# Camping in the Sierra Nevadas



## RocketRay (Jun 6, 2018)

We're back from our annual camping trip, the first with a Tesla. My friend drove his truck so he had the bulky stuff (boxes of food, ice chest, etc.). We left from SoCal Sunday morning and stopped for a charge at Tejon Ranch, then when we got to the Fresno supercharger we had a ten minute wait with two people already waiting. And then the charge rate maxed out at about 250 MPH. But my friend got lost coming back from Costco and we were having lunch anyway. Got SoC to 300 miles.








Our target was Dinkey Creek which is about 67 miles in, but when we got there my SoC was about 180. And the campground was full and booked until July 9th. So, if you can reserve a campsite ahead of time, do so. 

We drove back to Shaver Lake and found a site for two nights at Dorabelle campground, SoC at 160. The next morning I had to go to the entrance kiosk to take care of our second night and I started looking around for outlets. None at the kiosk, but the campground host had an RV type outlet. He came out and asked if I needed any help, I said yeah, I was looking for a place to charge my electric car. He said they weren't going anywhere so go right ahead. I got the car, parked next to his SUV, and started charging at 4 MPH.

My friend and I took his truck and went up the hill to find another site, and we found one perfect for his astronomy observing.

After we got back we had lunch, I discovered I left our hamburger patties at home (this crap always happens), and then we went down to Shaver Lake. The lake was about a five minute walk from our site, and the water was surprisingly not freezing. Not that it wasn't cold, but you get used to it and can swim for awhile.
That afternoon I needed to get something from the car and looked at the panel, the door was open and I saw that it had an empty 14-50. Yes, he said, you can use that if you want. So next morning I was at 100% SoC.

Next morning we broke camp and drove to Lily Pad campground near Wishon Dam. Wishon and Courtright (about ten miles and 2,000 feet higher) are used by PG&E to generate electricity and store energy. We talked to this guy dispersed camping who had worked for them, he said there's a tunnel that goes from Courtright to a powerplant on the mountain above Wishon. What's interesting is when they need to pull power off the grid they run the turbines in reverse and turn Courtright into a battery.








We took the Tesla on a couple side trips and runs to the store. Up at Courtright I hit a pothole fairly hard, but it seemed to be OK. The evening of July 3rd the store had a root beer float social, the kids loved it.

Next morning while having breakfast I noticed my front passenger tire looked low. After we were all packed up I put the car in drive and the low tire pressure warning immediately popped up. I inspected the tire but didn't see anything wrong. We drove a bit and it finally registered a pressure: 7 PSI. That ain't good. We're 7,000 miles up in the Sierras, we're 27 miles from the nearest town of any significance, and I have no spare tire.

We limped to the store and fortunately they had a pay air compressor. I got it up to 29 PSI but it didn't want to go any higher. So we drove carefully down to Shaver Lake and the pressure stayed there.

At Shaver Lake they had a better (free) compressor and I got it up to 42. Still it indicated red, but now I was confident it was OK. We drove to Kettlemen City, pressure was good. KC was almost full, very busy on July 4.

We stopped again at Tejon Ranch but there was a line, so we just used it for a potty break. We drove to the Santa Clarita SC to get some breathing range, and it was working right, like 560+MPH. We got home and I immediately took a shower.


----------



## Griff (Aug 23, 2017)

Sounds like a blast!


----------



## RocketRay (Jun 6, 2018)

Update on the tire: that 0.9 miles to the store to pump it up damaged it. When the mechanic took it off the sidewall tore, so had to get a new one. If I had been pretty much anywhere else in the country I'd have been able to call roadside assistance and it would have been fine.

Oh yeah, and it was a nail that caused the leak.


----------



## garsh (Apr 4, 2016)

RocketRay said:


> Update on the tire: that 0.9 miles to the store to pump it up damaged it.


Yep. I'd plug that at the roadside, pump up the tire, then drive to a garage to get a patch put on.


----------



## RocketRay (Jun 6, 2018)

garsh said:


> Yep. I'd plug that at the roadside, pump up the tire, then drive to a garage to get a patch put on.


How do I do that? Is there a kit or something? I really don't like shelling out $290 for a new tire (might get reimbursed but who knows), especially when I'm between jobs.


----------



## Feathermerchant (Sep 17, 2018)

Buy a compressor from Amazon. And a tire gauge.
If you're likely to camp remote again, buy a spare from Modern Spare.
Then you'll need a jack and wrench...


----------



## MelindaV (Apr 2, 2016)

RocketRay said:


> How do I do that? Is there a kit or something? I really don't like shelling out $290 for a new tire (might get reimbursed but who knows), especially when I'm between jobs.


who would be reimbursing? is this something included in California car insurance?


----------



## RocketRay (Jun 6, 2018)

MelindaV said:


> who would be reimbursing? is this something included in California car insurance?


The tire warranty would reimburse. If you're stupid and destroy a tire by driving on it flat they won't give you squat, but if you have special circumstances (like we did) they can make exceptions.



Feathermerchant said:


> Buy a compressor from Amazon. And a tire gauge.


That's what we'll do for the next trip. Which will hopefully be Crater Lake.


----------



## garsh (Apr 4, 2016)

RocketRay said:


> How do I do that? Is there a kit or something?


Tire plug kits are very inexpensive. Keep one in each vehicle, along with a portable air compressor. This will allow you to quickly fix any punctures in the tread. You would still need to get towed for sidewall punctures.

Examples of each:


----------



## Feathermerchant (Sep 17, 2018)

Some sidewall punctures can be fixed with a plug long enough to get somewhere you can get service.
Especially the ones at the edge of the tread.


----------



## fritter63 (Nov 9, 2018)

IIRC, we did some work at Courtright reservoir during my summer with the YACC (1978, I was 15). Clearing brush, cutting trails, etc.

We skipped Tejon for Santa Clarita on our first trip down I-5 to LA last year.... it was stressful until the regen kicked in on the way downhill!


----------



## Edward Reading (Jun 26, 2017)

Wow, I was a YACC'er in 1978 also! Back east in northern Vermont. Great program.


----------



## Dr. J (Sep 1, 2017)

RocketRay said:


> the campground host had an RV type outlet. He came out and asked if I needed any help, I said yeah, I was looking for a place to charge my electric car. He said they weren't going anywhere so go right ahead. I got the car, parked next to his SUV, and started charging at 4 MPH.
> 
> *My friend and I took his truck* and went up the hill to find another site,


Wow, for a second I thought you were talking about the host's truck, and this story was about to take a wild turn!   Prolly just me...

Sounds like a great trip! Appreciate the tips.


----------

