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