One of the first trips ROC did when it was founded was the run to Bodi, CA. This year, for our second run to Bodi, we had a new route and some interesting changes. The morning started off with our standard rally trail from Carson City over to the Johnson Valley area. Our first stop was for an old silver mine that had long since been abandoned.
After making the only fuel and bio break stop, we hit the long sections of trails that would lead down to Bodi. The back section of trails were fast and fun and had a few crazy turns that people were able to get some drift action.
Our lunch stop was at the old town of Pine Grove, which is always a favorite on our south bound runs as it offers shade as well as a trip into the past. This trail section then headed down to Bodi and was one of the faster trails of the day. It led us to the old town of Aurua. Here, we visited an old cemetary which has the head stone of a past US Senator, indicating this long forgotten town had once been big enough to have representation in the US Congress.
The next section led to a fun canyon with a surprise. The surprise was the fact the trail was now gone. During our the pre run, 3 weeks prior, the trail was tight and fast. Now, the trail was totally wiped out from the recent rain storm that had torn through the area a week and a half earlier. So, the group turned around and headed for an alternate route to Bridgeport for the night. Due to this need to reroute, everything was now delayed significantly. For this reason, we were forced to push our stop in Bodi to the following day.
Sunday, we headed out onto the previous day’s original trail, except we drove it in reverse – driving from Bridgeport to Bodi. Once we finally made it to Bodi, we explored one of the most complete mining towns still standing. Despite being here before, it is still just as amazing to see, as this town is in such a preserved state of decay. Some of the stores and buildings are still in the same state they were from the 1800s, when the people just abandoned the town.
After exploring Bodi, we headed out on the trail back toward Bridgeport, where we regrouped and planned for the next trail. As the planned adventure was modified due to the previous day’s events, the group headed for a different trail than originally planned. This new trail was an edge canyon run, rightly named as the trail runs up through a canyon which then leads out to a cliff side trail where if you over cook any of the turns, you will find yourself sailing down the hillside for a while.
The end of the trail put the group out at Topaz Lake, where we called the event so that people could make their way home. This was our last offroad trip of the year, and it was a blast. As in our previous Bodi event, we had to adapt to unexpected trail conditions, but it still turned out to be a memorable and worthwhile trip.
