Exploring Abandoned/Ghost Towns?

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Let’s Roll

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 12, 2022
Posts
63
Location
Hayden Idaho
Has anyone explored ghost towns/abandoned towns? I’ve been watching some youtube vids and it looks kinda interesting from a boondocking sorta way.

We have a class A and I was thinking of an alternative to the traditional RV park. Try something different kind of thing.

Home base is Coeur d alene Idaho so maybe western/southwestern U.S.? Any pros or cons?



Thanks in advance!
 
We visit ghost towns when we can. There are a bunch! You mostly need a 4WD vehicle, and some need a hike from the road though. You can find them on the web by searching “ghost towns Idaho” for example. Only a few of the ones we have been to have been suitable for boondocking next to due to their location.
 
North of Quartzsite and just east of Parker is a mining settlement named Swansea.

Fairly easy road in a 4 wheel drive vehicle.

It is just south of the Bill Williams Wilderness Area.
 
When I was a kid, I went to Bodie during summer camp.

The Ranger told us that the electric lines going into Bodie were as straight as they could make them because they thought that the "New Electricity" would jump the lines otherwise.
 
North of Quartzsite and just east of Parker is a mining settlement named Swansea.

Fairly easy road in a 4 wheel drive vehicle.

It is just south of the Bill Williams Wilderness Area.
As I recall, that is an old copper mining site, with several shaft mines. When we were there workers were rebuilding the miner housing area.
 
between Lost Wages and LA there is a fun, kind of touristy Ghost town of Calico. There is a campground nearby.

 
There are some living ghost towns north of Mojave in CA. There is Randsburg, Johannesburg, and a few others. Lots of free camping in BLM land.
 
My favorite is Bodie in California
I have been there a few times. Many smaller ones here in Nevada, such as Rawhide, Rhyolite and others that I cannot now even remember the names of. I got to see Rawhide many years ago before the mining of the area totally destroyed it. Tom & I used to boondock a few miles to the south of it. The unpaved road is one of the best I have seen, at least back then. Can go quite fast on it in an RV without it being bumpy. 18 wheelers use it once in a while to bring stuff from the mines.

-Don- Reno, NV
 
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