Bodie, CA and Nevada Exploring

[4x4mike]

Paddlenbike and I took our dads out for a little offroad exploring. My dad had never been in the area and most of all of the trip was new to him so that was a lot of fun for me. Ken's dad had been in the area a lot but not for many years so having him as a tour guide was nice.

We started in Bodie then continued on east to Nevada.

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Leaving Bodie and heading East:
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There was the potential we'd hit weather so we didn't want to camp high or exposed. We found a nice little valley, had a fire and hung out. It got pretty cold but we slept well. After breakfast it started raining so we packed up and hit the road. We were in NV and headed North to find some mines.
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This is probably the newest piece of relics we found.
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Masonic Site
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The rain and clay was starting to stick to the tires. At about 15 mph you hear the wheel wells just filling with sticky mud.
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[4x4mike]

As we climbed it got colder and we were in the clouds.
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We also found more clay. Later in the day we found a truck and travel trailer about to slide off the road. Further down we found a cement mixer that actually had slid off the road on the downhill side. They must have been doing some work somewhere on the mountain.
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Chemung Mine
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When we got back to Bridgeport, after about 80 offroad miles, we split ways. Ken had to get over Tioga Pass before it closed due to snow. We took Sonora Pass on the way out but a day later it had been closed due to snow. My Dad and I took Monitor back home and camped on the Carson River.
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Overall it was a good trip and I had some good bonding with my Dad. Before getting home I stopped at the do it your self pressure washer place. $10 got some of the mud off but mostly made a mess. It took another 20 minutes at home along with a putty knife to get all the mud and clay off the rear axle, brakes, in the bumpers and wheel wells.

[stormtaco]

cool i miss that area so much i love camping out there, so much to see and do.

[Good Times]

awesome report! I definitely want to go back out there again.

The clay mud you find out there is really nasty. Nothing I've ever seen anywhere else before so those photos are a true telling story of how bad it can be. Just be happy you weren't stuck in pouring rain. that would have been really bad.

[xonetruthcrewx]

Nice report. Great pics!

[troyboy162]

Beautiful pictures! thanks!

[paddlenbike]

The clay mud you find out there is really nasty. Nothing I've ever seen anywhere else before so those photos are a true telling story of how bad it can be.


It always surprises me how slick wet clay can be. Any incline at all and you're slipping and sliding, even in 4WD. We had one steep descent that was way more sliding than I liked.

I used our campfire poker stick to break up most of the clay so I wouldn't destroy the carwash, but I still burned through $12 in quarters trying to get the remainder of the clay out of the wheel wells. Once that stuff sticks and dries it does not want to come off.

Great photos Mike. It was a fun trip.

[Crinale]

This looks like a fun trip! Not very difficult, but a good time away from civilization and into some history.

[DHC6twinotter]

Awesome pictures! Looks like fun!