July 19 - 22, 2026
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| On Sunday, July 19 we traveled down Hwy. 395 and arrived Willow Springs Motel & RV Park near Bridgeport, CA. They have 30 amp electric full hookups for $74.75 per night. Large portions of Hwy. 395 have no services, and RV parks are far and few between. This is a nice park with a motel and a cabin. It's been around for awhile as the sign along the road says 'trailer park'. It is right on Hwy. 395 and pretty noisy during the day, but there's not much traffic at night. |
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| On Monday we went to the ghost town of Bodie. I've wanted to come here for a long time. After the 1849 gold rush decline prospectors were looking for new claims. W.S. Bodey (how his name was spelled; another spelling was Body but that didn't go over so good so they decided on Bodie) discovered gold in 1859. Unfortunately he died a few months later in a blizzard and never saw the town that bears his name. Mining progressed slowly until 1875, when a mine collapse revealed a rich body of gold ore. Word spread fast and Bodie became a boomtown. Bodie's peak population ranged from 7,000 - 8,000. During 1877 - 1881 there were 30 mines and nine stamp mills (must have been extremely noisy). As in many mining towns, the boom years were over quickly as unsuccessful mines began closing. The population dropped quickly and continued to drop into the 1900s. However, mining did continue until 1942 when the government shut down many mines because of WWII. Bodie's last major land owner, James S. Cain, hired caretakers to watch over the town and protect it from looters and vandals. In 1962 California State Parks purchased the town to preserve the historic buildings and artifacts. It now exists in a state of "arrested decay". This means that the buildings are repaired and stabilized, but not restored. For $3 you can purchase a very nice booklet with maps directing you through the town and an explanation of what you are seeing. Here are a few photos. |
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| The old Methodist Church |
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| D. V. Cain House, built in 1873. |
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| It looks like people just up and left. |
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| The Miller House |
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| Main Street. There were fires in 1892 and 1932. Before the fires this street had shops and businesses that stretched for a mile. |
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| Boone Store and Warehouse, built in 1879. |
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| The Standard Mill. Because the mill buildings and surrounding areas are unsafe, access to the mill is only by guided tour. |
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| Union Street |
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| Part of a hoist. |
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| Prospect Street We spent two hours in the town, and between the elevation of 8,375' and the heat (it really wasn't hot but being at a high elevation the sun beat down on us and it felt hot) we decided to leave. We enjoyed seeing it though. |
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| This was the dirt road portion leaving Bodie. I thought the view was beautiful. |
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| On Tuesday we decided to go to Yosemite. When we made plans to stay at this RV Park Yosemite was a question mark as we weren't sure if we were going to go or not. The weather forecast looked good so we decided to go in and go to Yosemite Valley and see how it went from there. We've been using the Guide-Along audio tours that tell you what is coming up, what things you should definitely see, and what things you could pass up if you didn't have a lot of time. The narrator said that Glacier Point was a must see so we ended up going up there too and are so glad we did because we thought it was the best stop. Neither one of us had ever heard of it with that name, although we knew they used to light coals and push them over the cliff for the Firefall. When John was little he got to see that but they've since stopped it because of fire danger. You can still see the dark spots on the stones. |
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| We entered the park by the Tioga Pass Road on the east side of the park. Before the entrance station there was Ellery Lake. We stopped because the water was so still and the reflection of the mountain was pretty. |
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| The entrance station was at the top of Tioga Pass at an elevation of 9,945'. |
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| View from Olmstead Point. This is the first view you see of Yosemite Valley. If you enlarge the picture and can see Upper Yosemite Falls. |
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| View from Glacier Point. |
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| Upper Yosemite Falls from Glacier Point. |
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| We hadn't expected to go to Glacier Point, and when we were finished we had over three hours to get back to the RV park. We made a couple of other stops on the way back and got back to the RV park a little after 6:30. |
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| To get from Glacier Point back to the RV park we went through Wawona Tunnel, built in 1933. At 4,233' long it's the longest tunnel in California. |
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| The whole park is granite. It's amazing to see. |
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| Tuolumne Meadows The Lord blessed us with beautiful weather and breathtaking scenery. Pictures just don't do justice to the enormity of the mountains and valleys. So glad we decided to go! Tomorrow we'll be... Roving on... “But now ask the beasts, and they will teach you; And the birds of the air, and they will tell you; Or speak to the earth, and it will teach you; And the fish of the sea will explain to you. Who among all these does not know That the hand of the Lord has done this. Job 12:7-9 |
