Best Tent Camping near Lassen Volcanic National Park

This campground is just south of Lassen Volcanic National Park.  It has two main sections, one for RVs and the other for tents.  There are a small number of RV sites with full hookups and then a larger number of tent sites.  The RV sites are fairly small, but felt separated enough to have some privacy.  The tent sites are a bit more rustic.

The other slightly odd part is that most of the RV sites were filled with people who came and stayed for the entire summer, year after year.  We were the only not long-term camper in the RV section.  

Pros:

* Close to a lot of amazing scenery with Lassen

* Well kept, clean, quiet campground

* Camp store/restaurant is great

* Laundry on site

* Access to a nice little creek w/swimming hole

Cons:

* Camp store is open limited days

* Tent sites only have pit toilets which are not the best maintained

OK:

* No fires in the RV sites

* Showers were not always very clean

Another great campsite within the gorgeous (and uncrowded) Lassen Volcanic National Park, this one is on the northern shore of a Summit Lake, a blue, pristine lake near 7000 feet. There are two camping loops with tent sites and small RV trailer sports available. No hook-ups, but flush toilets and sinks nearby.

Sites can be further inland near the forest with a parking lot that separates you from the lakeshore. In the summer, the lake is great for swimming.

There is another campsite on the southern side of the lake that is very similar, but we prefer the north campground in that the sites are closer to the lake itself. Numerous hikes are available within the area.

I have camped at Lassen Volcanic National Park twice. And this campground is definitely the family friendly, rangers in sight, store nearby type of campground here. It’s right next to manzanita lake, and easy to access the area off the highway. My first time here I was more than excited to see bumpass hell, unfortunately this was in June of 2018 so bumpass hell was closed for construction. I still enjoyed my time here because the park is very beautiful. We drove up to summit lake and did some exploring in the area. Summit lake also has a campground that only holds a few sites. It’s a more relaxed and quiet campground since there aren’t really stores nearby.

Very large camp near the western entrance of the Lassen Volcanic National Park. Situated on the banks of Manzanita Lake. There are numerous tent, RV, and a few cabin sites available that you can get with little advance notice, unlike many other national parks.

Manzanita has a small camp store with supplies with supplies, hook-ups, and dumpstations availability for RVs, and there is a boat launch for kayaks and canoes on the lake. You can also rent kayaks and canoes and fishing is also widely popular with licenses available in the store.

The camp is also a short drive from the very cool and historic museum that has information about the volcanic history of the park as well as early photographs of the 1915 eruption. It is well worth a visit and has a junior ranger program available for kids, plus general park information. Manzanita is probably the largest camp location within the park and is busy, but there is plenty of opportunities to escape into Lassen.

This is a first-come, first-serve campground within the Lassen National Forest, about 14 miles from the southern entry gate of Lassen Volcanic National Park. My family and I arrived on a Thursday afternoon in June and there were plenty of campsites available. There were more people arriving on Friday and Saturday but still a handful of sites were available and it never got very crowded. The campground is near a highway but it stayed relatively quiet the whole time, since there's not much traffic on the road. The campground loop roads are not used much and make for a safe area for kids to ride bikes or scooters nearby the campsites. The only complaint I had about the campground is the large amount of cut wood logs that were stacked around the camp sites. It made the view a little less scenic but provided for a large amount of firewood. If you enjoy a quiet and serene camping experience near a National Park, I would definitely recommend this campground! It's also near the town of Chester, which has gas stations, restaurants, and a grocery store, as well as Lake Almanor, which has boating, swimming, and hiking trails.

Manzanita Lake Campground is the campground closest to the north entrance to Lassen Volcanic National Park. It is best accessed from California State Route 44/89. My wife and I reserved space A8 for a four-night stay beginning August 7, 2023. 

While the campground is well-maintained, I cannot, under any circumstances, recommend that space for anyone camping with an RV or travel trailer. From all appearances A8 looked perfect. But appearances can be deceiving. Looking at an online map of the campground A8 appeared to be a pull-through site which it is. The problem is the site dips down from the access road, bottoms out slightly, then rises again back toward the access road. It took us nearly an hour to locate an area within the space that would allow us to attain a reasonable level so that our refrigerator would operate on propane. And our travel trailer is only 18-feet in length. Once the trailer was reasonably level, the entry step was approximately 18 inches from ground to the step (see images).

Despite the initial difficulties, once settled, we found the campground to be quiet even though there is not a lot of space between sites. The camp store offers some grocery items but is mainly dedicated to the sale of tourist merchandise. It does have a gas pump offering only 87 octane regular gas at $4.99 per gallon - cash only which is below market price for the area.

We would camp at Manzanita Lake Campground in the future but would be highly selective in our choice of sites - driving through the various loops we noted that very few are close to level.

I like this campground a lot. Just the right size, maybe 40-50 camp sites total in two separate loops and it’s all very walkable. There’s a couple of pull-though spots for RVs and trailers and a decent mixture of small and medium RVs and tents.

Camp sites aren’t huge, but enough room not to be completely on top of each other and lots and lots of trees. Some have more room behind them depending on whether they are facing in or out on the loop. Each spot has a fire grate and picnic table. Nice camp host when we were there and an amphitheater nearby.

Totally awesome lake that’s safely swimmable for kiddos that’s also available for day-use. Flush toilets(always a plus). Enough to do either at the campground or nearby to keep kiddos busy for several days. And Lassen in general is a lovely park.

Pros: Best part is the awesome lake. Fairly shallow overall but plenty of fun.

Cons: Not many“extras” (like a store or playground), but I liked it just the way it is. Some spots better than others as far as privacy/space goes.

I loved this campground! Would go back in a heartbeat. This was the first KOA I've ever stayed in, and I was worried it would be too cheesy/boring (in comparison to the forest/state/national park ones I tend to love), but it was totally fun.

Pros: Lots of clean bathrooms, warm swimming pool, lots to do including a whole forested area with swings, a fort, etc., games, ping pong, decent sized sites. Close to the entrance to Lassen Park.

Cons: Some tent sites were better than others. My favorite tent sites were T6. T7, T8 and especially T13.