Three Dusty Days on the Carrizo Plain

Soda Lake gleaming white on the Carrizo Plain — Soda Lake like a sheet of quiet — the trip starts where the map goes empty.

I went bikepacking on the Carrizo Plain to hear big silence. It’s a wide bowl between the Temblor and Caliente ranges, stitched by dirt roads and a white scrawl called Soda Lake. I packed 45s, a tiny stove, and the kind of patience washboard demands.

Day 1 — Selby Camp → Soda Lake Rim (≈ 36 mi / 2,000 ft)

Morning light slides down the Caliente Range as I roll from camp and drop toward the basin. The air smells like dry grass and salt. Soda Lake Road turns to pale dust that squeaks under the tires; every mile feels farther because the landscape is so big. I pull over on a low rise and eat a tortilla with peanut butter while the lake glows chalky white.

Aerial perspective of Soda Lake and the Carrizo Plain — Flat as a held breath — all that brightness is mineral and mirage.

Camp tucks into a wind break above the flats. Dinner is noodles with a suspiciously generous squeeze of olive oil. Coyotes sing like an AM radio station you can’t quite tune.

Day 2 — Elkhorn Road → Temblor Foothills (≈ 44 mi / 3,300 ft)

I swing east to Elkhorn Road, a long gravel ribbon shadowing the Temblor Range. It’s all washboard, cattle guards, and sky. The pedals settle into a farm-road cadence: relax the hands, float the front tire, let the dust make its own weather. When the wind falls away, it’s so quiet I can hear valve stems ticking as the wheels cool on a rest stop.

View from the Temblor Range down across the Carrizo Plain — Temblor overlook: the basin laid out like a relief map you can ride.

By afternoon I’m climbing into the first folds of the range. A sandy corner tries to tuck the front; I unclip, laugh, and walk ten steps. Camp is a little shoulder of ground with a view of the whole plain going purple at the edges.

Day 3 — Painted Rock Detour → Back to Selby (≈ 38 mi / 2,400 ft)

Cool air and long shadows make the ride feel lighter than the elevation profile says. I detour toward Painted Rock and lean the bike at the boundary to stare. Even from a distance, the horseshoe of stone looks like a held story. I turn back toward the lake, picking a line through the pale dust where bicycle and horizon rhyme.

Painted Rock formation rising from grasslands on the Carrizo Plain — Painted Rock: a sandstone horseshoe holding heat and history.

The last miles are a quiet glide along the lake’s edge. Back at camp, coffee tastes louder and the dust lines on my calves look like contour intervals. Good trip.

Route Sketch

Selby Campground → Soda Lake Road south → lake rim pullouts → east to Elkhorn Road “big sky” miles → climb into the first Temblor folds → detour toward Painted Rock → arc back on basin roads to Selby. Let the landscape set your speed; it’s designed for unhurried wheels.