Selby Campground Loop
Walk Review
We hiked up the hiking trail that exits the back of Selby Campground and made a loop by hiking down Caliente Mountain Road back to Selby.
The single-track trail had no shade, and the first half of the hike was a steep climb with no switchbacks. The walk down Caliente Mountain Road was less steep, but we were basically walking on a dirt road and needed to dodge a half dozen cars.
Throughout the hike, most of what we heard was birds and other wildlife… assuming we could hear them over our own hard-breathing as we labored uphill.
What I Learned
We saw this interesting-looking plant that had these light-green sacks hanging below the flower. We learned that these are called bladderpods, with the pods being inedible (they kind of looked like peppers, so we thought maybe we could snack on them).
Friends
We hiked this with Steve, Mercedes, and Chris. Steve and Mercedes raced on up the uphill while Chris and I labored during the uphill parts (Cassie hung back with me and Chris and showered us with encouragements).
What Happened?
4.6 miles, 2 hrs 10 mins, 1234 ft of ascent
After a great night and a hearty breakfast, we wanted to do one more thing in Carrizo before heading home, so we decided to hike a loop by heading uphill from our campsite.
At first, I led the way, but after a few minutes, I was feeling tired, so Mercedes and Steve led the way while Chris, Cassie, and I trekked up at a slower pace. During our rests, we marveled at the barren beauty of Carrizo while I also complained about how hot and hard the hike was. But we didn’t give up, and sooner than later, we came to the point where the trail met up with Caliente Mountain Road.
Thanks to Steve and the dispersed camper for this photo!
Steve and Mercedes had waited for us here, and we took a selfie to celebrate. While we were taking the selfie, one of the campers that overheard us offered and took a picture of us—this latter picture was nice that it showed the landscape around us. We thanked the man and headed downhill.
As we hiked, I started messing around every time we had to pull over to the side of the road to let a car through. I saluted a car, did the “after you” pose as if I was holding a door open, and waved at the drivers. The “after you” pose garnered a happy reaction, so when I shared that with the group, we all did it together with the next car and it was so much fun—the car passengers had a big smile too! With the next car, we all danced our own dance and that was really fun too!
Soon, we were back at the campsite, where we cooled down by sitting at our campsite’s picnic table and letting the wind cool us down as we snacked on our remaining snack supplies and shared our final stories for the trip.
We all needed to get back home, however, so we hugged each other, bid our goodbyes, and enjoyed the last little bits of Carrizo as we drove ourselves back into civilization.
