Calico Ghost Town Regional Park

When we first pulled in, it was a bit scary in that there was no one else here and you are pretty far off the beaten path. But as the afternoon progressed, many others started showing up. Decent place, and the sunset was very nice and when we met the Park Ranger he was very nice too! All and all, it was very nice and we enjoyed our stay!

We arrived at the gate just before 4PM. The door was locked and no one around. I drove to get some information and found two other units that had arrived shortly before me looking for any park representative. No after hours check in information. No map or facility information posted. There are 3 campground areas. A loop has full hookups, one apparently has electricity only, and one is dry camping. We drove up to calico to find a ranger who said he would be around later that evening but was trying to close the ghost town down for the day. There is a gate that could have been closed at 5PM as vehicles were arriving steadily. In short one person can only do so much. He was courteous and very helpful and directed us to the dinner just outside the park. He did stop at the camp site much later to collect our camping fee.

The premium sites are described pretty accurately in the reports before me.

The park is well worth the stop. I think some of the artifacts there could use a lot of care in order to preserve them. The commercial endeavors there are better maintained.

Self serve information at information boards would have helped. An information board with self check in for after hours in the large lot just past the gate would help a lot.

We stayed in the non-ATV loop so this review applies only to that area.

The sites are in a loop around the large and well-maintained restroom/showerhouse. There is also a strange amphitheater thingy next to the building that dozens of kids chose to play on rather than enjoying the acres of open desert around the corner.

Spaces here are very small and VERY sloped. It was impossible to get level without taking tires off the ground which we don't do. Others had theirs off the ground by several inches. FHUs with 30 amps. Some of the sewer connections are elevated which is a challenge for those with hoses that are very low - flushing uphill is never a good plan.

At over $40/night I expect to be able to get our rig level. Having the neighbor's fire ring under our window (literally) is miserable.

As much as we love getting Jeep out to play in the dirt in this fun area, we wouldn't stay here again unless they take the time and resources to make the sites level.

Little to no internet/cell service. Gas stations and two eateries in nearby Yermo, otherwise Barstow is 20 minutes and has more options.

We stayed in the A loop circle pull-through with full hookups. Admission to the Ghost Town is included in the camping fee. I tried to make a reservation a couple days in advance but the reservation period ends 5 days before your arrival date. I called and they said there were sites available so just show up. When I got to the gate to check in at about 1:45PM, the ranger wasn't sure what sites were available, but she thought A10 was. She said to park there but I would need to go to the camp office to verify. She tried to call for me but the person in the office was out to lunch.

We parked in A10, and after a couple trips to the office, finally got the OK to stay there, but I couldn't pay for the site there. She said the ranger would come around in the evening to collect. The ranger finally showed up at the trailer about 7PM. This was about the worst check-in experience I have ever had at a campground. Take my advice and make a reservation at least 5 days in advance.

The site was kind of steep front to back, so I had to put several blocks under the tongue jack and jack it all the way up to get it level. The sites are close together and the neighbors fire pit was located about 4 feet from our driveway where I parked my truck. We were lucky they didn't have a fire. The restrooms showers are fairly new and in good shape. Showers use quarters and cost a dollar minimum. Verizon service was marginal 4G outside the trailer and 3G inside.

It's a short uphill hike to the Ghost Town, and it's an interesting place and loaded with history, but quite the tourist trap. We did a nice hike up the back side of town and back down through town in the morning and it was very interesting and nobody was around. We enjoy coming to this place as we are geology and history buffs.

When my cousin was young, he would swat flies and then impale them on needles, posting them all around his room as a warning to other flies.

That created a lifelong pursuit for me, one where I sought out the places with the most flies so that I might bask in their feces-laden feet and have them crawl into my beverages what I might accidentally drink five or ten a day.

So one can imagine my delight upon visiting this regional park where no less than 1807 flies filled every inch of the air around our site. In the morning they served as an alarm as I woke to one or two climbing around I my open mouth. For lunch, they peppered our table like shotgun holes in your face. As the evening set in they would climb down into my beer and lay their eggs in my soul.

As the sun began to set, bats would circle around their weaving, bobbing, and the flies would retreat to the safety of the winged-mice's bellies.

Calico is not just a fly lover's paradise though, it's also home to a somewhat real ghost town, or rather many shops and museums built to resemble those that might have been here in the 1800s when this was a booming mining town. Admission to the ghost town is included in the price of your camping fee. There are trinket shops and souvenir shops and bars and restaurants...and it all closes at 5pm. Hot, tired children and annoyed looking Asian tourists with umbrellas despite the utter lack of rain being even remotely possible filled the streets, and every activity other than walking around involved an additional fee. Like a miniature Disney World, everyone left feeling a little disappointed and I sat around the fire contemplating whether or not the foreigners thought this was the typical American's idea of awesome.

I also found the amount of trash strewn about a particularly nice break from the typical serenity and natural vibe most public campgrounds provide. Abandoned organic apple boxes, no doubt tossed from one of the fine eateries in the ghost town, and plastic bags a cornucopia of colors--from Walmart blue to Safeway red and a cavalcade of browns and whites between--decorated the stark hillsides enough to leave one pondering the mistake they'd made not volunteering more at their local dump before heading out for a life of travel.

The only real downside to this park was that as the weekend came to a close, everyone left and we were forced to endure the beautiful (if lifeless) mountainscape all to ourselves.

I would not come back by choice, but were I forced to, I might particularly look forward to the pay showers, as $40 / night is simply too good a deal given the sheer number of free flies we now have smashed into every corner of our Airstream.