Fortunately there’s no shortage of campgrounds to choose from when visiting Lassen Volcanic National Park but that said, not all of them are created equally.   We camped once (without hookups) with our trusted Nucamp Tab400 teardrop trailer as well as a second time with just a tent at the heavily forested and secluded Mill Creek Resort -a highly rated Hipcamp member! 

Mill Creek Resort is located just outside Lassen Volcanic National Park – only a short 20 short minute drive from the southwest entrance of the park. This little gem of a campground hosts 18 wooded campground sites (where we stayed both of our times visiting Lassen), an additional eight RV spots with hookups, nine vintage cabins and even has some retro RV rentals, along with showers, laundry facilities, a playground, venue space, walking trails leading to the creek, flush toilets as well as 2 vault toilets.  

Not to be overlooked or underappreciated is the small, but well stocked convenient store and full-service restaurant set in the historic 1930’s Mill Creek Lodge and run by the adorable and enthusiastic young campground owners Jillian and Joe.

Do you ever look back after a vacation or other experience and think “it was the people we met along the way that made the experience so great”?  This was definitely the case with Jillian and Joe!  I’m not going to lie though, the fries and malted milkshakes (for days!!!) had us coming back regularly to “refuel” after our long, strenuous and beautiful scenic hikes in the area.  Yeah, those were pretty epic too!

Our Nucamp TAB400 teardrop trailer fit nicely tucked away under the trees in spot number 13 – no hookups provided for this tent campsite (we try to avoid camping with hookups).  Our campsite backed up to a beautiful, gurgling creek that both mesmerized us during the day and lulled us nicely to sleep come nighttime. 

The campground owners Jillian and Joe recommended a hike down to the creek leaving straight from our campsite which did not disappoint.  The forested area is beautiful and there is no shortage of areas to walk around and explore.  They also turned us on to a swimming hole within driving distance.  It was a handful of miles away and ended up being one of the bigger highlights of our trip even though it did not technically reside inside Lassen Volcanic National Park borders.  The dirt road you need to find and take to arrive at this swimming hole, dead ends leaving you with a short hike down to the swimming hole.  It was difficult for us to find which is why I’m not going to try to direct you there but I’m sure Jillian and Joe can give you better assistance than I can.  As challenging as it was to find (okay it really wasn’t that bad in hindsight!), it was well worth our exploratory efforts, confusion and multiple stops asking others at nearby campgrounds if they knew anything about this supposed swimming hole at the river!  As far as mountain days go, spending one resting and recovering from days of hiking without a soul in sight while on the river with rocks to jump off from and swim out to, takes the cake in our opinion! 

See my post Lassen Volcanic National Park – An Underrated, Under Visited and Must See Park for some great information on Lassen Volcanic National Park and things to do and see while inside the park and beautiful hiking trail options as well!

Have we mentioned the dark skies at Lassen yet?  It’s worth camping near this national park just to escape light pollution and take in the far too often elusive star-filled sky!  Helpful tip – DON’T forget your flashlight if you find yourself urgently headed for the bathroom any time after zero dark-thirty!!!  What a crazy adventure that not so “moonlit” walk took me on and left me laughing for days when I literally could not see the ground under my feet to safely forge forward and walk ahead to relieve myself in a timely fashion at the bathroom!  After briefly considering resorting to either a crabwalk or crawling on my hands and knees in an attempt to avoid tripping over my own feet for the short remainder of the walk left to the bathroom, I instead wisely decided to turn back to fetch a flashlight and use the vault toilets next to our campsite instead!

Pets allowed at the campground on leash but unfortunately not on any hiking trails within the national park.