Little Lava Lake
2Heads up2 fires, nearest 38 mi
- Right now
- Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
- A night
- $25–$54Across the site types the agency prices
- Sites
- 16All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 8 notices
In the agency’s own words
Little Lava Lake Campground is located along the Cascade Lakes National Scenic Byway in the Central Oregon Cascades. Keep reading
Recreation
Little Lava Lake Campground provides recreation opportunities for fishing, paddling, swimming and hiking. For anglers, the 130-acre Little Lava Lake offers a quiet alternative to its larger neighbor to the north, Lava Lake. Reaching a maximum depth of 20 feet, the lake supports planted Rainbow trout, some Brook trout, and self-sustaining populations of Whitefish and Tui Chub. Bait, lures, flies, still fishing and trolling are all acceptable angling methods.
Facilities
Little Lava Lake Campground's campsites are predominately located under lodgepole pine canopy with some sites located along the lakeshore and the Deschutes River. There is a boat ramp and a day use area that can be used at Little Lava Lake for a fee.
Natural Features
Little Lava Lake is located on the eastern slopes of the Cascade Mountain Range at an elevation of 4,740 feet. The small lake is surrounded by mature pine forests with bull rushes and lava outcroppings lining its shores.
Nearby Attractions
Visitors can explore wilderness areas, wild and scenic rivers, lakes and reservoirs and approximately 1,600 miles of trails within the Deschutes National Forest. Lava Lands Visitor Center in nearby Bend, Oregon, and the unique geological landscape of Newberry National Volcanic Monument draw visitors to the region as well. Visitors will also enjoy traveling the Cascade Lakes Scenic Byway which climbs into the Cascades over a 66-mile drive through snow-capped peaks and alongside alpine lakes. A nearby resort on Lava Lake offers lodging and a limited selection of groceries.
Charges & Cancellations
Once your reservation start date has begun, neither the Recreation.gov Contact Center nor the campground manager will be able to modify your reservation.
What the agency tells you
Prevent the spread of invasive species by inspecting and cleaning packs, equipment and tires before using lake or trails.
Fire Restrictions: Fire restrictions may be imposed at any time due to hot, dry weather conditions, at which time campfires and charcoal fires may not be allowed.
During your time in Central Oregon, you can find wildfire, prescribed fire and smoke information at centraloregonfire.org
Everything else this campground posts · 5
Reserved Sites will be held until check out time (NOON) the day following your arrival date. Sites must be occupied by the checkout time of that following day to hold a reservation or the site will be forfeited and released to other guests. Once your reservation start date has begun, neither the Recreation.gov Contact Center nor the campground manager will be able to modify your reservation.
Refunds: Refund requests made through www.recreation.gov will be charged a $10 processing fee. This fee is retained by the reservation service contractor along with the non-refundable reservation fee. All requests for the return of the non-refundable reservation fee and the cancellation fee will be declined by the campground concessionaire as they did not receive these fees (these are the fees retained by the reservation contractor, a different entity).
Don't Move Firewood: Please protect Pacific Northwest forests by preventing the spread of invasive species. Firewood can carry insects and diseases that can threaten the health of our western forests. You can make a difference by obtaining and burning your firewood near your camping destination. Visit Dontmovefirewood.org for further information.
Camping or otherwise occupying a single location (including leaving camping equipment and/or related supplies) for a period longer than 14 consecutive calendar days is prohibited. ‘Location’ means the occupied area, the occupied campsite, and the National Forest System lands in the immediate vicinity thereof. Camping or occupying any location on all National Forest lands for more than 28 calendar days total during a calendar year is prohibited.
NO generator use is allowed in campgrounds between 10:00PM and 7:00AM (36 CFR 261.10). Silent power banks or battery powered devices are allowed.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 16 · 1 tent-only, 1 group
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 40 ft
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Boat ramp
- Yes
- Camp host
- On site
- recreation.gov lists “Host”
- Stay limit
- 28 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, River
- Fishing
- Night sky · 405th darkest of 770 in OR
- Bortle 2
Nothing on the booking system for the next 30 nightsread 14:58 UTC
Every site here is reservable, and the record lists none held back for anyone who drives up.
Every one of the next thirty nights is in recreation.gov’s record and not one site is being offered on any of them. That’s a campground closed or not yet released for booking, not a sold-out one.
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 · 16
What you actually pay
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rates for this season, $25–$54 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.
“Once your reservation start date has begun, neither the Recreation.gov Contact Center nor the campground manager will be able to modify your reservation.” · this campground’s own terms
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 · 6
recreation.gov availability, read 14:58 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Oct 1, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
16 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 16 mapped sitesAll 16 sites
Toilet distances are OpenStreetMap’s, measured for 16 of the 16 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. 16 of the 16 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| Little Lava Lake | 001 | standard nonelectric | 36 ft | 47 ft | 163 ftDeschutes River | 945 ft | $25–$54 |
| Little Lava Lake | 002 | standard nonelectric | 36 ft | 47 ft | 157 ftDeschutes River | 961 ft | $25–$54 |
| Little Lava Lake | 003 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 59 ft | 122 ftDeschutes River | 988 ft | $25–$54 |
| Little Lava Lake | 004 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 75 ft | 163 ftDeschutes River | 959 ft | $25–$54 |
| Little Lava Lake | 005 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 75 ft | 178 ftDeschutes River | 961 ft | $25–$54 |
| Little Lava Lake | 006 | standard nonelectric | 36 ft | 90 ft | 199 ftDeschutes River | 975 ft | $25–$54 |
| Little Lava Lake | 007 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 26 ft | 212 ftDeschutes River | 1,067 ft | $25–$54 |
| Little Lava Lake | 008 | standard nonelectric | 36 ft | 52 ft | 241 ftDeschutes River | 1,005 ft | $25–$54 |
| Little Lava Lake | 009-Multi | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 43 ft | 185 ft | 1,063 ft | $25–$54 |
| Little Lava Lake | 010 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 26 ft | 227 ft | 1,041 ft | $25–$54 |
| Little Lava Lake | 011 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 54 ft | 121 ft | 928 ft | $25–$54 |
| Little Lava Lake | 012 | standard nonelectric | 36 ft | 53 ft | 101 ft | 897 ft | $25–$54 |
| Little Lava Lake | 013 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 42 ft | 134 ft | 844 ft | $25–$54 |
| Little Lava Lake | 014 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 42 ft | 174 ft | 823 ft | $25–$54 |
| Little Lava Lake | 015 | standard nonelectric | 36 ft | 57 ft | 208 ft | 835 ft | $25–$54 |
| Little Lava Lake | GRP | group tent only area nonelectric | 40 ft | 151 ft | 15 ft | 1,074 ft | $126 |
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Lava Lake CampgroundDeschutes National Forest · 0.5 mi
South Campground - Hosmer Lake (OR)Deschutes National Forest · 3.8 mi
Mallard Marsh CampgroundDeschutes National Forest · 3.9 mi
Little Fawn CampgroundDeschutes National Forest · 4.0 mi
Point Campground - DeschutesDeschutes National Forest · 4.6 mi
Elk Lake CampgroundDeschutes National Forest · 5.4 miFrom Bend, travel 38.4 miles southwest on Cascade Lakes Hwy (46), then 0.7 miles east on Forest Road 4600 500, and then 0.4 miles east on Forest Road 4600 520.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Three Rivers, OR
Typical weather
Typical October night 31°F, day 62°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical December night 21°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
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
Little Lava Lake is in Oregon’s 5th congressional district. Its representative, Janelle Bynum (D), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: A. See every public-lands vote →