Ghost Towns of Mono County Gravel Adventure: Biking Bodie State Park

There’s a select number of aspirational rides on the GBC list and biking Bodie has been near the top.

I specifically didn’t have this in my bucket list for the reasons that I hadn’t seen that much recon online and it’s a big commitment to reach if you live anywhere near the coast.

Even though the only positive info I had wasn’t fro recent riding, I love the Eastern Sierra and the potential of this ride was too high.

We headed out to Mammoth in late September where temps would be moderate along with a good amount of sunlight.

After getting a short ride in for a little altitude acclimation, we headed out to Bridgeport the next morning an hour north of our stay also giving us a sense of what the final miles on the 395 would look like.

Our route started north on the quieter Hwy 182 that was a flat four and a half miles, but it was more about getting our first breaths starting at 6,500′.

Turning onto our five mile climb up Masonic Rd answered our biggest question about surfaces as most of the day was well above average while our first ascent had a reasonable grade.

I was able to spot a small relic of mining activity near the top, but Chemung had some significant sized structures that was an intriguing visit founded in 1909.

We had a wide view looking down on Nevada on the way out also basking in the midst of fall colors with the toughest effort of the day at only three quarters of a mile battling grades above 14% for the majority.

A complimentary descent followed encountering other scant traces of mining where we dipped off our loop towards Masonic only stopping for the smaller upper town skipping lower to minimize climbing.

Biking Bodie State Park

We had another sustained climb following but half the grade as the previous where now altitude played a larger factor.

The most important note along Bodie Masonic Road was remembering how this was the original route between the two towns although thankful that the road had been graded to more modern standards.

It was also comforting that we were coming across a good amount of off-road vehicles in case of an emergency, but not so consistently that we were always fighting off dust.

The final approach into Bodie is well set looking due south onto the town with a bumpy two mile descent straight in.

While only five percent of the town’s original two thousand buildings still exist, you still get a good sense of what used to be with the layout.

Biking through is a big advantage able to explore the remaining structures with artifacts inside backing some faith in their permanence against the many mining camps that embraced the temporary.

While gold was discovered in 1859, its prominence as a town took after almost twenty years later though starting a drawn out decline emptying out in 1942.

Expect to spend a lot of time sightseeing, but fortunately the rest of the ride ticks off almost too quickly as the dirt soon gives to pavement fast-tracking the next twelve miles west.

The final challenge isn’t effort on the last six miles back to Bridgeport, instead keeping your head on a swivel against rocketing on the 395.

Instantly, biking Bodie is one of my favorite rides, but also gives a lot of confidence to explore this region that has more to offer than lets on.