Bridgeport, California Area

Willow Springs Motel and RV Park is located five miles south of Bridgeport, in the heart of the Eastern Sierra.  The facility is a small 50’s era motel and RV park and is still owned and operated by the same family.

Our Yosemite Covid reservation was good for one week.  We decided to take advantage of another day in the park.

Hiking on the Pacific Crest Trail within the National Park

Passing by Soda Springs.  We will check it out on the way back.

Soda Springs

For thousands of years animals and people have visited these springs.  These small, carbonated mineral springs are a mystery - even geologists cannot explain why they are here.

Parsons Memorial Lodge

As a guide for the early Sierra Club, Edward Parsons led hundreds of people on unforgettable high mountain adventures.  

McCauley brothers cabin - built in 1897

Around a campfire HERE in 1889, John Muir and publisher Robert Johnson discussed ways to protect this area.  Johnson printed two articles by Muir in his Century Magazine, proposing to the American public that this land be preserved for all time.  One year later Yosemite National Park was born.

The weather was changing.  We got hit with a few drop before making it back to the Jeep.  Then it started coming down.

Took a drive to Virginia Lakes 

This young man had just caught what he was claiming to be the record breaking Rainbow trout

View with Mono Lake off in the distance

Where is the real camera when you need it?

OK, who knows their shit?

We were thinking bear.

Remnants of an old cabin

Poor Farm

It began as the County Hospital in Bodie in 1879.  With the decline of Bodie in the mid 1880's the hospital was eventually moved to a meadow off Hwy 395.  At that time it became known as the 

"Poor Farm",  a refuge for the aged, ill and penniless.  It continued to operate for several years, 

but the high cost maintaining the facility forced its closure and the building and property were 

put up for bid and sold to a local rancher.

Poor Farm Meadow

Camp entertainer 

Kavanaugh Ridge

What's makes Kavanaugh Ridge route special?  This road provides a rare opportunity to drive to the edge of the Hoover Wilderness, one of the original 54 Wilderness areas created by the 1964 Wilderness Act.  From the cliffs edge, you can look for miles over land that is preserved to provide solitude and natural beauty.   

 Approximate elevation is 10,961 feet 

Has to be in our top 10 lunch spots

Dunderberg Mill was built in 1870 to work the ore from the Castle Peak and Green Creek mines.

Dunderberg Mine ruins

Green Creek is a 11 mile long dirt road in the lush nothern Eastern Sierra. The wide, graded dirt road dead ends at a Toiyabe National Forest campground called Green Creek Campground.

Dynamo Power Plant and Pond

Completed December 1 1892, this Hydro-Electric generating plant began operation in October 1893.  Electricity was transmitted over a 13 mile line to the mining town of Bodie.  This facility was one of the first of its kind in this country.  

Looks like the Dam has seen better days 

Tamarack Mine

Upper Summers Meadow is a high mountain meadow at an elevation of 10,065 feet.  It’s one of the highest mountain roads of California.

Not going to let no road block stop us 

After being gone all day and getting down off the mountain the Jeep started make a scary noise.  We immediately turned it off, got out and lifted the hood.  All we could see was the fan hitting the shroud and stopping.  We tried pushing and pulling on a few things and then decided since we were only about a mile away from camp we would drive slowing back to camp watching the gauges.  After much investigation we determine we have a broken motor mount.  

We have an appointment in Gardnerville about a 1 1/2 hours away on Tuesday