Lava Beds National Monument — Attraction in Altamont

A must visit for adventurous persons!!!! It’s not just a cave. This place you can witness a lots of caves created by lava flows. It’s very unique and amazing to check out.

After the welcome sign, there a small toilet. Then around 10 mins drive to the visit center where you pay for the entrance fee and get cave map. Fee is waved for American Beauty Pass holder. Also there is a small gift shop you can rent flashlight / knee pad and helmets. Staff very friendly and helpful. You can ask them to advice which cave should go and not Not so big parking. But i think this place never be so crowded you will be fine to find parking.

Although the caves are beautiful and cool but In my opinion a tour guided will be better and you must spend sometimes online for some information also get prepared well. Full bright wide beam angle flash light or a lot a lot of light! Your phone light will be useless Because it’s completely dark when you go down there.

There are 3 levels of caves for your choices! All you have to go by your own so make sure come with friends (3-4ppl) recommended for the first time experience. All caves are named listed on map with all information for each cave. From center parking you can just make a walk or do stop drive to reach each cave.

As mentioned above, group of 3-4 ppl or tour guided needed because all caves have no doors, fully opened space and locate in the middle of big area with trees, mountains, sky. Who knows which animals are hiding in caves. So be careful is priority. Also watch out for rattles snakes from brushes!

I am scared of dark but honestly i am really love the lava beds. Where i can challenge myself and enjoy the beauty of nature. Lava beds is about 2 hrs from Lassen National Park. So if you have time. Stop by here, if you are afraid you can just do the mustpot one! It’s very easy and light setup inside. Good enough for you to know how lava cave looks like. Just for fresh experience. Not be bad.

I really hope they can invest more in tour guided or group adventure for the safety. That time ppl will know more...

Aka Captain Jack's Stronghold

I had never heard about this sacred place until my friend recently discovered her native american heritage to the Modoc tribe. We spent a day and a night in the area, but both agreed that there was lots more to see and do. We took the short trail at a slow pace because we had the whole place to ourselves. Make sure and grab a guide at the start of the trail as you can truly visualize the events that took place, from the strategic positions the Modocs had in the lava beds to the caves used for dwellings during the stronghold. You can feel how devastating it must have been for the Modocs to be told that they had to live somewhere else, and were no longer allowed to hunt in their hunting grounds or get water, fish or gather tule reeds from the lake when it had sustained them for generations. I would have fought like hell, too! I admire them for standing up to the government when they didn't follow through on their promises to the Modocs.

I am grateful that this place has been preserved for the ancestors of the Modoc tribe and for others to learn about. It's sad that growing up in Oregon, that not even a small stich of this history was taught to us.

It's a beautiful place with an arid landscape of rugged lava, narrow canyons, golden grasses, wild flowers, and views of Mt. Shasta and Tule Lake.

It can get really hot, and there is no shade. The trail is also rocky with sharp rocks. So wear some sturdy shoes, bring water, and Don that sunscreen even for the short trail.

There is a bathroom in the parking lot. There were no requirements of parking permits or entry fees that we could find for this spot.

I look forward to visiting again to explore the area more. Make sure to bring an offering to the totem at the top of the trail for respect (e.g., rocks, shells, feathers, red ribbon,...

This place is really neat. We went in August 2018. A perfect time to go. You pay to get in; it's a National Park. We opted to purchase a yearly pass for a small additional fee. You drive up to the visitor center where you can get a map of the caves. There are a lot and they range from easy to advanced. They recommend flashlights, pants and helmets for some caves because you may need to crawl thru small spaces. We were obviously not prepared for that, we were in shorts. They loan you flashlights, or you can buy them. You drive from cave to cave. There are places to park along the sides of the road by each cave. Stay on the paths. We started in the wrong direction, which doesnt really matter, but if you start in the first cave it's kinda informative of the caves themself. It has lots of information about caves, do's and don'ts and so forth. We actually went to the first cave last because we didnt really know it mattered, which it doesn't really but looking back, I would have done it first. We went into all the easy caves and some of the moderately challenging caves. We ventured a little ways into a couple of the most challenging caves, but we were not dressed for it. The caves can get really cold and dark. After the caves we drove to Mammoth Crater. We stopped at a couple more caves along the way. Mammoth crater is really neat. There is a trail there called Big Nasty Trail. We took that trail, unsure of where it led. It makes a loop, but not all the way around the crater. If you hike it, just keep walking along the path and it will bring you back to where you started. It's a fairly easy hike. We did it in August with nothing but ourselves. Nobody was out there on this trail except us. Get an early start to the lava Beds because there is so much to do and see, and you dont want to run out...