Indian Well Campground
- Right now
- OpenThe agency lists it open
- A night
- $20From, per site
- Sites
- 4544 on recreation.gov
- Season
- April 1 – October 31Open April 1 through October 31
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 9 notices
In the agency’s own words
The Indian Well Campground is in the heart of Lava Beds National Monument. The campground is comprised of 43 sites available on a first-come, first serve basis and one group site that is available by reservation April-October. The monument was established as a national monument on November 21, 1925, and includes more than 46,000 acres (190 km2).The monument lies on the northeastern flank of Medicine Lake Volcano, which is the largest volcano by area in the Cascade Range. The Monument has over 800 lava tubes, with 27 having marked entrances and developed trails for public access and exploration. The monument also offers trails through the high Great Basin shrubland desert landscape and vast volcanic fields. Lava Beds National Monument is the site of the Modoc War, involving a band led by Kintpuash (also known as Captain Jack). Keep reading
Recreation
Lava Beds National Monument has the largest concentration of lava tubes in North America with over 800 documented in the Monument. 27 caves have marked entrances and developed trails for public access and exploration. Mushpot Cave has electrical lighting; the others are illuminated by ceiling collapse portals or require flashlights. The monument also has 13 hiking trails, all of which cross or enter the backcountry. The most popular trails are short, but lead to a number of historic sites as to several geological areas. This includes sites of the Modoc War that includes Captain Jack's Stronghold. Birding and wildlife viewing is also a popular activity along the north boundary of the monument.
Facilities
The Indian Well Campground is located a 1/2 mile (0.8 km) from the Visitor Center and Cave Loop. The campground is comprised of 43 sites available on a first-come, first serve basis and one group site that is available by reservation April-October. First-come first-serve camping permits are available at the self-registration kiosk in Indian Well Campground and must be obtained within 30 minutes of occupying a campsite. Affix your purchased camping permit to your campsite post. Sites can accommodate tents, pickup campers, small trailers and motor homes up to 30 feet. Not all sites can accommodate motor homes. A-Loop of the campground is open year-round and B-Loop closes in mid-November and reopens in the spring. Each campsite driveway is paved with either back in or pull through available. Flush toilets and drinking water are provided. Additionally each campsite has a fire ring and picnic table. There are no showers or RV hookups available. The Indian Well Campground Group Campsite accommodates groups of 15 to 40 occupants. The group site is on an unpaved road, has pit toilets, water, a fire ring and picnic tables. The group site road is unpaved and the site closes from November 1st through March 31st.
Natural Features
Lava Beds National Monument lies on the northeastern flank of Medicine Lake Volcano, which is the largest volcano by area in the Cascade Range. The Monument is geologically significant because of its wide variety of volcanic formations, including over 800 lava tubes, fumaroles, cinder cones, spatter cones, pit craters, hornitos, maars, lava flows, and volcanic fields.The region in and around Lava Beds National Monument lies at the junction of the Sierra-Klamath, Cascade, and Great Basin physiographic provinces. The southern most area of the monument is the highest in elevation and receives the most precipitation, and supports a Ponderosa Pine forest. Farther to the north of the monument, the middle elevations are a juniper and shrub woodland. Extending to the northern boundary are lower grasslands and sagebrush. Despite semi-arid conditions, native wildlife has adapted to the environmental constraints and are abundant and diverse.
What the agency tells you
An entrance pass is required in the park and while staying in the campground. Lava Beds National Monument charges the following entrance fees: $25 per vehicle, $20 per motorcycle, or $15 per pedestrian/cyclist. Visitors may purchase the 4-park, Lava Beds, Whiskeytown, Lassen and Crater Lake annual pass for $55. Buy your Lava Beds National Monument pass online through Recreation.gov.
Campsite capacity for a standard campsite at the Indian Well Campground is 8 persons per site.
In any 30-day period, camping in Lava Beds National Monument may not exceed 14 days, either consecutively or in a combined period. Further, camping within the monument shall not exceed 30 days annually.
Everything else this campground posts · 6
Park all vehicles, trailers, motorhomes, campers, etc. within the designated parking spot of the campsite site and on pavement only. If your vehicle, trailer, motorhome, camper, etc. encroach into an adjacent parking spot of another campsite you are required to purchase that additional spot to accommodate the equipment size. You will need to buy a sperate permit for each designated campsite. You may park additional vehicles in front of the A-Loop bathrooms if available or at the Visitor Center parking lot.
Persons are prohibited from utilizing a campsite for day use or picnicking within Indian Well Campground unless they have obtained a camping permit intended for overnight use.
Fires are permitted only in metal fire rings within Indian Well Campground. Fires may be prohibited during periods of very high or extreme fire danger.
Dead and down firewood can be collected on the nearby Modoc National Forest. Wood may also be collected from designated collection/disposal sites in the Monument and will be posted as available to the public and located at the campground when available.
Pets are permitted in the campground and may be left tied to an object in an occupied campsite with owner present in Indian Well Campground (subject to a valid Camping Permit) provided they create no hazard or nuisance.
Group Site: Only 2 vehicles are allowed to park behind the gate at the group campsite. RV's are prohibited. All other vehicles must be parked in the "A" loop overflow parking area, near the bathrooms, or at the Visitors Center. There may be parking directly across from the group campsite gate at campsite B7 for approximately 4 vehicles if occupants pay additionally for that campsite at the self-pay kiosk.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 45 · 1 group
- Hookups
- None
- Paved pads
- 44 of 45
- Accessible sites
- 4
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
Facilities
- Toilets
- Flush Toilets · Pit Toilets
- FLUSH TOILETS on 44 of 45 campsite records / PIT TOILETS on 45 of 45 campsite records
- Showers
- None at this campground
- “There are no showers or RV hookups available.”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- DRINKING WATER on 44 of 45 campsite records, DRINKING WATER (HAND PUMP) on 45 of 45 campsite records
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake
- Amphitheater
- Caving
- Hiking
- Historic site
- Ranger programs
- Visitor center
- Wildlife viewing
2 of 2 site-nights open this Friday and Saturdayread 15:39 UTC
recreation.gov lists 44 of the 45 campsites the agency files here. The rest aren’t on its booking system, so a reservation won’t get you one.
OpenBookedClosed
Watch for a cancellation
Full? Watch it.
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 · 13
What you actually pay
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rate for this season, $20 a night, plus one $8 recreation.gov reservation fee for the booking. A weekend here means Friday and Saturday night, booked once. Optional charges (an extra vehicle, a second tent, a dump-station fee) are listed separately and aren’t in this total.
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 15:39 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
45 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 44 mapped sitesAll 45 sites
Toilet distances are OpenStreetMap’s, measured for 44 of the 45 sites listed. A site with no reading is unknown, never far.
The price is derived by CAMPANAC, not published per site: the per-night rate this campground publishes for each site’s own site type. 44 of the 45 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| A-Loop | A1 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 6.7 mi | 271 ft | $20 | |
| A-Loop | A10 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 6.7 mi | 119 ft | $20 | |
| A-Loop | A11 | standard nonelectric | 14 ft | 6.7 mi | 168 ft | $20 | |
| A-Loop | A12 | standard nonelectric | 14 ft | 6.7 mi | 163 ft | $20 | |
| A-Loop | A2 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 6.7 mi | 277 ft | $20 | |
| A-Loop | A3 | standard nonelectric | 21 ft | 6.7 mi | 275 ft | $20 | |
| A-Loop | A4 | standard nonelectric | 21 ft | 6.7 mi | 274 ft | $20 | |
| A-Loop | A5 | standard nonelectric | 68 ft | 6.7 mi | 271 ft | $20 | |
| A-Loop | A6 | standard nonelectric | 68 ft | 6.6 mi | 290 ft | $20 | |
| A-Loop | A7 | standard nonelectric | yes | 97 ft | 6.6 mi | 208 ft | $20 |
| A-Loop | A8 | standard nonelectric | yes | 52 ft | 6.6 mi | 83 ft | $20 |
| A-Loop | A9 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 6.7 mi | 105 ft | $20 | |
| B-Loop | B1 | standard nonelectric | 18 ft | 6.6 mi | 168 ft | $20 | |
| B-Loop | B10 | standard nonelectric | 82 ft | 6.6 mi | 294 ft | $20 | |
| B-Loop | B11 | standard nonelectric | 72 ft | 6.6 mi | 212 ft | $20 | |
| B-Loop | B12 | standard nonelectric | 19 ft | 6.6 mi | 134 ft | $20 | |
| B-Loop | B13 | standard nonelectric | 19 ft | 6.6 mi | 141 ft | $20 | |
| B-Loop | B14 | standard nonelectric | yes | 16 ft | 6.6 mi | 93 ft | $20 |
| B-Loop | B15 | standard nonelectric | yes | 16 ft | 6.6 mi | 81 ft | $20 |
| B-Loop | B16 | standard nonelectric | 31 ft | 6.6 mi | 58 ft | $20 | |
| B-Loop | B17 | standard nonelectric | 78 ft | 6.6 mi | 54 ft | $20 | |
| B-Loop | B18 | standard nonelectric | 29 ft | 6.6 mi | 330 ft | $20 | |
| B-Loop | B19 | standard nonelectric | 29 ft | 6.6 mi | 301 ft | $20 | |
| B-Loop | B2 | standard nonelectric | 18 ft | 6.6 mi | 167 ft | $20 | |
| B-Loop | B20 | standard nonelectric | 77 ft | 6.6 mi | 213 ft | $20 | |
| B-Loop | B21 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 6.6 mi | 137 ft | $20 | |
| B-Loop | B22 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 6.6 mi | 155 ft | $20 | |
| B-Loop | B23 | standard nonelectric | 63 ft | 6.6 mi | 144 ft | $20 | |
| B-Loop | B24 | standard nonelectric | 27 ft | 6.6 mi | 144 ft | $20 | |
| B-Loop | B25 | standard nonelectric | 27 ft | 6.6 mi | 168 ft | $20 | |
| B-Loop | B26 | standard nonelectric | 53 ft | 6.7 mi | 246 ft | $20 | |
| B-Loop | B27 | standard nonelectric | 11 ft | 6.7 mi | 274 ft | $20 | |
| B-Loop | B28 | standard nonelectric | 11 ft | 6.7 mi | 276 ft | $20 | |
| B-Loop | B29 | standard nonelectric | 54 ft | 6.6 mi | 160 ft | $20 | |
| B-Loop | B3 | standard nonelectric | 23 ft | 6.6 mi | 178 ft | $20 | |
| B-Loop | B30 | standard nonelectric | 14 ft | 6.6 mi | 222 ft | $20 | |
| B-Loop | B31 | standard nonelectric | 14 ft | 6.6 mi | 212 ft | $20 | |
| B-Loop | B4 | standard nonelectric | 23 ft | 6.6 mi | 188 ft | $20 | |
| B-Loop | B5 | standard nonelectric | 78 ft | 6.6 mi | 238 ft | $20 | |
| B-Loop | B6 | standard nonelectric | 101 ft | 6.6 mi | 319 ft | $20 | |
| B-Loop | B7 | standard nonelectric | 74 ft | 6.6 mi | 292 ft | $20 | |
| B-Loop | B8 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 6.6 mi | 248 ft | $20 | |
| B-Loop | B9 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 6.6 mi | 250 ft | $20 | |
| B-Loop | Group Site | group standard nonelectric | 302 ft | 6.5 mi | 25 ft | $60 | |
| Scan and Pay | Indian Well CG Scan and Pay | type not stated | Flush Toilets +1 listed |
25 of 45 listed
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the phone number
Where it is
Group CampsiteLava Beds National Monument · 0.0 mi
Medicine Lake Recreation AreaModoc National Forest · 10 miSchonchin Springs CampgroundModoc National Forest · 10 miBlanche Lake CampgroundModoc National Forest · 12 miPayne Springs CampgroundModoc National Forest · 12 mi
Little Mt. Hoffman LookoutShasta National Forest · 13 miThe weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Newell, CA
Typical weather
Typical October night 36°F, day 66°F.
Coldest night of the open season: typical April night 31°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 moreOutside the published season
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
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
Indian Well Campground 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.