The outing started out with threatening weather. Some participants thought it nuts to attempt this trip. Weather was a significant part of the whole outing. During the ride up to the high desert the car caravan encountered showers and fog in the Cajon Pass area. Upon arriving on the high desert, the weather appeared a lot more promising. The sky showed some clouds and clear sky but later the clouding increased, became quite dark, but never produced that much rain. The most significant weather problem for the group was the wind. Saturday afternoon it picked up while the scout group was in Calico. Upon arriving back at camp we discovered that a nearby scout troop members came over to stake down two of our tents while we were out of camp. The wind never diminished for the rest of the trip until we started back home. The high winds posed a significant problem when it came to cooking. Bringing anything up to cooking temperature was a chore and normal cooking times were vastly extended due to the wind throwing the stove heat away. Cars were parked to offer wind breaks. Two adults even tied their tents to parked cars for fear that their tents would blow away. Saturday late afternoon it did rain lightly for about two brief periods. The rain almost achieved a horizontal trajectory due to the high winds.

The campground was a distance outside of town. A couple of other scout troops were camped in the same campground area. below our elevation and slightly west was a RV camping area. The bathroom facilities had flush toilets, sinks with running water, and showers. These facilities looked to be a bit run down but still functional. The campsites had running water faucets near the road, rock fire pits and tables. The camp site surface was quite strewn with small rocks and some scouts found it difficult to drive tent stakes into the ground.

The outing members went into Calico twice, before and after lunch on Saturday. Calico is a tourist attraction so besides the historical significance and wonderful educational value, there are a lot of opportunities to spend money at no need shops. The group did pay to walk into an example of a mine, called Magi's Mine. The deep tunnel was lit dimly. The walking tour into 1000 feet mine shaft was an education as there were significant points where the viewer could see some of the mining methods.

The group walked through the town taking in the primitive living conditions that the miners had to endure. "Houses" were made of rock and clay and furnishings were quite simple. The town is built upon a hillside. The hillsides overlooking the town are dotted by visible mine shafts and spring wild flowers, quite an interesting backdrop to an interesting town.

The outing group did witness one of the prearranged Calico gun fights which was a bit over the top theatrical and mildly humorous.

The drive home was fast and uneventful and included the traditional visit to a fast food restaurant, Carl's in this case, for an early lunch.