Calico Ghost Town & Campground

With bad weather moving into the area it was time for us to move out. We had a great week in Palm Springs but time to explore more of California so we decided on Calico Ghost Town & Campground which is near Barstow. The drive was unremarkable but looming clouds were all around us with the threat of rain.

Yes that is snow in the mountains

Calico Campground is owned by the San Bernardino County. Our first impression is a really cool area with lots of hills and area to play but needing some renovations.

Cool sign can't miss it

The interior roads are all paved and in good shape but the campsites themselves are full of rock. The sites are narrow with misplaced concrete firepits making it difficult to get in or out. You can see the paint and scrapes where people have hit them.

Road to campsites

New bathroom

Newer area with 50 amp and water, no sewer connections

Our site before the weekenders...it's tight

Leveling the rig was not all that difficult unless you have a tire going flat as your setting up. Yep that's right, here we go again. I quickly put the 8 ton jack under it. Thank goodness it's not my brand new tire, it's the one behind it. So what happened this time? After getting all set up I made some calls for a new tire. Saturday afternoon is the earliest it will be in, it's now Thursday. Excellent so with the jack in place and things to explore we forgot all about it. It's not like this hasn't happened before.

Calico Ghost Town is one of the old mining towns that was deserted after the initial boom. It happens to be adjacent to the campground and free if your camping. So we decided to take some time and explore.

Entrance to Calico

The town of Calico was born in 1881 with the discovery of mineral riches. With over 500 mines in the area they produced $86 million in silver and $45 million in borax. The town population at the peak was 1,200 with 22 saloons, a China town, and a red light district.

Old mining equipment

When the price of silver dropped from $1.31 an ounce to $.63, the prospectors moved on leaving Calico to become a ghost town. In 1951 Mr. Walter Knott of Knott's Berry Farm bought Calico and restored it to look like the Calico during the boom town era. 


Calico Ghost Town today

There were only a handful of original buildings left before the restoration, one of those being the now Calico Park Office.

Original building now Park Office

As you walk through the town looking up at the surrounding mountain you can see a number of old mines on the hillsides. All are unsafe to enter and remain private property to the owner of the mine.

These signs were everywhere

This one was 20 feet from the roadway

Miners lived in the mines to protect themselves from the outside elements

The Maggie Mine is the only mine safe enough to enter and provides a self-guided walking tour. As most mines in the area it was born during the boom of 1881 and is 1000 foot into the mountain. During the glory days Maggie Mine provided $13 million in silver ore.


Maggie Mine

During the boom years several families lived in Calico therefore a school house was necessary. Restored in 1955 to look identical to the original, the one room school house had 30 pupils enrolled during a school year. Many were sons & daughters of the town merchants since miners did not have families.

Replica and location of original school house

One thing to note about this ghost town is the rough terrain you have to walk on to see all the sights. It's easy to twist an ankle or fall over a cliff since the town was built on a hillside. Lots of climbing up and down but it was fun.

Fun place to visit

Tire Problems...Again

It doesn't matter if your a fulltime or part time Rver you can relate to this story. One of the many things I check before hitting the road whether it be for 50 miles or 300 miles are the tires. Leaving Buckskin Mountain was no different all seemed okay. However, I did notice some wear on one of my tires. We arrived at Indian Waters set everything up and two days later I realized I hadn't recheck that tire. Oh snap or a few other choice words which I will leave to your imagination. The outer edge was bald. I looked at all the other tires and they were fine, no signs of wear.

OMG

After making several phone calls I find the tire I want but it's 45 miles away. Now I have to take the tire off. This is where I say Thank-you Bill. During the summer my friend Bill showed me how to change a tire and the equipment I needed. So, I went out bought all the stuff thinking I won't need to use it but now I have it just in case. Well did that come back to bite me in the a...

Loosing the nuts before I jack it up

Eight ton jack in place

Jacking it up

Still all smiles

The bald tire

When I got to Fred's Tire in Yucca Valley the owner (Corey) explained to me the excess wear was due to a separation issue where the inner belt came away from the tire. I was in and out within 15 minutes and the whole time Corey gave me a lesson on tires.

New tire in place...it's pretty

Again Thank-you Bill for taking the time to teach me.



A Touch of Salt

My adventures takes me to the Salton Sea a place I have always wanted to see. Susan wasn't interested in this trip so I'm on my own. That's okay it gives me a chance to do some bird watching.

The Salton Sea is one of the world's largest inland seas and also one of the lowest spots on earth at -227 feet below sea level. It was created in 1905 when floods on the Colorado River breached the gates of the developing Imperial Valley. Consequently, over the next 2 years the entire volume of the Colorado River flowed into the Salton Basin creating a 45 mile long by 20 mile wide body of water, hence the Salton Sea was born.

The Salton Sea

Lacking any outflow the Sea is becoming saltier and saltier accelerating many changes. Instead of nice sandy beaches the shoreline is riddled with crunchy white barnacles and dead fish. Contributing to the salinity of the water is the constant evaporation of the remaining water and the leaching of fertilizers from surrounding farmland.

Diminishing shoreline due to evaporation

The Salton Sea State Recreation Park covers 14 miles of the northeast shoreline. The campground offers full hookups in basically the far end of the parking lot. Other state campsites are provided further down the road but with limited facilities.

State campground with full hookups

As I continued down the road I came to Bombay Beach, a community founded in 1929. Once a thriving getaway for weekenders and boaters, it is now a skeleton of it's former self. The town was flooded in 1976 & 1977 due to tropical storms causing a dramatic rise in the Salton Sea. Now a dike separates the town from the sea. As I walked through the town I saw many photographers taking pictures of the shells that someone use to call home. When the temperatures during the summer reach 118 degrees the smell from the dead fish on the beach is intolerable.

All that remains of a popular mobile home park

Skeletal remains of mobile home

Abandoned RV

Once a home



When you get to Niland on CA-111 look for Main St turn left cause Salvation Mountain and Slab City are not too far away. Salvation Mountain is a 50 foot high and 150 foot long religious folk art monument created by Leonard Knight. It's made adobe style using bales of straw, cement, sticks and anything else Knight could get his hands on.

Salvation Mountain

Knight had lived in the back of his truck until his declining health caused him to move to a nursing facility.

Knights home on wheels

Knights cats have no names...they roam the mountain freely

Turning to the right after exiting Salvation Mountain parking lot you get to Slab City.

Welcome to Slab City

Once home to Camp Dunlap Marine Barracks in 1942, now all that remains from the military installation are the concrete slabs where buildings stood, hence the name. Today it is home for RV enthusiasts and squatters living off the grid. However, the city has several issues namely garbage and improper sewage disposal.

RVs and garbage everywhere

Someones idea of folk art

As you continue to drive around the 200 + acre area you see just about everything from brand new rigs to old junkers.

This one has solar and wind generated power

Tin and tarps with pitbulls and barbwire...scary

Once a 5th wheel now a burntout shell left to rot 

Garbage everywhere

Not all is bad about this place. Many individuals are trying to get people to clean up their messes and to dispose of sewage properly. Also, every Saturday they host an open-air show at The Range where resident musicians and anyone else who wants to showcase their talent can get on stage and perform. 

The Range open-air nightclub complete with stage, lights, speakers, and tattered couches

As I was leaving Slab City to make the journey back home I couldn't help but stop to take a picture of the famous shoe tree that was featured on the movie Into The Wild.

Cool shoe tree

 



A date in Indio, CA

We arrived in Indio, California a couple of days ago and I didn't have time to blog so here I am. Why Indio you ask? Well it's close to the Salton Sea and also it's very close to the Palm Springs area. The park we chose is Indian Waters RV Resort, a sister park to the one we stayed at in Casa Grande. The park is beautiful, well maintained but sites are close together. After spending 4 days on the Colorado River this definitely feels a little claustrophobic.

Palm Springs is a very unique area. It's about 120 miles from LA and has seen a population growth in the last 10 years by 45%. Being in the Coachella Valley the climate is influenced by the surrounding geography. High mountains on three sides contribute to the warm climate year round. This climate makes it idea for growing dates. Our first stop was Shields Date Garden. We got there around lunch and the place was packed.

Around since 1924

As we got out of our truck the fragrance in the air from the orange, lemon, and grapefruit blossoms was absolutely stunning. I told Sue to kept going I just wanted to stay in the parking lot savoring the wonderful smell.

Orange Blossoms

Did you know that dates are the oldest known cultivated tree crop and most expensive to produce. I didn't, all I knew about dates is when my mother made dates squares I was all in. Anyway our visit to Shields was very informative. We watched the movie "The Romance and Sex Life of the Date" in their theater then sampled different kinds.

Medjool Dates....my favorite

Our good friends Marilyn & Dave told us we had to try a date shake but beware they are sweet. As we stood in line it seemed that everyone wanted a date shake. Who knew they would be so popular.

Lineup for date shakes

After grabbing our shake, only one because it might be to sweet for me we went to tour their date garden.

Notice who has the date shake

Fact: After a date shoot is planted it will be 5 years before it produces 30-40 pounds and 10-15 years to produce 150-300 pounds of dates. Dates are reached by climbing up ladders that are permanently attached in the trees. The ladders are moved upward every couple of years as the tree grows.

Date Palm with ladder attached

With the date shake gone we ventured into downtown Palm Springs to see some sights. The large statue of Marilyn Monroe is quite the tourist attraction. Marilyn Monroe was discovered in Palm Springs in 1949 at the age of 22. 

Marilyn statue

After walking off the date shake in downtown Palm Springs we headed back to the campground for a long deserved swim. With the sun going down we saw a hot air balloon going for a sunset flight.

Up, up, and away