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Phillips Canyon West

4.9/5 (13 reviews)
Barstow, California (SanBernardino County)
Last Updated: 03/22/2023

Trail Information

Highlights

Phillips Canyon is a harder trail in the Calico mountain range network. Phillips Canyon is a narrow path, just a single vehicle width with several hard obstacles. Some of these obstacles are a double 3-foot waterfall, rocky hill climb with 1-4 foot ledges in the middle, narrow canyons with large boulders, and a long, even steeper hill climb with 3-foot ledges in the middle. But the obstacles are not what most people remember of Phillips Canyon. Phillips Canyon has some of the most amazing views in Southern California, including red rock canyons, mud hills you can explore, sandstone canyons, natural stone arches, and old silver mines. Besides the trail, there are ample things to do in the area, including Calico Ghost Town, the robust trail network in calico, exploring abandoned mines, the Mojave River / Road, and exploring the Mojave Desert.

Trail Difficulty and Assessment

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Josh Noesser
Official Crew

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Trail Reviews

4.9/5 (13 reviews)
Official Crew
106250
Open
Rated 5/5
Visited: 03/22/2023
Difficulty Accuracy: Spot On

My old go-to, found some people that were on the trail that weren't ready. Helped them out and continues on my way.
Open
Rated 4/5
Visited: 09/17/2022
Difficulty Accuracy: Spot On

A couple of good rocky hill climbs on this one. Not overly technical, but the bounciest trail that I encountered until we got to some of the red trails.
Official Crew
14200
Open
Rated 5/5
Visited: 12/26/2021
Difficulty Accuracy: Spot On

We ran this trail just before sunset and it offered just enough of a challenge to keep it interesting. Our friend in his largely stock 60 Series Land Cruiser opted to stay behind while we ran up the trail and back in our two Wranglers.
Open
Visited: 07/17/2021

Just did a night run with a large group. We went north on Mule Canyon, then East Phillips Drive, and part of Doran Scenic Drive. We then camp back south on Phillips Canyon West. Still being fairly new to Jeeps off road, I was a little worried about the planned route based on the rating here for Phillips Canyon West(moderate-difficult), However, I can say going south, other than one drop on a waterfall, to me, it would be a low moderate. I was further back in our group so I was able to watch multiple vehicle's lines, so I felt very comfortable on the entire route. To help you with my opinion, here is a little about my off road experience. I have had my Jeep for 1 year, and have only been out about 6 weekends in that time. I do have experience in desert buggies, but not rock crawling. Below are some photos from the entire run.
Official Crew
106250
Open
Rated 5/5
Visited: 03/08/2021

Did a quick run with friends. Turned out to be a great day.

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