Last Saturday the gang scouted future legal and safe shooting areas in the desert around the Calico area. Senior Grouch (that's me) called the local BLM office prior to our recon to find out where we should look for a good shootin' spot. The nice lady gave us a good lead so off we went to check the area out.
We started close to the Calico ghost town and proceeded up one of the designated trails. During our all-day trip we came across several abandoned mining operations. Some of the tunnels and pits were sealed but some were open and ready to maim or kill weekend desert rats foolish enough to go into the mines. We came across on pit that was deep enough that stones tossed in seemed to fall forever before striking something to create a noise of the stone's impact.
It was a great day to be in the desert, sunny, warm, and later in the day very windy! By the evening it was blowing so hard that I had to steady myself with a hand on the gas pump while pumping gas into the Jeep for the ride home. I'm guessing 70+ mph winds!
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| Where we like to start and end our trips to Calico. Great food and shakes! |
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| There is something about being in the desert that brings out the wonderful weirdness in people! Giant iron beasts can be found in Peggy Sue's back yard! |
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| Starting up the canyon to scout for long distance shooting spots |
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| The colors in the rocks throughout the trip were amazing |
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| Love the vista |
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| I saw these openings in this rock outcropping from the shooting area we decided will work just right for us so I had to hike up to see what I could see. |
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| Looking back at the gang from the rocks! |
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| Part of a very large abandoned mining operation. We declined to go into this shaft. To give a sense of scale, that opening was probably 200 feet at least from the floor. |
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| A closed off vertical mine shaft |
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| Remains of the mining operation. It was quite windy here! |
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| How windy? Molly isn't that puffy unless it is blowing 50+ |
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| What did they mine here? |
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| Another mine and evidence of living rough. When all you have are rocks, that is what you build with. |
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| This looks interesting! |
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| A vertical shaft was back here that was at least 50 feet deep. We didn't go down or even too close to the edge. |
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| Reminds me of the original 'Planet of the Apes' movie. |
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| Miners were too busy digging to worry about their trash |
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Looks like a good trip. Wish I had been there!
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