Camping at A.H. Hogue Campground on Medicine Lake, California

Looking for more fun things to do during your stay at A.H. Hogue Campground?
Go for a swim or paddle in Medicine Lake, or wander the obsidian fields at the incredible Glass Mountain.

AMENITIES

• Vault toilets
• Drinkable water, with spigots placed regularly throughout the campground
• No showers
• Dead wood can be gathered for firewood – please check first to be sure fires are allowed during your visit
• No electricity or water hookups

ABOUT THE SITES

• There are four campgrounds at Medicine Lake – in addition to A.H. Hogue Campground you’ll find Headquarters, Hemlock, and Medicine. A.H. Hogue sits between Medicine and Hemlock, while Headquarters is further up the lake.
• There are 75 campsites in total. A.H. Hogue hosts 24 of these sites.
• All sites cost $14 per night.
• The campgrounds are open from July through October.
• A.H. Hogue Campground has the largest campsites, making it the best option for RVs or camping trailers. Many of the other campsites only accommodate tents.
• Some sites at A.H. Hogue offer direct access to the lake, although it mY involve a steep descent to the shore. Check site descriptions online if you are reserving in advance.
• Our site, #55, was very large and gave us direct access to the lake via a somewhat steep, rocky path. Unfortunately, our first impression was marred by an outhouse that was too close for comfort (see “Our Experience” below). Fortunately, it didn’t end up spoiling our stay.
• Site #39 was our favorite. This large, shaded site has easy lakefront access, and is reservable. Plus, there’s no outhouse close at hand!

FUN STUFF

• Go for a swim or paddle in Medicine Lake. Even if you don’t have a lakefront site, you can access the shore directly from the campground. It’s a great place to hang out or launch a kayak or canoe. Motorized boats should launch from the nearby boating site at the day use area. The day use area also offers a fabulous beach.
• Go for a bike ride or walk in the woods. For a pleasant stroll or ride, look for the trail located across the road from the campground exit. Boulders have been placed along the first section of the path to create an easy mountain biking course. These trails go far into the woods, so be mindful of your route, as there are frequent forks in the trail and no signage.

NEARBY & NOTABLE

• The Medicine Lake day use area includes a fantastic sandy beach and roped off swimming area, shaded picnic tables, and a boat launch. It’s only a five minute drive from the campground, and well worth it if you’re looking for a good spot to swim or for the kids to play in the sand. You could even walk along the shoreline from the campground to get there.
• Glass Mountain, about ten miles from Medicine Lake, offers a fascinating look at a massive obsidian field. It’s an incredible landscape of volcanic glass, and definitely off the beaten path. Be prepared for a rather rough four-mile ride on a dirt road to get there.
• There are other hikes in the area, although we didn’t have the time to try them. You can hike along the northern edge of the lake, or to other nearby places such as Mount Hoffman. Some hikes follow old service roads. Like Glass Mountain, these hikes are not well known, so you may want to check with the Modoc National Forest office before setting out to find more information.
• Lava Beds National Monument, featuring numerous lava tube caves, is about an hour’s drive away. Also at Lava Beds, you’ll find Captain Jack’s Stronghold. Here, Modoc Indian Chief Captain Jack, together with his small band of warriors, fought in an attempt to avoid capture by the U.S. Army in 1873.

THE VERDICT

A.H. Hogue Campground at Medicine Lake offers a beautiful and remote place to camp. If you appreciate being in a wilderness setting with the opportunity to swim, boat, or fish right at your feet, this is the place to be. Just be prepared for vault toilets, although fortunately most were not as stinky as the one we encountered near our site…

The lake is the big draw here, with many campers bringing their boats for fishing and water sports. But if you’d like to escape further into nature, it’s easy to do. The trails in this area don’t get much attention, so provide a nice opportunity for solitude. And while our camping experience was a mostly quiet one, with little boat traffic on the lake, I have the feeling that weekends can be much busier.

Overall, the main reason you might not come to A.H. Hogue Campground is the remote location. It’s a serious trek from any major urban area, and even other outdoor recreation hubs, such as Mount Shasta or Lassen Volcanic National Park, are hours away. Of course, this remote quality is also part of what makes Medicine Lake special. If you have the chance, don’t let it pass you by.

We arrived late to our site at A.H. Hogue Campground, well after nightfall. The road through Modoc National Forest heading west from Highway 139 was long and winding, and it was more than a little unnerving navigating this unfamiliar territory in the dark while towing our trailer. Once, before we began the climb into the mountains, Michael was startled by a herd of cows standing in the road ahead of us, barely visible until we were almost upon them. Fortunately, we didn’t encounter too many more roadside hazards, and almost no other vehicles.

It’s always a challenge backing the trailer into a campsite after dark, and this was no exception. And it was really, really dark. It was Wednesday night, and most of the other campsites were vacant, the sky overhead pitch black except for the stars. But we made it work, as we always do, only to discover something a little unsavory about our site…

It was a smell. Not a pleasant smell, but a distinctively putrid one, like an overripe outhouse. And lo and behold… there was an outhouse (please refer to the photo above). And our site lay just downwind of it.

We had to laugh. What else can you do? When I booked the site, I spotted another outhouse further away on the campground map, behind another site on the opposite side of the road. But this one? How had I missed it? After all, no one wants to reserve a site next to an outhouse if they can help it. Heck, I don’t even like to be next door to a restroom, just because it tends to mean more foot traffic and noise around your site.

I now saw, however, that our site was very close to the neighboring campground loop at Hemlock Campground. Given how the outhouse was situated, it was probably intended for campers at Hemlock. In any case, we were stuck, and would have to make the best of it.

After discovering the stench, we moved the tent further downwind where the smell almost disappeared. Fortunately, our site was very large, giving us space to maneuver. Even more fortunately, when we woke the next morning, the smell had almost completely abated. Blessedly, the wind had changed.

We also convinced J to carry out the brave task of running into each outhouse stall and closing the toilet lids. Because yes, THE LIDS WERE OPEN! Dear reader, I beg you, always close the lids on vault toilets. I cannot tell you how many times I have run across this issue, even when there is a sign in plain letters in the stall specifically asking all users to close the lid. For the love of all that is good, just do it!

Phew! Now that I’ve gotten that off my chest, I’m happy to say that we were not bothered by noxious smells for the remainder of our stay at Medicine Lake. Hooray! Overall, we loved this campground. Unfortunately, there was some smoke in the air from wildfires in other regions, but the smoke lessened as the day went on. Blue skies were still visible overhead.

J discovered the bike trail across the road, and he, T, and I had fun exploring among the trees. After that adventure, it was time to head back to our site. We gathered the sand toys, beach towels, and camp chairs, and carried them down the rocky path from our site to the lakefront. There, we enjoyed a picnic lunch, the kids dug in the sand (of course), and we discovered the lake water was pleasantly warm in the shallows. Not only that, but if you stood still, dozens of small fish appeared as if by magic. As soon as you moved, they scattered.

In the mid-afternoon, we left the campground to explore more of the area, including Glass Mountain and the ample swimming beach at Medicine Lake’s day use area. Back at the campsite that evening, we noticed that far more sites were full. Everywhere, new campers were setting up their camping gear. At A.H. Hogue, many came in large RVs, prepared with all the luxuries needed for a weekend of off-grid camping. Where the vibe had previously been quiet and subdued, there was now a palpable energy in the air. Luckily, come nightfall, the campground was again as quiet and peaceful as ever.

That evening, we gathered dead wood and built a roaring fire to end the day in true camp style. As we sat roasting hot dogs and marshmallows over the flames, I reflected on how lucky we were to find this special place. Despite the inauspicious start, it ended up being one of my favorite stays during our two week trip. Maybe, if we’re lucky, we’ll make it back someday.