns were left to wither and die.
Two similar, yet very different ghost towns have been preserved thanks to the California state park system. Columbia, once called Hildreth's Diggins, is in the historic Mother Lode country on the western side of the Sierras. Columbia's brick buildings have been restored, and it now looks very much as it did when miners walked its streets. Bodie, on the eastern side of the Sierra, was regarded as a lawless frontier town. It's surviving structures aren't restored, but kept in a state of "arrested decay". Cerro Gordo, (Spanish for Fat Hill) is privately owned and hidden in the Inyo Mountains. It's silver and the commerce it generated, helped Los Angeles awaken from a sleepy pueblo.
We'll explore, photograph and compare these and other sites as we travel the length of Owens Valley and cross the Sierra.
California Ghost Towns by Roger Vargo
WHEN: October 18-22, 1997.
WHO: Anyone with a fully insured street legal four-wheeler and a desire to get away.
FEE: $750 per vehicle (one or two people). Fee includes all accommodations and some meals. 20% late charge for reservations made after September 6. Deposit: $300.
EQUIPMENT: Photography equipment highly recommended. Limited to 15 4WD vehicles.
TRIP DIFFICULTY RATING: Easy
Ecological 4-Wheeling Adventures
P.O. Box 12137
Costa Mesa, CA 92627
voice: (949) 645-7733
fax: (949) 645-7738
email: info@eco4wd.com
Other Ecological 4-Wheeling Adventures and Fourwheeling Academy Articles
Ecological 4-Wheeling Adventures Website
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