Castle Lake Free Camping - Best Camping in Shasta
If you are headed up I-5 on your way to or from Oregon and are curious about what to do in the Mount Shasta area, we got you covered. Castle Lake is an amazing alpine lake with amazing views and very easy access right off I-5. While there is a pretty nice paid campsite at the lake. There’s more free dispersed camping with way better views than the paid campsite about a mile down the road here (41.242939, -122.382676). There are toilets at the Castle Lake day-use parking area and we have camped at the day-use area in the past but wouldn’t recommend it as it was very loud in the morning with all the day-trippers coming to enjoy the lake.
If you have and watercraft this is the best lake for them. We have a SUP and an inflatable kayak from Aqua Marina that we really enjoy using. They are pretty cheap and last we’ve had them for over three years and they are still going strong. You can check them out here.
Castle Lake has an awesome floating dock out in the center of the lake that you can get a view of Mt. Shasta and just relax and feel the power of the planet earth’s root chakra. There is also a waterfall that flows into the lake that you can paddle right up to. Also if you don't have any watercraft there is an amazing short hike to an epic lookout we have more on this hike here. This is one of our favorite stopovers on our way to and from Oregon if we are driving on I-5. It’s literally 30 minutes off the road and is such a van life gem. If you are reading this, consider yourself blessed to have found this obscure article buried deep in the depths of the inter webs. Happy Trails!
