Fall Finale Ghost Town Trip

My good friend Kris has been wanting to see Chemung. I kept stalling the trip, knowing fall was the prettiest time at Chemung. We tried to visit on the Friday the 13th ghost town trip I led for Dirty Girls Jeep Club, but we ran late. The leaves were pretty, but sadly the wind the day before knocked many of the leaves off the trees.

We had a beautiful but breezy and cool day exploring ghost towns. Sadly, Chemung had significant damage last winter, collapsing portions of several buildings.

The road less taken

Instead of driving down 395 fighting the wind and semi trucks, I decided to go through Sweetwater. I’m so glad I did; there was almost no traffic. The color was gorgeous at Wiley’s Station, an 1860s stage stop and Sweetwater.

I caught a cool sundog along the road.

Chemung

Chemung is one of my favorite ghost towns to take family and friends. The 1900s mining camp has multiple structures. It is also the first trip for Honey Badger, then known as Rubi.

In 1900 Stephen Kavanaugh was hired to excavate a gold vein that ran along a ridge 2.5 miles southwest of Masonic. The site overlooks Bridgeport Valley from an 8600′ mountain perch. Stephen established the Chemung Mine in 1909, naming it after his hometown of Chemung, Illinois. As Stephen was an employee, he did not receive a share of the mine’s profits.

Legend says the mill’s owner fell or was pushed down a mine shaft. Some say his spirit still haunts Chemung, but in a twist, only on Saturday nights.

Masonic

Masonic, California, is a great add on with Chemung. It is relatively easy to reach in summer and fall and combines well with the best ghost town anywhere, Bodie. Unlike Bodie State Park, Masonic is in “the wild,” you will likely have the ghost town to yourself.

Masonic, which started as three towns, has many ruins, including stone cabins, an aerial tram and a Pittsburg-Liberty mill.

Hey.. I saw this thing on Tick-Tock

I drove into the Aspens to show Kris the tramway cable, but it was covered in leaves. That is ok; we had more fun playing with the colors on the road.

This section of the route was the prettiest of the day. The leaves fell recently, but that made it look like the Yellow Brick Road.

At the end, I had an idea to photograph the path from the ground up.

Kris jumped out and exclaimed, “Hey, I saw this thing on Tick-Tock!” My first thought was “I’m not eating Tide Pods.” I guess maybe I need to look at Tick-Tock; Kris had seen a video where they used pano mode vertically. It took a few tries, but I got an interesting perspective.

Walker Burger

It was getting late but we decided to push to Walker Burger. It was my first time and all I can say is Wozza!

We made it home just as the storm was breaking. It was raining in the valleys but snowing over the passes. Bye, bye fall.

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