Blue Lake Campground Group Site - Modoc NF (CA)
We don’t think it should be. Every campground should hold some sites for whoever drives up.Tell your representative →
- Right now
- Taking bookingsSites offered on 2 of the next 4 nights; a database flag says not open read 15:21 UTC
- Sites
- 1All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there
In the agency’s own words
The Blue Lake Campground is situated in the beautiful South Warner Mountains of the Modoc National Forest in a tranquil and remote area of northeastern California. Blue Lake was formed from a massive landslide several thousand years ago. Over time, the land filled up with water from snow melt and rain where blue lake is today. Blue Lake is truly deep blue in color and remains ice cold even during the hotest days of summer! The fishing is great, and there's a 3 mile trail that goes around the entirety of the lake. Come enjoy your National Forest land by visiting the Blue Lake Campground this summer! Keep reading
Recreation
There is a trail around the lake 3 mile, along with many opportunities to walk and bike around the paved campground roads and boat dock area. There are several wilderness trailheads within 6-15 miles from the site as well. The South Warner Wilderness has many trails to offer a true solitude experience away from the big city. Off-highway -vehcle (OHV) use is also a popular recreation activity in the neighboring area road systems.
Facilities
Water is available most of the summer season from late May-early October. Please call ahead of time and check if the water is potable early in the season! Sometimes it takes a while to get the system up and going for the season.
Natural Features
There are many ice cold mountain streams feeding into and coming out of Blue Lake. The campground is situated in a lower part of the mountains, but the entire campground is surrounded by mountain ridges scattered with ponderosa pine, Jeffrey pine, incense cedar, and aspen trees. There was an intense wildfire that came through the area back in 2003, so many of the hillsides near Blue Lake are in the process of regenerating tree stands. Fortunately, the campground was saved from the fire, so there are plenty of big pine trees for shade! Nearby Attractions
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 1 · 1 group
- Hookups
- None
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Drinking water
- Yes
- ACCESSIBLE DRINKING WATER on 1 of 1 campsite records, WATER SPIGOT on 1 of 1 campsite records, WATER (SEASONAL) on 1 of 1 campsite records
Full this Saturdayread 15:21 UTC
How full the weekend is nationally.
OpenBookedNot reservable
The one site on offer is taken this Saturday. 1 is free on Mon, Oct 19. read 15:21 UTC Why the weekend fills and the week doesn’t
Watch for a cancellation
Watch this campground
One email when a night opens, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We read recreation.gov once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time a site in your window is free for the nights you asked for.
Scanners that check every few minutes exist, and most of them charge. This one is free, it reads the same calendar, and it won’t always be first.
Tell me when the season opens
Watch for the season to open
One email when the season goes on sale, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We check once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time the agency has that season on sale.
Scanners that check every few minutes exist, and most of them charge. This one is free, it reads the same calendar, and it won’t always be first.
We make nothing when you book. The link goes straight to the government.
Every line of the receipt · 12
What you actually pay
Who keeps the booking fee
The agency’s own policy text says the reservation fee and the cancellation processing fee are “retained by the reservation service contractor”, and that a campground concessionaire will decline to refund them because “they did not receive these fees”. Recreation.gov is run under contract by Booz Allen Hamilton. What share of your booking fee the contractor keeps isn’t published in any federal dataset we can read, so we print no number for it. Our reporting on the contract →
How we know this receipt · 5
recreation.gov availability, read 15:21 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
1 sites
All 1 sites
The price is derived by CAMPANAC, not published per site: the per-night rate this campground publishes for each site’s own site type. 1 of the 1 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| Horseshoe Loop | Blue Lake Group Site | group rv area nonelectric | $70 |
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Patterson Guard StationModoc National Forest · 6.1 miPatterson CampgroundModoc National Forest · 6.2 miMill Creek Falls CampgroundModoc National Forest · 9.2 miEmerson CampgroundModoc National Forest · 11 mi
Dodge Reservoir CampgroundEagle Lake Field Office · 14 miPepperdine CampgroundModoc National Forest · 21 miHead east from Likley, CA toward the Warner Mountains on Forest Service Road 64 (AKA the "Jess Valley Road") for approximately 8 miles. Take a right/south at the fork in the road towards Blue Lake Campground (still Road 64). You will drive about 7 miles on this road. The turn-off to Blue Lake Campground will be on your right. The campground is about 2 miles from the turn-off. The campground is a one-way loop with the Group Site being at the upper end of the loop adjacent from the Camp Host site past the fee station.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Likely, CA
Typical weather
Typical October night 31°F, day 65°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical December night 20°F, below freezing. Bring a bag rated colder than that, and expect ice in the water bottle.
Daily high and lowDays with 0.10 in or more
A normal is the 1991-2020 average for the month, not a forecast: about half of all Julys are colder than the July line. The seven-day forecast above answers the other question.
The land, and who answers for it
what threatens it · who answers for it · a letter you can send
Roadless country, and what’s coming for it
You’re camping on ground somebody wants. We track the threats and the comment deadlines.
Who answers for this land
Blue Lake Campground Group Site - Modoc NF (CA) is in California’s 1st congressional district. Whoever holds it votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. See how its representative votes on public lands →
Our roster still carries Doug LaMalfa for this district and the current federal record doesn’t list them as sitting, so we’re not naming a representative here until the two agree.
Who can change it · 2
Two offices, two different asks. The draft to the agency asks it to set aside a published share of the sites here for whoever drives up. The draft to Congress asks why that share is zero and presses for a published minimum at the campgrounds it funds.
- Your senator, on the same appropriationAdam B. SchiffU.S. Senator · California
- Your senator, on the same appropriationAlex PadillaU.S. Senator · California
Read the draft, or change the wording
For the camper who turned up, or tried to book, and couldn’t get in. Every draft is written from this campground’s own record (its agency, its unit, its site count and its own weekend) and the buttons above copy whichever wording is selected here.
Asks them to put the question to the agency in writing, and to press for a published minimum share of walk-up sites across the campgrounds they fund.
Subject Walk-up camping at Blue Lake Campground Group Site - Modoc NF (CA), Modoc National Forest, California
Dear Adam B. Schiff, I’m a constituent in California. I tried to camp at Blue Lake Campground Group Site - Modoc NF (CA), Modoc National Forest, California, and couldn’t. All 1 sites at Blue Lake Campground Group Site - Modoc NF (CA) are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, the one site recreation.gov was offering there was already booked. 1,623 of the 7,639 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Blue Lake Campground Group Site - Modoc NF (CA) keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Blue Lake Campground Group Site - Modoc NF (CA). I’m asking you to put it to the U.S. Forest Service in writing: why is the share of first-come sites there zero, and what would a published minimum share cost? Please press for that minimum at the federal campgrounds you fund. The people who open these campgrounds, collect the fees and keep the water running are seasonal positions. At GS-5, base pay plus the government's own 36.25% benefit factor, one costs about $47,414 a year. One percent of the $13.3 billion the USS Gerald R. Ford cost to procure would pay for about 2,800 of them for a year. Both figures are the government's own (a Congressional Research Service report and an OPM pay table), and I’m glad to send them. Sent about Blue Lake Campground Group Site - Modoc NF (CA) (Modoc National Forest, California) via campanac.com
Asks them to put the question to the agency in writing, and to press for a published minimum share of walk-up sites across the campgrounds they fund.
Subject Walk-up camping at Blue Lake Campground Group Site - Modoc NF (CA), Modoc National Forest, California
Dear Alex Padilla, I’m a constituent in California. I tried to camp at Blue Lake Campground Group Site - Modoc NF (CA), Modoc National Forest, California, and couldn’t. All 1 sites at Blue Lake Campground Group Site - Modoc NF (CA) are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, the one site recreation.gov was offering there was already booked. 1,623 of the 7,639 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Blue Lake Campground Group Site - Modoc NF (CA) keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Blue Lake Campground Group Site - Modoc NF (CA). I’m asking you to put it to the U.S. Forest Service in writing: why is the share of first-come sites there zero, and what would a published minimum share cost? Please press for that minimum at the federal campgrounds you fund. The people who open these campgrounds, collect the fees and keep the water running are seasonal positions. At GS-5, base pay plus the government's own 36.25% benefit factor, one costs about $47,414 a year. One percent of the $13.3 billion the USS Gerald R. Ford cost to procure would pay for about 2,800 of them for a year. Both figures are the government's own (a Congressional Research Service report and an OPM pay table), and I’m glad to send them. Sent about Blue Lake Campground Group Site - Modoc NF (CA) (Modoc National Forest, California) via campanac.com