Moving to a remote, small town in California - Bishop, CA (Lancaster: crime rate, utilities)

[NoMoreSnowForMe]

Originally Posted by MtnSurfer

Yep, it all boils down to tradeoffs. Do nothing, lose the opportunity. Do something, risk living out in the boonies. What is he willing to give up for something else? Maybe something, maybe nothing? Only the OP can answer that one.

Also reminds of an old movie. You can take the slicker out of the city but you can't take the city out of the slicker... Or maybe you can??? Haha




Derek

I love that movie!

[Lovehound]

Yeah, I always stop at Schat's and pick up a few baked goods. Got another one in Mammoth.

I've been going to (more like through) Bishop since the '50s with my parents, and on my own in later life. I am extremely familiar with Bishop due to my summer fishing and camping trips, and winter skiing trips at Mammoth.

To be blunt, there is not much of anything in Bishop. It is not a destination town, more like a portal town to the Eastern Sierra. There is little in the way of shopping or dining. People live there either because they grew up there or they came to jobs in the area (Forest Service, Fish & Game, L.A. DWP, BLM, etc.).

To be happy there you must be extremely interested in the outdoors: hiking, fishing, hunting, fishing. You must also be willing to live in a very small town with limited shopping and dining. It's a bit of a drive up 395 then 203 to Mammoth which has plenty of dining mainly due to skiing in the winter.

Also you will have to be the kind of outgoing person who can meet people and pick up friends easily or your social life will be very limited.

I think you would do well to consider Bishop as a temporary stop-over in your career, maybe plan to live there a few or several years then move on.

[volosong]

I must thank the contributors to this thread. Because of you, you lit the fire under my butt and I finally made it to the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest yesterday. What an awesome place! The two NFS rangers working in the visitor center commute every day from Bishop. Said it took him an hour. And, he's been doing it for something like 25-30 years. Very knowledgeable about the forest and its geology/botany/history/etc.

Only had time to trek to the old Mexican Mine cabins and then the 4.5 mile Methuselah Trail. Hike wasn't physically difficult, but at 10,000 feet elevation, we had to make frequent rest stops to catch our breath. I slept well last night and woke up only mildly sore. (I'm 65. You 'youngsters' won't have any problems.)

Going back real soon to hike the much shorter, but supposedly more photogenic Discovery Trail, then drive to and hike the Patriarch Grove trails. A bit concerned about that drive because the ranger said that there are an average of six cars/trucks a week that get flat tires on that road because they drive too fast. Said if you drive slow, the tires just go over the sharp rocks that make up the roadbed. Drive faster and the rocks just slice into the tires. He also said that AAA doesn't come up there and it's on the order of $1,000 to get your tire fixed and back on the road.

A picture from yesterday . . .



Bonus picture:

Right as we started down the mountain, I looked off to the west and noticed the smoke. "Hey! There's a fire burning." "You sure?" "Yeah, live your whole life in California and you learn to recognize wildfire smoke pretty quickly." Further down the mountain, when we went around a bend, we saw the source of the fire. It's being called the "Owens River Fire", and is burning on the east side of 395 about halfway between Mammoth and June Lake, (neither are threatened).

As of an hour or so ago, it has burned about 6,000 acres and is 20% contained. Highly suspected to having been set by an idiot bipedal humanoid organism. Sheech! Some biologicals should not be entitled to be called a "person".



.

[Xenah]

MtnSurfer, Your photos are magnificent.

[MtnSurfer]

Originally Posted by Xenah

MtnSurfer, Your photos are magnificent.

Thanks, Xenah. I have a special place in my heart for the Eastern Sierra. It really inspires me.

Derek

[Winston Smith]

Bishop is the biggest town along highway 395 between Lancaster and Carson City, but it is darned remote. That said, you are intensely close to some of California's most dramatic nature -- the eastern Sierras. You're in your 50s (as am I). Were the opportunity of a dream job with the USFS to become a possibility, I'd probably consider it a "now or never" opportunity. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Good luck and keep us posted on how it goes for you.

[NorthernFog]

Someone once said something like, "I'd rather die regretting the things I had done than the things I had never done"?

[bloom]

Great Thai place in the Bishop airport.
Nearby to Manzanar, White Mountains, Hatchery, and more.

[Snort]

Originally Posted by bloom

Great Thai place in the Bishop airport.
Nearby to Manzanar, White Mountains, Hatchery, and more.

True! Voted best Thai food at a rural airport! Well, it could be.

[mikalalnr]

Hi, my wife and I are born and raised Michiganders. We moved out to Bend Oregon a few years ago, and lived there for a couple years. We had a great time, but found ourselves priced out of the housing market so we moved back to Michigan. Now we have the West Coast fever again, and are looking for a place like Bend, but maybe with a little bit warmer winters. Of course in a place like Bishop, employment is a big concern, but we both currently have a pipeline towards great job offers.
So my question- without knowing much about the history of the area, is why hasn’t Bishop taken off population wise? I understand that LA owns a lot of the land, but still it seems that Bishop could grow up since it can’t grow out. Great geography, great climate.
What’s the scoop? Thank you