Calico's Mud Hills offer hours of entertainment in close proximity to camping and the roads. This popular cut-through has everything an off-road enthusiast could want from high speed berms and narrow canyons to steep hills and ledges. On top of that, when this area gets a little water, it turns into a giant slip and slide, making even the easiest routes almost impossible.
Trail Difficulty and Assessment
Exclusive for our All-Access Members
Easily identify whether the trail is stock friendly
or not.
View 14 specific concerns along the trail such as
height and width restrictions.
Upgrade from free to our All-Access Membership and get
every detail, waypoint, photo, and more on every single
trail guide.
When you are an All-Access member, our trail guides
come with a short video of the author running the trail
to give you a visual understanding of what to expect.
From Highway 15 heading northeast, exit the second Calico exit (Yermo) and head north towards Calico. Take the first dirt road north (Mule Canyon) 34.921333, -116.848928 (0.0 miles from start). (Go ahead and air down here; recommend low tire pressure due to shale). As you are going up the canyon, go left at the big Y. The trailhead is on the left in 0.5 miles.
It's always fun driving through the mud hills. It was tight, but we just barely got our friend through in his 60 Series Land Cruiser with minor bumps and scratches (he probably wouldn't do it again if he had the choice... haha). But for my YJ and the TJ it was a good time.
Its moderate for anyone with a jeep but if you have a smaller vehicle like me, 1987 Suzuki Samurai, it is not bad and a perfect confidence booster. I went through on a stock lift and 27inch tires. I have one little battle scar from my exhaust tail pipe got dinged a little but nothing past that. Nice technical turning starts out easy get to the first set or rocks and was cake the rest of the way. I highly recomend this trail for anyone that is nervous about going through some of the tougher trails in Calico. Ill be going back this weekend with a lift bigger tires and a GoPro to compare stock vs 1.5inch lift, no sway bar, and 30inch tires.
This was a great little warm up trail for the day. It was fun to wind through the hills in our Wranglers but I can see how this would be really tight for anything longer than a two-door Jeep. If you don’t have great articulation or a locker, you might find yourself needing to choose your line more carefully.
The Mud Hills are fun and twisty and will remind you of Mr Toad's Wild Ride at Disneyland. Some of the twists will be hard for a 4-door Wrangler Unlimited, however. The trail is also fun for a night run if you're camping at the nearby Calico Campground.
Coming from Colorado, I had never run through a canyon comprised completely of dried mud! This off-road trail was a surprise to me from that start, because on that day I had no idea we were running it. We left our camp around 10am to hit Doran Canyon and our trail leader took us down Mud Hill Center Route prior to hitting the main trail, Doran Canyon. It was a nice tight trail, with several multi-point turns for my Jeep JKU. I found it to be scenic and interesting driving through this formation.
View More Images
From the Community
Exclusive for our All-Access Members
Ask the author of a trail guide any questions you may have and
get a direct answer from the author and the community! One of
the many perks that come with an All-Access Membership.
Joshua Noesser grew up in Southern California but has lived in different parts of the country during his young adult life. Josh was first turned to four wheeling when he road with one of his friends dad up Surprise Canyon in the Panamint Valley at age14. After nearly 3 different roll overs later and a half dozen intense waterfalls, Josh was hooked. At 16 he purchased his first Jeep a CJ 7 and by 17 was putting his first locker in it.
Currently, Josh is the owner and CEO of Nybble, an IT Solutions Company based in Orange County, California. Nybble isn't your normal IT company where everyone stays in and plays video games. Nybble's average company trip is out on the trails since a good amount of his staff enjoy wheeling too. As Josh likes to say, he offers the only IT Company with the ability to provide services in extreme locations. "If you want a server at the top of The Hammers, we will take care of that for you."
Today you can find Josh out on the trail behind the wheel in one of his three different off-road vehicles. See the vehicles below for more information.
If you ever run into Josh, please say high, he is a very friendly person and is always happy to have a new person join the group.
By clicking "ACCEPT", you agree to be the terms and conditions of each
policy linked to above. You also agree to the storing of cookies on
your device to facilitate the operation and functionality of our site,
enhance and customize your user experience, and to analyze how our
site is used.