Castle Lake Road
MVP
Ear plugs—The deeper sleep I got with the ear plugs helped me to stay capable the next day, without me feeling drowsy on the 5 hr drive home. Quality of sleep really matters.
Camp Review:
There are many pull offs on Castle Lake Road and because it is National Forest land, you can disperse camp on them.
It’s bear country, so keep your food and toiletries locked up.
There was no car traffic after 10pm, so it was actually nice and quiet.
Had I known one could backpack at Heart Lake, I would have just done that.
Cell reception is on and off on the road, but where I camped, I had 5G signal with T-Mobile and 2 bars of LTE with AT&T.
What I Learned:
I was worried before coming here that there would be tons of people taking advantage of free camping, but I was alone in a huge turnout. Driving up to Castle Lake the next morning, I found at least two other spots on the main road. There are unpaved roads intersecting Castle Lake Road that also has camping spots.
I celebrated a tough hike earlier in the day with two large cokes. Due to that, I had a terrible night of sleep that was full of fits and starts.
Ear plugs that I had stashed in my backpack were awesome at helping me achieve deeper sleep when I could sleep.
What Happened?
After a celebratory dinner with my brother and sister-in-law, I came to Castle Lake Road without much pressure. It’d be nice to find a camping site, but if there were no spots, I knew of a few other places around Shasta that allowed dispersed camping. As my ultimate backup, my brother and sister-in-law graciously offered a spare bed where they was staying.
I passed by a wonderful spot that was already taken, then I found my turnout 3 or 4 miles from the lake. I was slightly nervous that I hadn’t crossed into national forest land yet, but I checked my map and I felt much better. I quickly setup camp with some bugs buzzing around me, and within 10 minutes, I was brushing my teeth and washing my face.
I got into my bed and found myself not sleepy at all, so I wrote a few journal entries, organized photos, checked my email, etc. Around midnight, I forced myself to fall asleep, which never works. I had a terrible night of sleep due to the caffeine coursing through my veins.
I woke up with a start at 8AM when I found that my alarm was going off. I would be late if I didn’t caste haste on myself, but I found out 15 minutes later that it was for naught as my brother was sleeping in. It turned out just fine, because it meant that I could hike Heart Lake earlier in the day, while it was cooler.