Calico Madness March '07

By Adam Burch

What a great way to spend a weekend, my friends. Five rigs headed out early from the Vista area early Saturday morning, and within a couple of hours, were airing down with two others at the Bunkhouse, just east of the ghost town at Calico, CA. There were seven rigs in the Geared 4 fun crew, ranging from my jeep with the tiny 33's to JD's Toyota with the sweet custom cage and 36's.

Our plan was to head up Odessa canyon through the loop, down Doran canyon through the bypass, and then back up the Gatekeeper for those foolish/brave enough. The terrain was excellent, and the trail took us between some pretty narrow vertical walls that took bites out of a few rigs that weren't paying attention. Not far into Odessa, we got iced by another group of wheelers taking a lunch break, who were waiting on an even slower group in front of them. After a little convincing, they got back in their rigs and started moving again, and we ultimately passed them and the other jacksons in the lead who were also taking a lunch break.

Odessa offered some interesting obstacles, and some of the trail looked to be made partly of old eroded pavement. One section of the trail was washed out on one side, making the ascent a little sketchy. You risked a nasty rollover if your tires weren't placed correctly. Of course, John Z. had to climb up the side of the washed out section and make us SWB rigs look bad. We call steep climbs like those "Cherokee Land"; Copy that.

Somewhere along the loop, Odessa turns into Doran canyon, and we passed an area full of great mines to explore. We had the Gatekeeper in mind, so we didn't stop to look around. Doran descends down a series of somewhat challenging obstacles, and we were told the way up was a lot more fun. As we approached the bypass, we could see a couple of CJs stuck in the obstacle, with one having some major mechanical trouble. We parked on the ridge, ate some lunch, and let them clean up that mess. I believe they ended up winching that guy backwards to clear the way for other challengers.

As soon as we saw the entrance was clearing, we sped down the bypass to claim our spot. I decided to give it the first try, and although JD (wisely) advised me not to run the Gatekeeper, I wanted to anyway. In spite of JDs good spotting, I ended up on my side in the monster's mouth, and had to be dragged out backwards by this killer Unimog driven by this group of crazy drunk guys. They turned out to be a life saver, and the only damage was some scratched paint and a broken U-joint.

JD was up next, and even with his bigger tires and crazy rig, got a little tippy and opted to take a winch to keep from flipping over backwards. According to bystanders, the Gatekeeper has gotten progressively harder over time, as the holes between the large boulders are dug out more and more. John Z. decided to make this Cherokee Land as well, but decided to back off when he busted his other fog lamp. It was a sign.

Not to be outdone, Chris had to run the ole' YJ through the Keeper, and almost made it through without assistance, but the final few feet had his front tires in the air, and out came the winch. Gatekeeper: 4 -- Geared-4-Fun: 0. We nursed our wounds, and rounded up the rigs to head back towards the entrance. JD , Jimmy, and Chris were taking off that evening, and the rest of us needed to find a campsite.

We ended up on this cool little hill in the middle of everything, which during the day was busy with quad traffic, but was clear at night. Sam had the tent up and steaks on the grill before I even picked a place to put my tent, and we were all soon enjoying whatever grub we had packed. Although we were all worn out, a 10 pm night run was calling our name. We headed out into the dark, accidentally going up Odessa again.
Instead of taking the whole loop, we checked out a lot of side trails, and found mines everywhere. After contemplating lowering someone down a 60 foot shaft with the winch, we called it a night. Sam complained we were moving too quickly down the trail, calling us the "Speed Wheelers". I guess I can see his point, but I think the coil springs make bumps a little easier to deal with.

We packed up camp the next morning, and after dealing with a loose axle/spring connection on Sam's rig, we took off up Doran canyon to find some more mines. There were side trails leading off in all directions, and although we couldn't reach a couple far-off mines on a hilltop we were aiming for, we ended up having a blast at the Bismark mines, with John Z leading the way on the more dangerous rock wall climbing. With proper gear, there were some spots we would like to go back and check out, which were just too dangerous for free-climbing.

After lunch in the shade of one of the mines, we headed off to the Wall Street mine. Situated near an awesome sheer canyon, Wall Street had a couple deep horizontal shafts to explore. Steve, John, and I decided to climb into a tiny little wooden chute, and ended up inside this killer vertical shaft. We saw light above, so we climbed up the chamber, and it was quite sketchy. In many sections, there were old wooden braces between the tunnel walls, which fortunately held while we were there.

After about maybe 50-65 vertical feet, we came upon a 20 foot long upwards-slanting tunnel, which ended in a well-lit opening just big enough for Steve to fit through. We had to belly crawl over sharp rocks to get there, and although we were filthy and bloody at the end, it was worth it. That shaft popped us out on top of the cliff and we made our way back down to the girls waiting below. After re-hydrating, we packed up and headed out the back way through fairly easy fire-roads, and had dinner at Logan's Roadhouse, which just might have the best dinner rolls on earth.

For those of you that came, Muchas Gracias. It was an all-around awesome weekend, and I would recommend it to the newbies. You just have to watch the time of year; it gets pretty hot out there in the summer. Oh yeah, and you have to watch the Gatekeeper. Watch it, don't drive it.