Cerro Gordo - the Ghost Town

The road to Cerro Gordo

“This road looks a bit sketchy,” I stated.

My traveling partner on this trip was our old friend, Paul.

“Nah, you got this,” he replied.

Just then a humongous propane tanker truck came down the narrow dirt track right in front of us and stopped.

“I don’t think I got this,” I said.

Nice view of Owens Valley from a steep incline

Being the courteous driver I am, I stopped and backed into a very little crawl space on the side of this mountainous road toward the ghost town of Cerro Gordo.

The driver of the tanker stopped, and yelled through his open window, “You’ll have to go around me. I’m too heavy and will topple off the dirt road to the valley below.”

The valley below is just east of Owens Valley, and was probably a hundred thousand feet straight down.

“I’ll get out and guide you,” Paul said. The truck door closing, nearly masking his statement.

I travel a lot. I sometimes get myself in situations that are not the best for me, or the particular vehicle I may be utilizing for this trip or that. This was one of those times.

I wasn’t sure what to do. So, I backed up, allowing the propane delivery vehicle to edge by me and take the spot in the tiny turn-out on the dirt road.

“You got plenty of room,” the driver yelled.

Plenty of room does not include the concept of not seeing the road from the driver’s window. All I saw was a steep drop off to the Owens Valley. The passenger mirror barely missed the end of the propane truck by the time I traversed this harrowing spot in the roadway. 

I applied the brakes and waited until Paul caught up with me.

“That wasn’t so bad,” he assured me.

“You weren’t driving,” I replied. “Heck, you weren’t even in the truck.”

“I was guiding you.”

“I should have guided you.”

Paul shook his head, “Nah, it is your truck. I wouldn’t want to be the one responsible for tumbling off the road and crushing it.”

The road to the tiny old mining town of Cerro Gordo is not for the faint of heart. It is eight miles of crooked earth, torturedly carved out of the steep mountain side in the White Mountains, just east of Keeler on Highway 136, which is off Highway 190 out of Olancha, which is on Highway 395.  

Welcome to Cerro Gordo

The history of the town though, is quite interesting and that made the white-knuckler adventure worth it.

Cerro Gordo – Fat Hill in Spanish – was named for the amount of ore found there through the years, beginning in 1865. And as with any mining town, that’s where our history begins. Pablo Flores found some rich veins of gold and silver and began processing it. Then, through the ensuing couple of years, others heard of the chances of getting rich and by 1868, the place was starting to get a pin in the map of next bonanzas.

The problem was, Native Americans living in and around Owens Lake didn’t like all the newcomers taking their ancestral lands and serious issues developed. To counter that, Fort Independence was built, and the United States Army explained to the natives living there that they could either go along with the mining operations or leave.

One of our darkest moments is history, they were generally expelled from their lands in favor of the mining operations when they complained. 

In 1868, Mortimer Belshaw came to town and began a partnership with another person in the Union Mine. The mine was the first to deliver a cart load of silver to what was then small town of Los Angeles, and the boom was starting for this high elevation locale in the White Mountains.

Belshaw was quite the entrepreneur. Not only did he own a large part of the riches coming out of the area near Cerro Gordo, but he developed, if we can call it that, the dirt path up the long and dangerous eight miles a toll road.

Part of what remains of Cerro Gordo

The road was known as the ‘Yellow Road’ for the color of the rock the road was cut through. He made a lot of moo-la-boola, with the ore he was sending to Los Angeles and the tolls for those willing to risk coming up the ‘Yellow Road.’

A pretty smart dude, that Mortimer Belshaw.

“Can you imagine driving a team of horses up and down the road we just drove?” I asked Paul.

“I can’t even imagine driving your truck on it.”

“You didn’t,” I replied, my white knuckles were still white as we approached the end of the road and into the town of Cerro Gordo. 

Almost pristine building in Cerro Gordo

The town is currently owned by Brent Underwood. Yes, ghost towns do go on the real estate market now and then, and Brent bought all three-hundred and sixty acres of the town in July of 2018.

A building under re-construction

In all fairness, I did email Brent a few times to see if we could meet in the town, but I never did receive a response. He’s a very busy man – he has a YouTube channel called Ghost Town Living, and probably has around five billion followers.

“Brent, it’s John,” I would have said. “Got time for an interview.”

“No interview for you,” he might have responded. “I’m a very busy man.”

Actually, speaking to the manager at Cerro Gordo, Brent seems to be a very nice and caring guy. He purchased the ghost town to restore it to its original design. And, that is going to be a lot of hard work.

“Brent wants to make this a go-to place for tourists,” stated the manager. In all transparency, I don’t recall the young man’s name. He was nice and very informative but my notebook was in the truck a hundred yards away, I was tired – it seemed a long walk to retrieve it, especially at such a high altitude.

Cerro Gordo Peak is over nine thousand feet in elevation, and the town of Cerro Gordo is nearly eighty-five hundred feet above sea level. Going back to the truck and grabbing my notebook would have acquired a twenty minute nap, and we were on a schedule on this specific day.

“We have plans to make the town exactly what looked like during its heyday,” the manager stated. “We have a lot of people driving up here and wanting to spend some quality time, just enjoying the serenity of the place.”

Standing on the wood porch in front of the visitor’s center, I knew why a person would want to come up this steep mountainside. The views of the Owens Valley and the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range to the west were spectacular.

Interior of the visitor's center

Cerro Gordo produced a lot of rich ore for the miners and owners in this desolate location. It is estimated that over seventeen million dollars’ worth of gold and silver was mined between 1865 and 1949. That is about a hundred billion dollars in today’s money.

“Wander around a bit and take in the scenery,” the manager said.

We did.

There are houses, buildings, and the like, that are still standing and being renovated for guests. Brent has an eye that Cerro Gordo will become a great destination for those willing to drive up a very narrow and often nerve whacking dirt road to see what a real ghost town was like.

Remains of a cart rail

I did ask the manager if there is any mining still going on.

“No, we explore them, but there is no active searching for minerals at this time.”

From some research, I discovered that Samuel Clemons – Mark Twain - actually spent some time in Cerro Gordo. He happened to be residing in Aurora, another small mining town to the east in the state of Nevada, and spent time in both places.

“I’m not sure which town I like best,” the master of words might have mused. “I think Aurora. It doesn’t get those dastardly easterly winds.”

But, during the winter, temperatures in Cerro Gordo can drop to a chilling ten or more degrees below freezing and receive somewhere around twenty-four inches of snow. And that’s not including the wind chill factor which can be drop the thermometer at least a hundred degrees, or so it feels.

That is cold in anyone’s world – unless you are filming in the Yukon which can drop to more than a million degrees below zero.

Paul and I wandered the ghost town, and it really is a place to visit. Residential houses are being re-done, but only to the time period they were built. Buildings are being shored up, and the whole town will soon be a location for those who want to spend a night or more in the past, in a very secluded but beautiful spot across form the Sierra Nevada’s.

Future Airbnb?

“What’s the draw?” I asked the manager.

“To visit, and experience what I see every day.”

“And that is…?”

He smiled and pointed west. “The sunset over the Sierras. I’ve never seen anything like that, and I’ve been here a year. Each day is like the first.”

Looking past his outstretched hand, I had to agree. The location of Cerro Gordo is gorgeous, but the drive is not for the faint of heart.

Weighing beauty versus safety, I sighed deeply and we got down the road before the sun dropped below the range to our west.

Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest Visitor's Center - Update

Not long ago J and L decided to revisit the newly rebuilt visitor's center (the previous center had been burned down by an arsonist) at the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest located in the White Mountains. The year before the only structure to greet us had been a small and narrow temporary mobile office which had to be utilized until the new center had been constructed and reopened.

White Mountain Visitor Center

The late afternoon was brisk, very brisk with a north wind blowing down the Owens Valley bringing the temperature down into the thirties when J and L walked into the beautifully stunning visitor center to be greeted by two very friendly and knowledgeable rangers. Dave Hardin and Philly Brooks who manned the long desk full of tourist information concerning the Ancient Bristlecones and the surrounding mountain areas. The interior of the center consisted of a rather large visitor's area including a large rock fireplace (not burning unfortunately) with comfortable looking overstuffed chairs surrounding a coffee table. Book and 'touristy' sort of purchasable items hung on various metal racks and wood bookshelves.

The writer at work

We had made it just a few minutes before the center was to close for the day but both rangers were rather kind to forget the clock and devote a few minutes to a pair of inquisitive explorers. Questions were asked and answers received.

We learned the center was open when the roads cleared of snow, usually around the middle of May or beginning of June (depending on the amount of precipitation received in the White Mountains) and closed around the beginning of November. There was only one road up and down off the mountain and at nearly 11,000 feet above sea level can make the drive treacherous depending on weather conditions.

One interesting fact we learned was there were very few insect issues and no bear problems, unlike across Owens Valley in the Sierras due to so little rain. Made camping under the stars much more enjoyable than slapping at flying thingies all evening or waiting to be eaten by Smokey.

Sierra Nevada Mountains

Philly Brooks was asked why she loved her job so much as she obviously did to this observer and her reply was simple and almost poetic. "What I love about the Bristlecone Pines is that it is different than anything else out there. It's so quiet, no noise except the wind through the branches, no bugs annoying a hiker and miles of trails to wander and simply enjoy life."

Dave Hardin was asked a similar question. "I like the White Mountains because it's like a marriage when one understands they have to accept the whole picture and not just an isolated portion of that person they are marrying. Makes for a healthier relationship and that goes for nature also."

Philly and Dave

Both of their answers must have some validity especially since over 30,000 visitors per year from around the United States and the world visit this very spot where some of the oldest trees on earth reside.

Asked what happens when the weather suddenly changes from sunny to cloudy threatening snow in late spring or early fall Philly simply smiled and said: "We get the hell off the mountain and lock the road barriers behind us."

Heeding Advice

With no cell service, no internet and steep terrain we would have to agree with the ranger.


Seasonal Information:

The Visitor Center is open mid-May until sometime in November depending on weather and snow/road conditions. Call the White Mountain District Office for exact opening and closing dates: 760-873-2500.

Directions:

An easy drive along Highway 395, either north or south, at the town of Big Pine travel east on Highway 168 for 13 miles. Then turn left at the signed junction for White Mountain Road to the Bristlecone Pine Forest and continue 10 miles until the end of the paved road at Schulman Grove. Turn right into the visitor center parking lot. Do be careful since the road is narrow in spots but well-maintained.  Also watch for sudden shifts in the weather when the roadway may become icy or snow covered.