Teardrop Trailer Trip to Benton Hot Springs and Boundary Peak

For the Labor Day Weekend, we took off for the very edge of the California/Nevada border and had a semi-relaxing few days at Benton Hot Springs. Highway 120 on the way to Benton (from beautiful Mono Lake) is an excellent highway for towing. It's free of any traffic, has some great boondocking spots, and a few roller coaster ride hills.

One day was spent attempting to hike to the top of the tallest mountain in Nevada—Boundary Peak. At 13,147 feet, it is actually more difficult to get to than many tall peaks in the area. You first have to drive an old dirt mining road up several thousand feet just to reach the trailhead. The steep trail then goes up to about 10,500 feet before it reaches a tallus field. This tallus field is where I had to bail out. With one step forward, I would slip about three feet back. My friends continued on, but also had to quit the hike when the trail got too sketchy and dangerous. Maybe that's why the mountain only has a few hundred visitors a year, and a small fraction of them ever reach the top.

The rest of our time was spent relaxing in the private hot pool of our Benton campsite. Benton Hot Springs sites each have their own pool constantly filled with natural, hot water.

Friday Teardrop Photo

Last Thanksgiving the Sunflower spent the night in the snowy forest of Sierra Hot Springs. Her owners went off to enjoy an amazing dinner and a dip in the steaming springs. She had to stay in the campground.

Friday Teardrop Photo

Our friends, the Stargazers, took a teardrop trip to Benton Hot Springs in California last year and shot this amazing photo of their campsite complete with private tub.

How do you shower?

One of the questions I get about teardrop camping is how we bathe or shower when our tiny trailer doesn't have a bathroom. Even though I love to camp and don't mind the dirt and grime that comes with it, I am extremely picky about keeping clean while camping. I have to have a nightly shower before going to bed and after a day of hiking, kayaking or exploring. My husband is totally the opposite, he thinks that you should stink while camping, so I have had to battle him when it comes to our individual camp shower needs.

Sometimes we will camp at a campground that has hot showers. These can be either free or fee showers. Campgrounds in drought prone states like California, Utah, Nevada and Arizona will charge a dollar or two for a 3-5 minute shower. States with plenty of water like Oregon and Washington usually have free hot showers.

When we are boondock camping we usually bring along a pop-up shower tent. The particular tent we have is simple and does not have a floor, so I purchased a plastic water heater tank catch pan to use as a floor. I also built a small platform out of 2x2 redwood to stand on while bathing.

Our first few attempts at using a solar camp shower failed miserably because either the water would not heat up in time to take a hot shower or it cooled off too fast at night. The typical solar showers are also really heavy when filled up and nearly impossible to lift over your head to a branch or a hook on a car roof rack so you can take a shower. However, my camping girlfriend and I have come up with our own solution. We just heat up a small pot of water on the fire or the stove, grab a cup and take it into the shower tent. We then just dip the cup into the pot and dump the warm water over our heads. It feels fantastic and we have more control over how much water gets used, which is necessary when camping in a place with limited water.

Another solution (but not available in all areas) is to utilize local hot springs. We camp quite a bit in the Eastern Sierras which has hot springs dotted all around the area. We lounge around in a hot spring for an hour or so and then wash off with some soap and a bottle of water. Also, if you don't mind a cold bath in the middle of the summer, you can always jump into a lake or river to wash off, just be sure to use biodegradable soap and shampoo.