Calico in October

[rotozuk]

******UPDATE******
No longer going to Calico on the 27-8. Just to many conflicts on that weekend. We will be doing a simple exploring trip in the area October 6 as a day run with open diff vehicles. You are welcome to join us, but keep in mind this will be an exploring trip, not really a typical trail run. We will do a full trail run a bit later into the winter wheeling season. -Wayne
******UPDATE******





Looking to pull together another trip, this time to Calico, out near Barstow. If you have not been to Calico, you really should check it out. I personally enjoy this area more then any other in the local area. Just a good mix of fun trails, different terrain and geological formations, and tons of mining history. As a side bonus you can have heavily modified rigs, and almost stock rigs in the same area. There is one hard obstacle (with bypass), and the rest are not that bad. All depends on conditions of the day. One obstacle does have a nasty habit of busting windows out of the back of longer rigs, but again you can avoid this obstacle if needed (long bypass).

Plenty of room for RVs, trailers and buses.

Some pics etc:
The hard obstacle with a screwed up line:


As far as I know, Butler is the only person that has pulled off the high line through the obstacle:


SUV window buster (bad line):


Checking out one of the mine sites:


Maps:

[fj40forlife]

out of 1 to 10 how hard is it. just wounding

[rotozuk]

Originally Posted by fj40forlife

out of 1 to 10 how hard is it. just wounding

The answer is yes..

I have had a blast with a totally stock Samurai and I have had a lot of fun in my buggy.

A single locker and some ground clearance will allow you to do everything except the one hard obstacle (take the bypass). Full sized rigs with a couple of mods have been fine in the past, but they might not want to follow me into the mud hills.

-wayne

[zcarczar]

I'll try and make this trip, usually go to glamis that weekend but my quad is torn down. I'll be out at the hammers the weekend before this one so who knows if my rig will still be running.

[imgonnasnap]

I'm down for this..

[84socal]

hey wanye im gonna try really hard to get my stuff fixed i really want to go

anybody want to help put some stuff on ?? need someone that can weld

[fj40forlife]

hey I could see my trailer on the first pic all the way on the left but I never been there.

What you need welded?

[84socal]

so far maybe the hysteer but if i could get the rest of the stuff for the front then that as well

[EarlKann]

You don't need to weld the high steer on.

I need to check with my social scheduler (wife) but I'd love to make this run also.

[rotozuk]

Originally Posted by 84socal

so far maybe the hysteer but if i could get the rest of the stuff for the front then that as well

I do my welding down at Stinky Fab in San Diego. Actually I usually let Dallas do it while I grind out more metal, etc. I'll be down there next weekend as I need to finish fixing my rear axle and such.

You need to weld in the steering box plate or something? If worse comes to worse I'm sure you could work out a deal with Dallas. (stinkbug here on pirate)

-Wayne

[ppltrak]

Hey Wayne, keep us posted as we are interested in going back out there again. We were the group of kicks from Zworld. Will you be camping in the same place? and how's your hand?

Kevin

[Hazmat_Offroad]

I may be down for this as well. I'm going out of town near the end of Oct for business. Hopefully not on the 27-28th..

I'll keep checking back here for updates.

[rotozuk]

Originally Posted by ppltrak

Hey Wayne, keep us posted as we are interested in going back out there again. We were the group of kicks from Zworld. Will you be camping in the same place? and how's your hand?

Kevin

Hand is doing fine, not 100% but works.

Camping will be the same spot, Mule Canyon. Lots of room in there for however many people decide to come.

Good to see folks interested in the run. It is a fun place and well worth a visit or 12. I have been going to Calico for years and always enjoy poking around the area. Find something new every time too.

-Wayne

[Aaron871]

Sounds like fun. We'll see if my junk is still running in a few weeks.
Is this a free ride? Do I need to sign up or anything?

[rotozuk]

Originally Posted by Aaron871

Sounds like fun. We'll see if my junk is still running in a few weeks.
Is this a free ride? Do I need to sign up or anything?

FREE

[Chris]

FYI, looks like the BLM will be holding a cleanup at Surprise Canyon this same weekend.

[rotozuk]

Originally Posted by Chris

FYI, looks like the BLM will be holding a cleanup at Surprise Canyon this same weekend.

Is that a Hike in kind of thing? When I was up there in the spring it looked pretty clean, but did not go past the water falls.

-Wayne

[OTR]

Originally Posted by rotozuk

Is that a Hike in kind of thing? When I was up there in the spring it looked pretty clean, but did not go past the water falls.

-Wayne

Wayne.
The cleanup is not of the canyon, it is the remains of the Chris Wicht camp at the current parking area which burned to the ground in the past year.

The BLM did not contact any mulitple use groups for the cleanup, but they did contact the Sierra Club, Desert Survivors, and Friends of the Panamints (not FOPV). Further, this is yet another non-patented mining claim that is not being cleaned up by those responsible for the mess. Rocky and George Novak (the previous residents of the camp) are now living in Ballarat and running the store and campground there. A portion of this claim is in wilderness and they are trying to restore the the "wilderness values" to anything they can in the canyon, hence the creating of "walk in" campsites just off of the road and parking area...



kris.

[rotozuk]

Originally Posted by OTR

Wayne.
The cleanup is not of the canyon, it is the remains of the Chris Wicht camp at the current parking area which burned to the ground in the past year.

The BLM did not contact any mulitple use groups for the cleanup, but they did contact the Sierra Club, Desert Survivors, and Friends of the Panamints (not FOPV). Further, this is yet another non-patented mining claim that is not being cleaned up by those responsible for the mess. Rocky and George Novak (the previous residents of the camp) are now living in Ballarat and running the store and campground there. A portion of this claim is in wilderness and they are trying to restore the the "wilderness values" to anything they can in the canyon, hence the creating of "walk in" campsites just off of the road and parking area...



kris.

I had just found some info on it before reading your post:

Chris Wicht Camp Cleanup—Volunteers Needed—October 27, 28

Chris Wicht Camp, as reported earlier, burned completely last September. It was the historic camp at the end of the county maintained road in Surprise, about a half mile below the Surprise Canyon Falls.

The Ridgecrest BLM has done their hazmat evaluation (reportedly found nothing dangerous), and has tentatively scheduled their cleanup for the weekend of October 27 and 28. BLM is calling for volunteers to help with some of the lighter work. (Removing vehicle and building carcasses is reserved for the professionals.)

If you are interested, call Marty Dickes, the BLM Wilderness person, at 760-384-5444 for more details.

Tom Budlong, 310-476-1731, TomBudlong@Roadrunner.com

Email comments, and to be added or removed from the Friends of the Panamints list. Or call.

That site does need a fair amount of clean up. Here is what it looked like earlier in the year.

-Wayne

[TroyToy]

theres a pretty big run this same weekend scheduled at the hammers

have a buddy coming out from colorado to hook up

[rotozuk]

I'm thinking of changing the weekend as I think it better I spend my time helping to clean up the base of Surprise. As my buddy Steve says, it would be good to show that 4x4 owners are also interested in cleaning areas up.

-Wayne

[fj40forlife]

you know what weekend you doing it still
?

[REDWAGON1985]

Originally Posted by rotozuk

The answer is yes..

I have had a blast with a totally stock Samurai and I have had a lot of fun in my buggy.

A single locker and some ground clearance will allow you to do everything except the one hard obstacle (take the bypass). Full sized rigs with a couple of mods have been fine in the past, but they might not want to follow me into the mud hills.

-wayne

I fit a full size bronco thru mud hills...but took out the side window on the exit...ran it backwards...I have run it forwards with no problems...but you have to get used to 50 point turns...

[rotozuk]

Originally Posted by fj40forlife

you know what weekend you doing it still
?

Oh whenever. What sounds good to you?

[zcarczar]

Well count me out, I broke the samurai frame this weekend at the hammers and basically took out my entire rear suspension, d-shaft, rear shocks and maybe t-case. Damn, I was looking forward to going.