Agency-listedUSFSFeeRoad season: open (MVUM)
Little Lava Lake
Drive-up · U.S. Forest Service · OR · 43.91071, -121.76423
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 — Little Lava Lake · Deschutes National Forest · OR
The nearest road on the Forest Service MVUM is FR 4600520 (Little Lava C.G. Complex), 20 ft from the pin. The MVUM lists it as improved native material surface and maintenance level 3 – suitable for passenger cars.
Road season: open (MVUM) The MVUM lists FR 4600520 (Little Lava C.G. Complex), 20 ft from the pin, open to passenger vehicles year-round.
MVUM record for FR 4600520 (Little Lava C.G. Complex): “01/01-12/31” Read against the calendar on 2026-09-27; 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 Little Lava Lake
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 4,750 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Little Lava LakeNIFC · 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 Little Lava Lake · Deschutes National Forest · OR
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- WWater0 mi
- GGrocery15 mi
- OOutfitter16 mi
- +Urgent care17 mi
- FFuel17 mi
- @Mail17 mi
- LLaundry20 mi
- ShShower20 mi
- EVEV fast charger20 mi
- MMechanic20 mi
- RxPharmacy21 mi
- HHardware21 mi
- PPropane24 mi
- AAir-up24 mi
- DDump31 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water is basically at camp, fuel & food sit about 15 mi out.
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 — Little Lava Lake
Access
Drive-up
Land
U.S. Forest Service
Elevation
4,750 ft
Ground slope
2.2% · flat
State
OR
Coordinates
43.91071, -121.76423
Cost
Fee
Nearby & resupply — around Little Lava Lake · Deschutes National Forest · OR (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureDeschutes River · ~0.1 mi · USGS: perennial river
- Nearest townThree Rivers · ~15.8 mi
- Rail & highwaynone mapped within 10 mi
- Drinking waterWater · ~0.2 mi
- FuelShell · ~16.7 mi
- Propane / LPGPropane · ~24.0 mi
- GroceriesThree Creek Lake Store & Marina · ~14.7 mi
- PharmacyWalgreens · ~20.8 mi
- Hospital / clinicHigh Desert Family Medicine · ~16.6 mi
- HardwareAce Hardware · ~20.8 mi
EV charging — from Little Lava Lake · Deschutes National Forest · OR — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger20.1 mi straight-line SE — 52530 US-97, La Pine, OR · EV Connect · CHAdeMO, CCS · 2 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach8 within 25 mi · 21 within 50 · 105 within 100 · 330 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)24.3 mi — Bend, OR - Tesla Supercharger, Bend
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)7.7 mi — Mt. Bachelor Westside Village, Bend, OR (at a recreation facility) · Non-Networked · J1772 · 6 Level 2 ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-14 · hours: Open during parking lot hours
- 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 351518 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Little Lava Lake · Deschutes National Forest · OR — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Vault / pit toiletLittle Lava Lake · at this camp · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletLava Lake · ~0.2 mi NW · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletLucky Lake · ~0.8 mi SW · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletHosmer Lake Boating · ~3.6 mi N · USFS
Coming out here — Little Lava Lake · Deschutes National Forest · OR
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Deschutes River as a perennial river, ~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 2.2% — flat. Measured on USGS's 3DEP elevation model (3 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 Little Lava Lake elsewhere
Other camps near Little Lava Lake
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Lava Lake~0.2 mi · fee
- Deschutes Bridge~2.8 mi
- South Campground~3.6 mi
- Mallard Marsh Campground~3.7 mi · fee
The unit that manages Little Lava Lake
Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions at Little Lava Lake are set by Deschutes National Forest, not by the campsite — check there before you go.
How we know this — Little Lava Lake
Longest rig
40 ft (Maximum site spur length is 40 feet.)
Source
U.S. Forest Service recreation data
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.
How it was placed
Developed FEE campground (not free) - review | auto:usfs-fee 2026-08-20: US Forest Service developed campground, agency coordinates, agency states a fee. No dollar amount in the agency record -- expect a charge and confirm the current rate before you go. Not field-verified. | Fee 2026-08-31: $25 per night, single campsite; $27 premium campsite; $50 double; $126 group site. One vehicle included with a reservation; each additional vehicle $10. The Deschutes NF page and recreation.gov listing 233215 (0.132 mi from our pin) agree at $25 standard / $27 premium / $126 group for all three 2026 season blocks, May 15 - Oct 17. Note for anyone re-checking this: that listing sits between two of our camps and a name search first returned it for Lava Lake 0.32 mi away -- it belongs here, at Little Lava Lake. Source: https://www.fs.usda.gov/r06/deschutes/recreation/little-lava-lake-campground.
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 Little Lava Lake
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 — Little Lava Lake
Camping near a reservoir →What “dispersed” means here →Reading a forest MVUM →Leave no trace →All field notes →