Kohm Yah-mah-nee Visitor Center

Stayed here 2 nights. It says on the national park website for Lassen that it is indeed ok to overnight in this lot, although the workers may not know it. They didn’t bother us though; they actually seemed rather aloof about everything, probably because the only road past there was closed due to weather and there weren’t many visitors, which worked out for us! It was quiet all night and the park is damned beautiful. Go check out Bumpass Hell if you can. It’s great.

We visited Lassen Volcanic NP in early May and most of the access roads and campgrounds were closed limiting us to the Kohm Yah-mah-nee Visitor Center at the park's south entrance.

We knew our visit would be a short overnight but didn't have much luck finding camping accommodations close to the park, mainly due to the remaining snow. Then I noticed a small note on the NP website stating that we could overnight in the Visitor's Center parking lot in our RV for a fee. This turned out to be the perfect solution for us.

Overview:

The Southwest campground is located on the east side of the Kohm Yah-mah-nee Visitor Center parking area. A short walk along a paved walkway provides easy access to each site. The Mill Creek trail begins from the north side of the campground. Additional areas nearby include the Brokeoff Mountain trailhead, Ridge Lakes trailhead and Sulphur Works hydrothermal area. ~NP Website

These are "tent only" sites open year round with snow camping in the winter. RVs are allowed to park in the parking lot overnight for $10. It wasn't clear if RVs are limited to just one night in the lot; campground limit is 14 days. There are vault toilets at the campground and water through mid-Oct. Fire rings and metal food storage boxes are located at each campsite. Water, restrooms, free WiFi and a small restaurant located in the Visitor's Center.

We were one of about a half a dozen other campers, all but us were tent campers, so it was very quiet. Its super dark there at night so star gazing is a must.

I can't speak to how busy the parking lot might be in the summer but there are only 10 parking spaces long enough to pull through with an RV for the night. The parking lot is not all that flat, slopes away from the visitor's center, but will do for one night. Tip: Follow the GPS coordinates to Google Maps and zoom in with "Satellite View". There is a very clear image of the parking lot, etc.

The Visitor's Center was very nice, did I mention free WiFi, and we were able to get a ton of additional information about the park. Unfortunately we were about 1 week early for the road opening so we will definitely return; we heard the drive through the park is amazing.

We enjoyed our overnight here which worked perfectly for our situation. We look forward to a future visit so we can truly get out and explore the park.