Sierra Nevada Adventures Multi Day Rides

HIGH PLAINS DRIFTER ADVENTURE RIDE 2-Days

High Plains Drifter dual sport ADVENTURE ride EXPLORES an amazing OFF-ROAD route and scenic on-road to the forgotten remains of the mysterious desert mining town of Lago from the classic Clint Eastwood movie High Plains Drifter.  

This dual sport adventure ride begins on the western side of the Sierra Nevada and explores a combination of fun back roads, remote dirt roads, and scenic mountain passes to the Eastern Sierra.

Day one of your adventure explores remote dirt roads through the Stanislaus River Canyon to the scenic Sonora Pass. After traveling over the scenic Sonora Pass your adventure ride explores the dramatic landscape of the Eastern Sierra to the town of Bridgeport, once known as "Big Meadow" for its fertile and open grazing land. Bridgeport is a small mountain town located in a beautiful valley with spectacular views of the rugged Sawtooth Range. 

This unique hotel provides a glimpse into one of the most fascinating periods of America's history, the Wild West with the boom town mining operations, open-range cattle ranches, notorious outlaws, and lawmen that would bring them to justice. The Bodie Hotel is a two-story Victorian-era boarding house of the 1860s. This hotel is definitely one of a kind from its rickety staircase, and velvet wallpaper, to its shag carpet. The rickety staircase only adds to the whole experience in this unique hotel. 

Day two of your adventure explores a dirt wagon route through a historic canyon to the massive Mono Lake Basin. Your off-road adventure continues as you explore the high plains desert to the mysterious mining town of Lago from the classic Clint Eastwood movie High Plains Drifter.

Lago, which means "Lake" in Italian is the forgotten town site for the supernatural western film High Plains Drifter. In this Western, a drifter with no name (Clint Eastwood) wanders into the small town of Lago, where his gun-slinging abilities are in high demand. When the drifter rides into Lago, he is met with disapproval by the townspeople. But once he shows his skills with a pistol, the locals realize he may be able to help them fend off a band of criminals who have been terrorizing the town. He agrees to help the townspeople but does so with his own secret agenda. 

Universal Pictures wanted the 1973 film to be shot on the studio lot. Instead, Clint Eastwood had a whole town built in the high desert on the shores of Mono Lake in the Eastern Sierra. Many of the buildings were complete and three-dimensional so that interiors could be shot on location. The mysterious town of Lago was built by a 46-man crew of technicians and 10 laborers who worked 10 hours a day for 18 days constructing 14 houses and a two-story hotel. They were burned down at the film's completion. The town of Lago suddenly appeared for a brief period of time, such as the mysterious drifter appeared across the high plains desert in the first scene and suddenly disappear into the history of time, such as the unnamed drifter disappeared into the horizon of the high plains desert. 

After your visit to the mysterious town site of Lago, your off-road adventure explores high into the Eastern Sierra to an abandoned gold mine near 10,000 ft. elevation with spectacular panoramic views of Mono Lake. This remote gold mine has many interesting buildings still intact with countless mining equipment and machinery scattered about. The largest and most impressive structure at the mine is the massive wooden head-frame, which towers over the mineshaft including the unique gold mill structure. The gold mill itself is a fantastic blend of cylindrical steel bins, corrugated metal, enclosed conveyors, and complex angles. This is one of the most interesting mining structures I’ve ever encountered.

After your visit exploring the abandoned gold mine, your adventure returns back to Folsom via the scenic Tioga Pass with breathtaking views of granite monoliths and high Sierra peaks.