Trekking Through Desert Ghost Towns and Dunes

[bearthedog]

For years I have traveled through the deserts of California, Nevada, and Arizona. In all my years I have never seen the Calico Ghost Town or the Dunes of Kelso. I’ve been working pretty hard lately and thought I would take a few days off and get out into the great wide open, the desert.
Calico Ghost Town is a ghost town, and former Mining town, located in the Calico Mountains of the Mojave Desert region of Southern California.

Founded in 1881 as a silver mining town, shortly after it was founded, Calico had a population of 1,200 people and over 500 silver mines. Besides the usual assortment of bars, brothels, gambling halls and a few churches, Calico also supported a newspaper, the Calico Print. In the mid 1890s the price of silver dropped and Calico's silver mines were no longer economically viable. With the end of borax mining in the region in 1907 the town was completely abandoned. The last original inhabitant of Calico before it was abandoned, Mrs. Lucy Bell Lane, died in the 1960s. Her house remains as the main museum in town.

Got to have a knife traveling through the desert

Mines

 

[bearthedog]

Blacksmith Shop

Kelso Dunes

This unique and isolated dune system rises more than 600 feet above the desert floor. The dunes were created by southeast winds blowing finely grained residual sand from the Mojave River sink, which lies to the northwest. The dunes' color is created from many golden rose quartz particles. When the dry sand grains slide down the steep upper slopes, a notable booming sound is produced. In some years, the dunes offer a nice spring wildflower display. The Kelso Dune sands remained a mystery until very recently.

By studying the mineral composition and shapes of sand grains that make up Kelso Dunes, we know that most of the sand has traveled all the way from the Mojave River sink east of Afton Canyon (map). Wind blowing from the northwest gradually carried the sand southeastward. In the path of the prevailing winds lie the Providence Mountains and the pink pinnacles of the Granite Mountains. The rocky crags and sloping fans of the two ranges block the moving sand. Sand piles up at the base of the mountains and along their flanks, forming dunes and sand sheets.

Where the sand piles up researchers found that the dunes are actually made up of several sets of dunes, stacked one on top of another. Each set formed in response to some past climate change! The Kelso Dunes depend upon times when the sand grain (sediment) supply is enhanced. This happens whenever the climate is dry enough to expose the raw material of dunes, sand, to the wind. In fact, most of the eastern part of the Kelso Dunes formed when water-filled Soda Lake and Silver Lake dried up, exposing the lake bottom sediment. The entire dune system was stacked up in five major pulses over the past 25,000 years.

At a distance, the Kelso Dunes

Strange things along the way

 

[bearthedog]

Approaching the Dunes

Climbing the Dunes caused this

Finally…the top!

Thanks Trace

 

[JK Knives]

Great photos, as usual! Do you have any more of the old buildings?

 

[fatcat55]

Cool! Thanks for sharing.

 

[DennisStrickland]

great show bearthedog. the pics & contents are fantastic. most people never realize how much color is in the desert. most of all i love the deafening silence.
dennis

 

[Fonly]

Awesome photo's.

So, is the town some sort of heritage site now? people there off and on and what not?

 

[tknife]

Simply amazing pics :thumbup: I always enjoy your journeys.

 

[WILLIAM.M]

Always look forward to seeing where you go.....

Thanks for posting Bear

 

[Fiddleback]

Cool pics. You said there was a museum. Is the town totaly abandonned, or is there some life around the pplace?

 

[reconranger]

Great off-roading in the hills around Calico!

http://jeep.off-road.com/trucks-4x4/trails/calico-run-15020.html

http://www.calicotown.com/ohv/


The Calico townsite is a county park. Unfortunately, after several devastating fires (as recently as 2001) and a century of neglect, many of the original town buildings are now gone. I find that it is currently more commercialized than I would prefer, but they have to make money somehow to support the site: http://www.calicotown.com/

 

[Zombie Zeke]

Beauty full pictures the whole way through, I am close to there and know I think we'll take a little excursion this week!

 

[TheGame]

Great pics, as usual. :thumbup:

 

[reconranger]

Were you out there this weekend? We were going to do an off-road/target shooting trip to the Calico Mountains on Sunday, but the weather report was for 40 mph winds....

Also, check out Afton Canyon and the Rasor Dunes if you have not already!

http://digital-desert.com/afton-canyon/

 

[bearthedog]

Great photos, as usual! Do you have any more of the old buildings?

Random Knife porn

 

[redpoint]

Fantastic pics ...!

Since you're in California, I assume you've been to the ghost town of Bodhi [about 45 min. east of Yosemite]? If not, it's extremely photogenic.

 

[mtnfolk mike]

awesome pics as always Reuben...:thumbup: my Mom hails from the outer desert, of good ol' Yuma AZ...

 

[Bob W]

I've only been to California once (not including LAX), and that happened to be a trip to the Mojave Desert Preserve. Kelso Dunes was memorable due to a giant rattlesnake laying in the shade next to the walking path.

Didn't go to Calico, but there were a couple of other ghost towns in the area.

Nice pictures, thanks for sharing.

 

[ml100]

Thanks for sharing.
ghost towns are magic.

 

[shangchi108]

Great pics, Mr. Dog. I always appreciate your posts.

I love exploring Cali, and I've done a bit in the past year. You've given me some ideas of new places to explore. Many thanks.