Mud Lake Trailhead

I stayed here on a trip from LA to Oregon. Wanted to stay near Lassen NP & visit, but for the 3 nights I wanted to stay in Mid July 2021, most of the developed campgrounds in the area were already booked. I tried making my reservations mid April 2021. This is a first come first served campground, no reservations. Every night I was either the only person there or it was myself and another camper. Most sites are tent sites. There are only about 2 that would fit a small trailer or small RV. If you have a large rig, it’s not recommended because of the small size of the sites. I found two sites with grills and one of those had a fire ring and picnic table, which was luckily open when I got there around 8pm on a weekday night. The directions are a little tricky if you are headed westbound on the 44. If you hit Old Station, headed west, you have gone too far. If you are headed east, it’s around 3 miles east of Old Station on the 44. You will go up a longish hill and be looking for a sign for the Hat Creek Rim Overlook and turn left off the 44. Make an immediate right onto a dirt forest road, then take the 2nd left. You know you are there when you see the small wooden outhouse. The overlook is super close too and worth a look while you are staying there. The campground is all dry camping, so no water, electric or sewer hookups. There is trash and a vault toilet. Every morning I was there, a ranger would stop by, clean the toilet, refresh the TP and empty the trash. My campsite was shady in the morning, but full sun and pretty hot in the afternoon. If you have solar panels, they would work great late morning and the rest of the day. Hikers come by because it’s right on the PCT and also occasionally camp there. Closest small town is Old Station. You can get basic supplies there like gasoline, ice, firewood, etc. at there little general store. It’s about 3 miles west of the campground on the 44; turn left / south towards Lassen NP and it’s right there. Cell service was real spotty. If you go to the Hat Rim Overlook nearby, you’ll get a better signal.

We stayed two nights here pulling a 22ft trailer. It wasn’t too far off the highway. There was one other longer trailer next to us, and I didn’t see where another trailer/RV could fit, but it looks like 2 other tents could fit. We saw a lot of hikers on the PCT, and you can hike up to a lookout point which offers amazing views of Lassen Peak and Mt Shasta. The spot we had didn’t have much tree shade, and it got quite warm in the late afternoon evening time. We felt safe and would stay again.

FIrst the area is great.. when you turn off Hwy at the vista overview the first gravel road is what you want.. go up the hill and look for porta poty house on left.

the road is good with some potholes.

there is room for at least 3 30 ft RVs. When we arrive there was a guy at the hitching post area. and we backed in by the picnic table and firepit.

you are on the PCT but we did not see any hikers pass by.. it early for them up here and snow was coming to the area the weekend of april24,20201

We had to leave early because of inpending snow etc.. there is a clean vault toulet on site and trashcan..'

did not see ranger or FS person but heard they do stop by to check on stuff.

While the road is close you dont really hear any noise. at night the sky is magical.. unless the moon is out.. LOL.. or cloudy. we had BOTH..

hope to come back again..

This was a smaller campground, really just a circle around a small vault toilet on a dirt road. The drive on the 44 and the dirt road in are fairly easy drives. The camp area can hold 4 to 5 vehicels tightly. When we were here there were 2 other people camped here, a van and a small trailer and that left one good spot to pull in our RV. A really big RV might have a problem fitting if they camp is already full. This was a quiet spot, when the other campers took off we didn't see anybody.

The camping circle is right on the PCT and we did see one hiker passing thru. Otherwise not a lot to due at this camp, but it makes a great spot to stay and go explore Lassen Volcanic National Park. From this camp its about a 15 minute drive to the park which is pretty cool, definably worth checking out, lots of geothermal activity.

Cell and internet reception were weak here, but did work a bit. There is a store 3 miles away at the intersection of the 44 and 89 where you can get expensive food and gas, but I would advise to fill up before getting out there.

This is a cool little place. The PCT runs through the campground, there is a small pit toilet, a fe fire rings, one picnic table, and it is only one hundred yards or so from the Hat Creek Overloook.
We found a spot to tuck our 32' motorhome into so that it was out of the way, there could have been one other small/medium rig and a couple of tenters staying here and we all would have fit. Although we only had pass-through traffic, none of the hikers stayed the night. We did get to chatting with a few of them and offered water and supplies - certainly a cool experience and far more of them were doing the whole thing than I expected.
Access is easy, just turn into the road for the overlook and make the immediate right turn onto the dirt road. The road was patrolled regularly by BLM Fire, and a Forest Ranger came through each day to check on the trash cans and bathroom.
Verizon 4G was good here, we had enough sun for good solar, and the road noise is only a problem when trucks coming down hill are using their jake brake.
This was a great spot to post up for a few days of work before heading into Lassen for the weekend.

I really enjoyed this spot! If I didn't have plans, I probably would have stayed longer than 6 nights!

The spot is a small loop around a single vault toilet outhouse. It is designated as dispersed camping by the forest service, but is almost a single (one person or one family) camper campground. There is one table and one fire ring. It advertises room for horse trailers to get in and turn around, with horse ties, however that relates to RVs.

To clarify getting here: you take the turn off of highway 44 for the Hat Creek Overlook. If you keep going straight, you end up at the overlook, where there is RV-specific parking (I don't know about staying overnight there, as I didn't look into it). However, immediately after turning off of 44, there is a dirt road to the right. Taking that, the outhouse can be seen on the left, where the camp is.

Other people do use the campsite, and if you're here in PCT season (the ideal season for this spot), PCT hikers will probably come through. I saw at least one or more almost every day I was there; they didn't stop to camp here, but some may want to. It's an opportunity to be a "Trail Angel", and offer them some cold drinks (water or more conspicuous drinks), food, etc., if you're into that (a lot of them love chocolate and other candy bars!).

That said, it is not the most solitary (semi-developed) dispersed camping, and there is a potential for some noise. I wasn't bothered by the small amount of others at all, and had plenty of quiet and solitud while here.

Verizon signal was solid, 2 bars most of the time. Good speeds and otherwise not notable, in a good way.

The dirt road is easy, so it is very accessible, and the overlook has some stunnig views, which are mostly lost at this spot. The overlook is an extremely short drive or walk away, if you want to spend some time there, though.

Everything was clean for my stay, and I really have no complaints! I would definitely stay again!