Land Acknowledgment: Payahuunadu has been, and continues to be, the homeland of the Paiute (Nuumu), Shoshone (Newe), and Timbisha peoples. This land acknowledgment honors the original inhabitants of the Eastern Sierra and the tribes who remain here today.
If you’ve ever driven through the Eastern Sierra, you know the feeling—vast, desolate landscapes, towering mountains, and an eerie sense that something big happened here long before you showed up. Nestled high in the Inyo Mountains above Owens Valley, Cerro Gordo is proof of exactly that.
It’s a place with a history soaked in silver, shootouts, and full-blown debauchery, where fortunes were made, blood was spilled, and the booze flowed as fast as the mine shafts were dug. It boomed, it busted, and for over a century, it sat abandoned—until now, because in the weirdest turn of events ever, a YouTuber, entrepreneur, with a big dream to rebuild the townm has resurrected Cerro Gordo in a way nobody saw coming.
The Wild West Origins: A Town Built on Silver and Sin
The name Cerro Gordo is Spanish for “Fat Hill. Ablo Flores founded Cerro Gordo in 1865 after discovering silver in the area. By 1867, prospectors had carved out an entire town high in the mountains, with mining tunnels snaking deep into the earth and an economy that could bankroll entire industries. The silver and lead ore was so pure it put Los Angeles on the map (literally—LA’s early economy was funded by Cerro Gordo’s mining profits).
Cerro Gordo has a lawless reputation—because when you have billions of dollars of silver moving through a town full of miners, outlaws, and opportunists, things get messy. Gunfights on the daily—if you didn’t bring a gun to Cerro Gordo, you weren’t paying attention. The town reportedly averaged a murder a week at its prime. At its peak, Cerro Gordo supplied nearly 50% of the silver and lead in California, and for about a decade, it was the place to be if you were looking for fortune or a quick death. But like all boomtowns, it didn’t last. By the 1880s, the easy silver had been pulled, and fires, water shortages, and falling metal prices led to a slow, painful decline.
Cerro Gordo held on for a few more decades, but by the 1930s, it was done. The town emptied, leaving abandoned buildings, collapsing mine shafts, and a handful of ghosts to keep each other company. For the next century, it sat there—an abandoned relic of the Wild West, visited only by history buffs, urban explorers, the occasional desert weirdo, and me, often. Shout out Robert.
And then, somehow, in the most 21st-century plot twist possible, a YouTuber and an entrepreneur bought Cerro Gordo and decided to bring it back to life.
Cerro Gordo 2.0
In 2018, Brent Underwood, an entrepreneur and history nerd, bought Cerro Gordo for $1.4 million with the goal of preserving it, rebuilding it, and turning it into an off-the-beaten-path artist retreat.
Underwood moved in full-time during Covid—yes, he literally lives in Cerro Gordo, often alone, in a haunted hotel, with nothing but his dog and an endless to-do list. He fell in love with the town, the land, I guess you can call it a lifestyle? He began slowly restoring the town, fixing up the old general store, the bunkhouse, and the infamous American Hotel (because the ghost town gods burned it down in 2020). His YouTube channel documenting Cerro Gordo’s revival blew up, bringing millions of people along for the ride as he navigates the struggles of living in an abandoned mining town and its constant challenges. There is even an annual marathon. Yup, we love any opportunity to run a marathon in the Eastern Sierra. Learn more about the Cerro Gordo Silver Run in May.
Most ghost towns fade into obscurity or get turned into tourist traps with $10 cowboy photos and fake gunfights. But Cerro Gordo is different. It’s being rebuilt, not commercialized – There’s no corporate takeover here—just a guy with a dream, a ton of scrap wood, and a lot of sweat equity. It continues to run on grit. Locals thought Brent had zero chance and he has blown everyone’s mind. Haters going to hate, but his dude has gone from straight city slicker to self sufficient desert dweller in a very short period of time. It’s still haunted – Ask Underwood, who’s documented weird noises, shadowy figures, and doors that open by themselves.
And maybe that’s what makes it so captivating—the fact that a town that was left for dead is now buzzing with life again, even if it’s just one guy, a dog, couple of goats, and a few ghosts.
Cerro Gordo is privately owned, but tours are available if you book in advance. If you make the trip, please respect the land, its history, and the people rebuilding it.
📍 Where: Outside of Lone Pine, about 8 miles from Keeler, CA, high up in the Inyo Mountains.
📍 When: All depends on the road conditions. Ideally summer, fall, or spring and winter if the road conditions are good.
🚗 Travel: 4WD highly recommended—the road is rough, and your Prius won’t make it.
👻 What to expect: Abandoned buildings, insane views, and maybe a ghost or two.
Cerro Gordo’s story is far from over. And that’s what makes it one of the coolest, weirdest, and most interesting places on the Eastside.
Tag your pics: #sayawe #aweyeah
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