Calico Ghost Town and Mojave Desert Preserve

We spent a couple of days in Barstow – the last significant California town before Mojave Desert Preserve and Death Valley National Park. Just north of town, we drove five miles over a washboard dirt road to Rainbow Basin Natural Area. I hiked a bit into the canyon, and it is a bit eerie walking in the sandy wash being able to reach out and touch both sides of the rock canyon walls. Not as colorful as others we have seen, but was a nice little walk. There was a scenic road tour, but it was too sandy and narrow for RVs and trucks.

We stayed the night at Calico Ghost Town Campground, about 10 miles north of Barstow. It was difficult finding a level site as it was on the side of a mountain, but was a quiet place to spend the night with only a few other campers in the whole campground. 

Sunrise in Calico Ghost Town

After a beautiful mountain sunrise, we headed to the Ghost Town – abandoned in the late 1800's when silver prices dropped precipitously. The town was “saved” by Walter Knott, of Knott's Berry Farm fame in the early 1950's and donated to the county in the 1960s. The town had a high population of just under 2,000 and is a mixture of original buildings and replicas. We spent a couple of hours visiting the shops and walking around the area.

Calico Main Street (the only street)

Maggie Silver Mine

Bottle House

Mountains with unusual faults in Calico Ghost Town

Leaving there, we headed back east to tour the Mojave Desert Preserve. This preserve is part of the great Mojave Dessert that spans four states – Arizona, California, Nevada and Utah. As we drove across the desert, we started climbing in elevation, and when we got to about 1500', we began to see thousands of Joshua trees. They call it a “forest” but it certainly is not what we think of in the East when we think of forest. We drove through huge black and reddish volcanic rock deposits and over a pass, then down into Kelso depot. This had been a major railroad staging point for WWII supplies with a beautiful Spanish mission style building. The original eating counter is there and is the visitor center for the Preserve. We watched a movie about the seasons, wildlife, and plants in the desert.

Kelso Depot - the only viable building in town run by the Bureau of Land Management

The original eating counter, now a gift shop

The ranger told us we could easily make it on a dirt road to the campground which was 20 miles away, instead of going around on the paved road which made it 64 miles. Uh. Terrible road – deeply rutted in places, sandy in others, and then the horrendous washbooard when not rutted or sandy. Took us about the same time as if we had taken the long route, but we did make it without incident and got ourselves a campsite in the no hookup campground. A few folks were here, but not many. At dusk, we spotted a bobcat just outside our window, but too dark and he was moving steadily, so I didn't get a photo.

Joshua Tree Forest

Bare bones campsite in the mountains of Mojave Desert Preserve

View from our campsite

Kelso Sand Dunes in Mojave Desert Preserve

Volcanic Cinder cones in Mojave Desert Preserve

We ventured outside after dark to try our night vision skills in this dark sky area, but it was just too cold to sit waiting for our eyes to adjust. We got on our way to finish the paved route south through the park, enjoying more Joshua trees, rugged mountains and did sight a mule deer, but no endangered desert tortoises, which are indigenous here, We drove west on I-40 to Baker, to fill up with fuel at $4.65/gallon! Yikes. Then headed north towards Death Valley. Some beautiful scenery along the way.

World's largest thermometer in Baker, California

We had planned on stopping in a small town of Tecopa, but when we got there, paid for our site, we found there is no fresh water in the town. They do have mineral springs and their mineral pools looked popular, but a bit dilapidated and a large, mostly dry lake bed of white salt.  Got a refund and drove 10 miles up the road to another small town called Shoshone and got a site with electric, water and a dump. We needed full service before heading into Death Valley where we could not get a serviced site until Tuesday. They do have gas stations in these towns, but not grocery stores and absolutely no cellphone service. This part of California is certainly not what we think of as Southern California - more like rural Nevada, Utah, Arizona.  How do they live here???

Eating dinner, we were treated to an earthquake – just a gentle shaking, as if someone were pushing on the side of the RV, but very noticeable. Woke to yet another glorious sunrise with clear skies.