Dirt Road Diary: Calico Mountains (Mule Canyon Road)

The Muddy Buddy crew had a great off-road adventure last weekend. It was really an off-roading / homeschool field trip. I love when we can make our adventures educational. Phi, our 4th grader is studying the Gold Rush. She is learning all about mining and mining towns. So we made a 2 hour drive out past Barstow to the Calico Mountains. Here we were able to off-road and explore old silver mines. We even spent the rest of the day at the Calico Ghost Town to really feel what life was like for miners.

I know this is like our 12th trip but the views still take my breath away. Every place we visit is a little different. This place was filled with some gorgeous marble looking hills and some areas where the ground was full-on green. The Calico Mountains at one time were filled with silver and was a big mining area in the late 1800's. Everywhere we looked while we rode there were holes in the mountains that used to be mines.

Just chilling in a hole in the mountain

 The ground was very soft so climbing up and down was a bit of a challenge.

We knew someone was going to eat it.

It was Joey.

The Mini Muddy Buddies. These kids really are off-roading super stars.

I know that the guys are really itching to get onto some more technical and difficult trails. Joey did a little climb without the kids in the car for fun. The Mule Canyon Trail we were on was pretty tame with a little bit of a rocky area at one point. Nothing dramatic but still a good couple of hours of fun.

I still can't believe that the view of open dirt roads can make me so happy.

Mines, everywhere, mines.

It was amazing how up-close we could get to and even into the mines.

I loved how colorful everything was. The hills were red, green, yellow and even purple.

Next up..... our time at Calico Ghost Town!