Hobodom Trial, Day 1

I got my Instant Pot and a hot plate for cooking. The hot plate is working double duty as a heater in the morning. At night, the electric blanket keeps me warm. With an electric car and a 2000W inverter, the hobodom in 9x7 tent can turn into a life of luxury.

I gave up camping at Alabama Hill and came to Shasta-Trinity instead on 5/11. To get to Alabama Hill, I had to go over the Sierra through Lake Tahoe. It is a fine place for hobodom, but it was too far just for a trial. Mt. Shasta is about half the distance and just as good a place.

I originally planned to camp out for 4 nights at Algoma camping ground and then drive to all destinations from the camp. As I drove past Castle Crags, however, it didn't seem to make sense to drive all the way to Algoma and then drive back 40 miles to hike Castle Crags. So I decided on the fly to camp at Castle Lake campground for 2 days and then go to Algoma. 

Turned out, it still takes over 30 minutes from Castle Lake to Castle Crags. The straight distance is about 5 miles, but there is no way to get from there to there directly. You have to get on the freeway and then go around Castle Crags peaks to get to Castle Crags state park on the opposite side of the peaks. To make it worse, You have to climb up 2000 feet on a winding mountain road to get to Castle Lake. So you don't save much time -- only 6 minutes to be exact, according to the Google map --  by camping at Castle Lake instead of Algoma.

Well, Castle Lake campground was closed. Maybe it is not open till June, I don't know. But there were dispersed campsites available nearby so I set up the camp there with the view of Mt. Shasta with its top half still covered with snow. Nice view, but it was an exposed site with the sun beating down on you all day long. And the nights were as cold as the days were hot. I had my fan and spray bottle going during the day and the electric blanket at night. It would've been downright miserable without them. There were spots with shades further into the campground and I tried to get there by squeezing through the bushes. I only managed to scrape the side and the bottom of my car a few times and then turned around. Tesla S was never meant to be an overlander -- I'll need a jeep in my next life.