Manzanita Lake Camping Cabins (CA)

This was such an amazing experience. The cabins were just inside the park (Google maps is deceiving, you have to enter the park to reach the cabins)! Everything was clean (the cabin, bathrooms, grounds) and the scenery was beautiful! Highly recommend.

These are great little cabins located just a 3-5' walk from the edge of the lake (where the concessionaire does Kayak and SUP rentals). Highly recommend the short walk/hike around the lake- very easy and pretty scenery. Site included picnic table, bear box and fire ring. Cozy and quite warm - we actually slept with windows open. As the notes point out, these cabins do NOT have electricity. Make sure you bring lanterns and flashlights. It gets very dark in Lassen (a bonus since the stars are amazing). Restrooms and showers are rustic.
Only negatives I might raise:
1. Despite what Rec.gov says, no combination was provided in the confirmation email for access to the cabin lock box. Their on line help folks were unable to solve this. You can easily get this info at the camp store but don't show up after they close.
2. Mattress is a dense futon so consider bringing a sleeping pad. Otherwise it is quite firm.

We had a great time staying at the cabin and kayaking on the lake. The staff was friendly and helpful. Would be nice to have EV charging stations in the park. We didn't have any issues driving our EV to Lassen NP, we have a long range EV but for people who have standard range EVs, knowing there are chargers in the park would ease their "range anxieties".

My family has been camping at Manzanita Lake for 40 years. We went to celebrate our 40th year August 10-13. We had 19 in our group, divided among 5 cabins and 4 camp sites.
The cabins, the store, showers and amenities used to be great, by camping standards.
This year, the lack of care in the campground is so much that this will be our last time there. It was a hot mess!!!!
There were no lights in the women’s restroom by the store (there usually are). Neither sink in the women‘s restroom worked the 3 1/2 days we were there. Gross. That left the drinking fountain outside of the bathroom to wash in. With no soap as it was always empty.
The pay-showers were unbelievably filthy, even for “camping” standards.
The cabin (#7) is dirty and falling apart. The window screens were literally taped with blue painters tape to cover multiple holes. The mini blinds are all broken. The deck was about to fall in on one side and when my husband asked the cleaning crew for a drill to render the deck safe, he was told there is no drill as there is no maintenance personnel.
The store is extremely limited compared to
years prior. Out of most things and the “kitchen” doesn’t have close to the menu it used to. Don’t count on it for your source of food!!!
The paddle boards for rent don’t have fins so you don’t go straight and the person working simply recommended we not stand up - on the stand up paddle board….
The gas pumps were similarly out of order. That didn’t affect us but shows the lack of care in the once great campground.
There was also no camp host, which I didn’t care about but the older members of our family were frustrated because they didn’t have anyone to complain to when their neighbors were partying late into the night.
We will not be back to this campground. A hotel with a pool isn’t much more when you factor in camping costs. And those showers…..ew.
Do better.

Great views of the Lassen peak by boat or hike around lake. Twilight after sunsets especially pretty.
Showers well maintained but the restroom next to it needed maintenance, lights not working at nights (both men & women) and faucets not working in women's restroom.

Cabin was wonderful and overall really happy with the campground.
Highly recommend spending time driving thru the park and stopping along the way.
We hiked to the top of mount Lassen, which was not easy but the views were absolutely gorgeous.
This is one of my most favorite national parks.

The bathroom at the market had no water supply for the sinks. The showers need to be clean at least once a day. There was copious amounts of human hair in the drains; used bandaids and sanitary pads on the stall floors. A couple of the vault bathrooms were out of order and the big metal trash container lid was sprung and wouldn't close. One of the young men who clean the cabins was very nice and helpful and when he knew our family was arriving sooner than 3:00 pm, he took the initiative to get the cabin cleaned first.

An underrated National Park. Great hikes and beautiful panoramic views without a crowd of people. Thoroughly recommended for 3 days to explore and more if you want to spend a day chilling. Bring a lot of water and sunscreen, it gets sunny during the day, and some hiking in altitude is quite cold, but you can get sunstroke. Nights are not cold, but a hoodie is always welcome to enjoy outside next to a firepit :).

We stayed in a cabin right next to Manzanita Lake and the lake was beautiful. We had a nice, easy hike around the lake on one day and another nice hike down to King's Creek falls. The falls hike was pretty scenic but would probably have been nicer before the Dixie fire tore through the area. The only downside of our trip was that the Bumpass Hell trail was closed due to snowpack so we didn't get an up close look at the hydrothermal features. Other than that, the park was beautiful and our 5 and 2 year old kids had a great time (my older kid is obsessed with volcanoes at the moment so that helped him to enjoy his experience even more).

cabin had a very dirty floor and the screens didn't fit well, resulting in lots of bugs getting in.