Phillips Canyon East

full-limited Icon
5/5 (5 reviews)
Barstow, California (San Bernardino County)
Last Updated: 05/31/2023
Trail Types
Scout Route
Full Trail Guide

Preview Trail Icon
Preview Trails
easy
moderate
difficult
severe
extreme

Limited Trail Icon
Upgrade to Unlock
Limited Access/All-Access
Scout Route
Start a 7-day Free Trial

Trail Information

Highlights

Leading into the heart of the Calico Mountains, Phillips Canyon East meanders next to open tunnels and deep pits, providing constant reminders of the silver mining era that once dominated this area. Beginning over flat soft sandy washes, this short trail soon transforms into a rough, rocky, narrow driving challenge. As the trail descends west from its peak, impressively tall and jagged rock walls hug the path leading to the very difficult Phillips Canyon West and Odessa Canyon trails.


Trail Difficulty and Assessment

Trail Navigation

Trail Reviews

5/5 (6)
This trail guide's difficulty was changed on 05/28/2023
User Avatar
Official Crew
inline-aa Icon
43400
Open
Rated 5/5
Visited: 05/16/2023

I have driven off-roading long enough that I should not be lulled by an easy trail start. After a sandy wash start, I did not expect the rough trail this became. It was a fun trail with its driving challenges, and the Waypoint 2 camping spot is excellent. We proceeded from its end to Phillips Canyon West and enjoyed the challenge of an even more difficult trail. Odessa Canyon through proved a bit much for a lone vehicle, and we turned around to the shortest trail back to the pavement over Tin Can Alley back to Mule Canyon.
Trail Review: Phillips Canyon East - Robert Kruse
Trail Review: Phillips Canyon East - Robert Kruse
View More Images
User Avatar
Official Crew
inline-aa Icon
14500
Open
Rated 5/5
Visited: 12/26/2021
Difficulty Accuracy: Spot On

This was a fun trail that will be pretty easy for any truck with low range but a few rocks here and there and some steeper sections might rule out some AWD or 2WD vehicles.
Open
Rated 5/5
Visited: 07/15/2020

Beautiful scenery and places to stop and appreciate your surroundings. Not a difficult trail at all, but very enjoyable. 3rd gen Tacoma TRDOR w/2" lift and 33 MT's.
User Avatar
Official Crew
inline-aa Icon
3450
Open
Rated 5/5
Visited: 12/27/2019

We ran up Phillips West before going down Pillips East. Both trails seemed unchanged from the recent storms. This is a great warm up trail before running the bigger trails. A lot of times we use the Pillips trail as a short cut to get back to camp. Good times!
Trail Review: Phillips Canyon East - David May
Trail Review: Phillips Canyon East - David May
View More Images

From the Community

Start a free trial and get this level of detail on every trail guide
Start Free Trial