Nestled within the Mojave Desert, the Calico Mountains bustled with mining activity from the late 1800s to the 1920s when the area was largely abandoned as the price of silver dropped and borax mining moved to Death Valley. What remains of the once vibrant mining community are more than 500 abandoned mines and the town of Calico, which is one of the few remaining original mining towns in the West. Another remainder of the Calico boom days, however, is the countless roads and 4WD trails interspersed throughout the Calico Mountain canyons, which once served as main and auxiliary access routes to mines located deep within the mountains.
Calico Ghost Town
Calico was founded in 1881 and reached a population of 1,200, with 22 saloons and multiple bordellos to cater to the largely male populace. During the town's boom days, the mines produced more than $86 million in silver and $45 million in borax before exhausting in the 1920s. Calico remained relatively untouched until 1951 when Walter Knott of Knott's Berry Farm fame preserved much of the town, restoring and rebuilding many of the prominent structures. Calico was then opened as a tourist attraction and was eventually donated to the County of San Bernardino by Knott in 1966.
Though I had explored some of the more accessible and mild 4WD trails leading out of Calico, I was still a virgin to much of the territory. I'd heard of trails such as Doran and Odessa Canyons that were once paved routes providing vehicular access to the silver and borax mines located far into the hills, and I was anxious to familiarize myself with the area. Then Jason Bunch of Tri County Gear mentioned that he'd be leading a group of customers on an excursion through that exact area, and I figured it was a no-brainer that I should tag along.
The yellow project TJ was out of commission for the weekend, but I trucked out to Calico anyway and met up with Jason and the crew of rigs he had assembled. Steve Hastings had an open seat in the semi-retired TCG competition Jeep YJ dubbed "Rock Star," so I hopped in and buckled up. The trails started out soft and sandy as we twisted our way to the deeper canyons, but soon turned to rock and presented plenty of difficult obstacles to test the vehicles' abilities. There were even traces of the asphalt that had once covered some of the rockier sections of the trails, but not enough to ease passage.
By day's end we'd traversed the majority of Doran Canyon and much of Odessa Canyon. While the Tri County Gear contingents were camping out for another day of adventures, I was left to the pavement ahead as I tackled the two-and-a-half hour drive home so I could get an early start wrenching on my Jeep the next morning. I'd seen enough of the Calico Mountains to know that I'd return many more times to witness its splendor and enjoy the countless desert trails that wind back into the canyons just waiting to be discovered.