Lava Campground

Spent one week here on the way to Oregon. Loved the layout, nice big sites. Great bathroom and showers. Well maintained and clean! Great pressure and hot water. Epic vintage playground equipment. Amazing location-so close to lava hot springs natural hot pools and the city pool. Just minutes away by far and there's even a trail to walk from the campground to the pools.

Be aware that no sites have sewer.

Cons- It's positioned just right for the highway sounds to bounce off the mountain in front and behind the campground. So the road noise is noticable day and night.

This wasn't a big enough thing to loose a star for us. We loved our stay.

We arrived on a Saturday and it was BUSY! Not one free spot. Then everyone left on Sunday and it was deserted.

Fantastic retro playground. Everything is in great shape and the kids loved it.

Bathrooms and showers were very clean. No laundry. 4 electric bikes for rent and ice to buy on site.

Horrible signs directing you to sites. Could’ve been much more clear.

On our way North on I-15, I called and got hold of Annie, who along with her husband and two boys, own and run the campground. I asked here if they might have room for us, and she was very accommodating, saying they had plenty of room with only a few reservations. She texted me a map and encouraged me to call when we got in to make sure we didn't "poach" one of the few reserved sites. (My wording, not hers.) When we arrived, she was not able to answer the phone, so we pulled into site 40 and waited to hook up. She called back a short time later and said Site 40 would be fine. In the meantime, we got on to their website, and found that we could search available sites. 40 was opened, so we reserved it and paid on line.

All this brings me to my first point: their website is outstanding and easy to navigate. Kudos.

Second point: Annie was extremely friendly and helpful. Kudos again!

Our gravel site was very nearly level, a pull-through, with water and 30-50 amp power. There was a tag on the water hydrant asking that we not remain connected if freezing weather was expected. It was (Down to 26 overnight), so we used it to put 20 gallons or so in our tank and are set for the rest of our trip. The utilities are in excellent shape, looking almost new.

The facility is basically in hibernation this time of year (October 28), but it is obviously well cared for. The vintage trailers are cute. The children's playground looks fun. The place is immaculate. Sites are reasonably spaced, especially for a commercial campground. Trees need a few years to grow, so it might get hot in the summertime. Some might be bothered by highway noise and the adjacent railroad line, but things calmed down at night. (Besides, without my hearing aids, this almost deaf guy can sleep through anything.) At $35, I consider it a bargain.

All in all, a very pleasant overnight. We'll stop by if we pass this way again.

The prompt for the summary is right, for once! Tent site E is only $20 (2022) and if you don’t mind parking on a slope, it’s good value given the ample new facilities, including new flush toilets and showers a short walk away. Add playground, convenient lit and ventilated outhouses, a babbling brook…
Train and highway noise: bring earplugs if tenting!

We have been to a lot of campgrounds as part of our full-time adventure, but most of them are packed in like Sardines. The really great feature that I like best about Lava is the spread-out campsites. We had room to park our truck next to our camper with even more room to spare. The views are nice and the camp hosts were awesome. If you work from your camper, the internet was really good for Verizon, ATT & T-Mobile. You get a bit of road noise, but that didn't bother us.

I called ahead to ask for early check in which they graciously granted, but when we got there, the water was on and the site was muddy. Our dog got right in the mud and then jumped on my husband, getting him muddy. They offered to move our site, but that site was wet too. The owners were very nice and did their best to accommodate. The traffic noise was off the hook with Jake brakes blasting every few minutes. Signs were posted telling people to slow down, but they barreled down the road anyway, It would be a scary situation if you had kids playing or your dog got away from you. Beyond that, it’s a really nice campground with hookups and a dump station for an exceptional price. Our site was right by the road so the road noise might be better at the back of the park.

Last minute detour to visit Lava Hot Springs, as we have never done so. Most of the campgrounds are pricy, by our boondocking standards. However, we decided we wanted to stay a night and see the town a bit more. After looking at some of them and not feeling like we wanted to pay their price, we headed up the road to see Lava Campground, as price looked on lower end. It’s located in a little grassy valley next to a stream with a small amount of mature trees and many newer smaller ones. They have a part of the campground they have retro rental trailers available and most of the other sites are good size and level. Kicker for us was campground has showers and is kept spotless. Found a site next to river and ended up staying two nights. Some minor noise from truckers and train, but easy to tune them out. Met owner and found out I grew up with his cousin. Small world. He told me campground is five years old and they are continuing to make upgrades. So far, excellent and worth every penny.

First of all, Lava Campground is a wonderful campground. It is clean and well kept. The owners have worked hard over the past three years to develop a campground that is beautiful, warm, and inviting. With that being said, if you are a potential Campground Host, do not unpack your bags. You will not have the loyalty and trust from the owners that you would hope for. There are always two sides to every story, and this is ours.
We had been Campground Hosts for not even a week when we had an interchange with a guest who was walking his rather large Pit Bull off-leash. As he came by our site, I politely told him “just so you know, dogs need to be on-leash in the campground.” He rather curtly said “He is on leash” and pointed to his mouth. I started to say something, and he cut me off with a rather nasty “What are you? The campground gendarme?” I let the owners know of the situation and apologized for not having said just the right thing and obviously putting him on the defensive. They explained that sometimes there are guests that might not be very agreeable. Two days later one of the owners came by and told us “they had to think of their business first” and summarily fired us. Apparently, the disgruntled guest called to complain and said he would not return if we were still at the campground. He threatened to write a bad review and cancel his reservations for the summer. Understandably, the owners were concerned about the reputation of their beloved campground but, all of a sudden, we were the “bad guys” with no credibility. The owners chose to believe the guest (we still do not know what he said to them) rather than trust us and give us the benefit of the doubt. We were hurt, humiliated, and devastated. We were looking forward to spending the summer and were acclimating to our duties and responsibilities. To be fair to them, there may have been a few other issues that needed to be worked out as we worked to be more fully aware of our responsibilities to the campground and the guests. Of course, in hindsight, we probably could have been more gracious in explaining to the guest the reason for the leash policy. But he did not give us the chance. And neither did the owners. We regret what happened but feel blind-sided and, once again, humiliated.