Bodie Hills, California

Bodie, California, is one of the most famous ghost towns in the West. Now preserved as Bodie State Historic Park, its weathered wood buildings are an echo of the days when Bodie had 10,000 residents, most of them drawn to the mineral wealth ($32 million, by one estimate) in the surrounding hills.

Today the Bodie Hills are valued for other assets—bird-watching, horseback riding, and hiking among stands of aspen and pinyon pine. 

That’s why groups like Friends of the Inyo are eager to see them preserved as a monument or perhaps as a wilderness area, making sure that Bodie’s historic backdrop remains intact.  More