Agency-listedUSFSUnpriced · confirmRoad season: open (MVUM)
Hole-in-the-Ground Campground
Drive-up · U.S. Forest Service · CA · 40.30981, -121.56086
Ask an AI about this campsiteOpens Grok already loaded with this site. It reads the same records this page is built from, and links whatever it tells you.
Ask about this camp →U.S. Forest Service lists this as a developed campground. Expect marked sites, a fee station or a reservation, and the usual campground rules. The dispersed-camping freedom of the surrounding forest does not apply inside it. What changes is conditions — roads, gates, closures, fire rules. Check those with the unit before you commit to the drive.
Nearest road on the Forest Service MVUM — Hole-in-the-Ground Campground · Lassen National Forest · CA
The nearest road on the Forest Service MVUM is FR 28N06A (Hole-In-The-Ground Cg), 70 ft from the pin. The MVUM lists it as crushed aggregate or gravel surface and maintenance level 3 – suitable for passenger cars.
Road season: open (MVUM) The MVUM lists FR 28N06A (Hole-In-The-Ground Cg), 70 ft from the pin, open to passenger vehicles May 1 – Nov 30. That season ends after Nov 30.
MVUM record for FR 28N06A (Hole-In-The-Ground Cg): “05/01-11/30” Read against the calendar on 2026-09-22; with JavaScript your browser re-checks it against today.
From the Forest Service's own Motor Vehicle Use Map roads layer (EDW, Clearinghouse refresh Aug 30, 2026), straight-line from the pin to the nearest mapped segment. The nearest segment is not necessarily the way in, a maintenance level is the agency's class and not a report on today, and a road's season is the road's — it is not a campground order. What the levels mean → What an MVUM is →
USGS topo — contours & terrain
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Weather outlook — at Hole-in-the-Ground Campground
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 4,279 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Hole-in-the-Ground CampgroundNIFC · AirNow
Checking active fires & air quality…
Active wildfires from NIFC (within ~50 mi); air quality from AirNow. Always confirm current fire restrictions with the managing office before you go.
Everything you need — measured from Hole-in-the-Ground Campground · Lassen National Forest · CA
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- GGrocery3 mi
- @Mail3 mi
- WWater12 mi
- ShShower12 mi
- FFuel15 mi
- DDump16 mi
- HHardware17 mi
- +Urgent care21 mi
- LLaundry26 mi
- MMechanic33 mi
- EVEV fast charger36 mi
- AAir-up36 mi
- RxPharmacy37 mi
- OOutfitter40 mi
- PPropane41 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water's a short hop out, fuel & food sit about 3 mi out, the nearest EV fast charger is a 36-mi run (and back).
One dot per need — the nearest of each kind, straight-line from camp. Places from OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors); the EV fast charger from the US DOE station locator. Open in Google Maps ↗
The site — Hole-in-the-Ground Campground
Access
Drive-up
Land
U.S. Forest Service
Elevation
4,279 ft
Ground slope
40.8% · steep
State
CA
Coordinates
40.30981, -121.56086
Cost
Unpriced — no source gives a price; assume it may cost something and confirm before you go
Nearby & resupply — around Hole-in-the-Ground Campground · Lassen National Forest · CA (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureMill Creek · under 0.1 mi · USGS: perennial stream
- Also mapped (OSM)Rock Gulch Creek (stream) · mapped within 1.6 mi
- Nearest townMill Creek · ~2.3 mi
- Rail & highwaynone mapped within 10 mi
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- FuelFuel · ~15.3 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- Dump station~15.5 mi
- GroceriesThe Village Mercantile · ~5.0 mi
- Hospital / clinicSeneca Hospital · ~17.2 mi
- HardwareAce Hardware · ~17.2 mi
EV charging — from Hole-in-the-Ground Campground · Lassen National Forest · CA — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger35.9 mi straight-line W — GF4EVA RED BLUFF DC3 · ChargePoint Network · CHAdeMO, CCS · 1 fast port listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reachnone within 25 mi · 51 within 50 · 106 within 100 · 456 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)36.2 mi — Red Bluff, CA - Tesla Supercharger, Red Bluff
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)35.9 mi — GF4EVA RED BLUFF L2 · ChargePoint Network · J1772 · 2 Level 2 ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily
- Pricing at the fast chargernot listed
- Power (kW)not listed by AFDC — “DC fast” spans roughly 24 to 350 kW, so ask the network.
- Read this honestlyStraight-line miles, like every distance on this site. Roads run longer than this, and you have to get back. We know where a charger is listed. We don’t know if it works today, how fast it is, or the road miles. Check the network before you commit.
Snapshot 2026-09-16 · AFDC record 198122 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Hole-in-the-Ground Campground · Lassen National Forest · CA — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Vault / pit toiletHole In The Ground · ~0.3 mi W · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletBrokenshire · ~3.3 mi NE · USFS
- RestroomCXT Comfort Station Mineral Ballfield (HQ) · ~3.8 mi NW · NPS
- Vault / pit toiletMorgan Summit · ~4.0 mi N · USFS
Coming out here — Hole-in-the-Ground Campground · Lassen National Forest · CA
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Mill Creek as a perennial stream, under 0.1 mi from the pin (National Hydrography Dataset, data refreshed October 2022). Mapped as perennial is not the same as flowing today. Nobody has checked it for you. Filter or boil anything you drink.
- Ground slope around the pin: about 40.8% — steep. Measured on USGS's 3DEP elevation model (1 m data here), sampled every 10 metres around the point. That is the hillside, not the ground under your wheels — a graded pullout or a bench a few metres across is too small to show up at that spacing, and nobody has checked this one for you.
- No rail line and no interstate or US route is mapped within 10 mi of the pin. Checked against the FRA/BTS North American Rail Network (data updated Jul 21, 2026) and the Census's TIGER/Line primary roads (TIGER/Line 2025, released Oct 2025). Both are national files and both are maps of what is built, not counts of what moves on it.
- Power: Dave carries his own — batteries or solar. A generator will run your rig and it is also the thing everybody camped near you can hear.
- Getting online: Dave recommends Starlink. He has had it since SpaceX introduced it, used it for four years living on the road, and it delivers as promised — several hundred nights out, and he can count on one hand the places he could not connect. The cable on his unit runs 150 feet, which is usually all it takes to find enough sky. Starlink → Referral link — Starlink pays Dave $100 in cash if you sign up through it, and that money funds this site and the next trip. It costs you nothing and does not change the recommendation.
Open Hole-in-the-Ground Campground elsewhere
Other camps near Hole-in-the-Ground Campground
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Hole In The Ground~0.3 mi · fee
- Mill Creek - Private~2.2 mi
- Battle Creek Campground~4.4 mi · fee
- Gurnsey Creek Group Campground~6.9 mi
The unit that manages Hole-in-the-Ground Campground
Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions at Hole-in-the-Ground Campground are set by Lassen National Forest, not by the campsite — check there before you go.
How we know this — Hole-in-the-Ground Campground
Source
OpenStreetMap contributors
Confidence
Likely — The record is good enough to put a pin on, but thin in places. Treat the details as a starting point, not gospel.
Agency page
fs.usda.gov — the land manager's own page for this site. Fees, seasons and closures are stated there first; if it disagrees with this page, it wins.
How it was placed
auto: drive (road/trail right there)
Nearest MVUM road
US Forest Service Motor Vehicle Use Map roads layer (EDW_MVUM_01, layer 1), Clearinghouse refresh Aug 30, 2026. Straight-line distance from the pin to the nearest mapped segment within 1 mi; surface type, maintenance level and open dates are the agency's own values for that segment, expanded from its codes and otherwise unedited. Nothing here says which road reaches the site.
EV chargers
US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center station locator, snapshot 2026-09-16. Straight-line miles to the nearest public, open, unrestricted station; restricted and planned units are shown but never counted.
Field check
On the agency's books. The land manager inventoried this site, so its existence is not in question — current conditions are. Nobody from here has camped it recently.
What we don’t know about Hole-in-the-Ground Campground
A land record can put you within a few meters of a spot. It cannot tell you any of this — so check it yourself, and treat anything below as the open question it is.
- Whether that MVUM road is the way in, and the last stretch beyond it
- Whether the site itself closes on its own schedule — only the road's season is on record
- How many rigs actually fit
- Cell coverage by carrier
- Current fire restrictions
- Whether any water here is drinkable
- Shade & wind exposure
- Noise and who else shows up
- Whether a listed EV charger works today, or the road miles to it
Before you go — Hole-in-the-Ground Campground
Finding water out here →What “dispersed” means here →Reading a forest MVUM →Power off-grid →All field notes →