Calico Ghost Town Travel Guide | California Travel Tips

California travel journalist Veronica Hill shares a guide to Calico Ghost Town in this episode of "California Travel Tips."Show more

Located in the dusty Mojave Desert — roughly 10 miles north of Barstow — Calico Ghost Town was named for the rainbow-colored hills that produced one of the richest silver strikes in California history.

Home to 1,200 residents by 1887, this was a wild and woolly place — with 22 saloons, its own red light district and several fine restaurants. Today, Calico Ghost Town has five surviving original buildings: the Park Office, Lane's General Store, Lil's Saloon, and The Zenda Mining Company.

Plan on a full day to explore. You can do a bit of gold panning; walk sideways in the Mystery Shack; take a ride on the Calico & Odessa Narrow Gauge Railway; or explore more than 1,000 feet of tunnel inside the Maggie Mine Shaft. Around lunch, grab a cold beer and burger at Old Miner's Cafe, or enjoy an old-fashioned sarsparilla at the Calico House Restaurant. Then, hike off your meal on the East Calico Hiking Trail, where you'll find unique cabins carved into the rocky hillsides.

Calico produced more than $20 million in silver, and was deserted by the 1930s. Walter Knott (of Knott's Berry Farm fame) purchased the crumbling town in 1951 for $13,500, restoring it to its former glory. It is now run by the park service.

Tips: Calico takes credit cards and there are several ATMs on site. You can stay the night in Calico's campgrounds or bunkhouse. The ghost town is located off I-15 en route to Las Vegas.

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