Picture of Gigi de Jong

Gigi de Jong

Gigi is the travel writer for the Bishop Area Chamber of Commerce and Visitors Bureau. Other works have been published in California Outdoor, the official publication of the California Department of Fish & Wildlife and SierraWave.net, local news in the Eastern Sierra. She publishes a travel blog of her stories about Bishop and beyond. Her skills also include graphic and web design. Gigi is the site designer and developer of the new OWAC.org website.
Author's Website: https://gigidejong.com/

Author's Archive
Member Post
Gigi de Jong

Bishop by the Water

Payahǖǖnadǖ. “Place of flowing water.” (Numic)

The place of flowing water is the Owens Valley, as it is now more commonly known. It was once a wet, flood plain where water flowed into a large lake at the southern end of the valley. The Owens River still weaves its way through this beautiful valley and water, once again, flows all the way to the lakebed and into large ponds that are home to a remarkable variety of resident and migratory birds.

Read More »
08/09/2018
Train at Laws Railroad Museum. Bishop. CA.
Member Post
Gigi de Jong

The Slim Princess

The railroad in the Owens Valley was more than just a stretch of the imagination. It was a vision inspired by tales of rich strikes in the mines of California, when a lull in mining activity was settling on the Comstock and in Virginia City, Nevada.

“Let us have a railroad from Carson City to Colorado,” wrote a journalist in a Nevada newspaper in 1871.

Several surveys were made by the Virginia & Truckee (V&T) Railway Company by the late 1870s to run a line south from Carson City. By 1880 a line was laid as far as Bodie and on May 10, 1880 the Carson & Colorado (C&C) Railroad Company was incorporated.

Much speculation was made about an intended final destination in southern California, but nothing was made official until March 25, 1882 when the company announced it would build over Montgomery Pass, into the Owens Valley and toward Mojave.

Read More »
08/19/2016
Member Post
Gigi de Jong

4 Fabulous Photography Features near Bishop, CA.

Photography is a passion for many in the Eastern Sierra.
For those who live here or visit regularly photography is often a daily activity. Sometimes it’s just a momentary opportunity to snap a quick image. Other times it’s a commitment to time and place to capture a specific scene.
First time visitors are, almost without fail, thoroughly awestruck by the grandeur of this landscape. Cameras and smartphones are ubiquitous in the hands of tourists and frequently pointed toward the peaks of the Sierra Nevada. It stands to reason then that this beautiful region is one of the most photographed in California.

Read More »
02/09/2016
Surf our site
Latest News & Blog
Connect with us
Facebook-f

Follow us on Facebook

© 2023 Outdoor Writers Association of California.

Site designed by Wave Cloud Creative

Scroll to Top

Write to us

Subscribe to our bi-monthly newsletter for the latest outdoor news.