Bridgeport, CA

Bridgeport is an unincorporated community and the Mono County seat in the high Bridgeport Valley, at about 6,463 feet between the Sierra Nevada, Sweetwater Mountains, and Bodie Hills. The 2020 census counted 553 residents. The East Walker River runs through town toward Bridgeport Reservoir, and Highway 395 carries the county seat north and south through the Eastern Sierra. Once called Big Meadows, the valley drew ranchers and later became a base for mining camps, fishing, and mountain travel.

ATTRNoah_Loverbear / CC BY-SA 3.0

The 1880 courthouse still handles county business on Main Street and is California's second-oldest courthouse in continuous use. Bridgeport also sits at the gateway to Bodie State Historic Park, with Twin Lakes, Virginia Lakes, Green Creek, and backcountry roads extending in other directions. Eastern Sierra Unified School District has elementary and high schools in town. Bridgeport's map is unusually layered for a place this small: courthouse and county offices in the center, river and reservoir below, mountains on every side, and a long list of trails, lakes, and old mining roads beyond.