Hat Creek Resort & RV Park

Perfect variety of accommodations! They have tent sites and RV sites which can compete with any national park campground (not the glorified parking lots you often get in private campgrounds), the location besides a creek which is seemingly immune to California’s drought and next to the Pacific Crest trail makes it an ideal location. The yurts are a nice touch, and we’ll give those a try next time around.
The price point is somewhat cheaper than comparable resorts in the area, but they have nice off-​season rates. We came in October, and found unseasonably warm daytime temperatures (nights approached freezing, though).
Downsides to other people (such as my wife) might be the buggy Wifi in the motel, and the fact that the staff was minimally friendly, and occasionally on the grumpy side. Guys: just remember, you are selling FUN, and customers are not interested whether you had a rough Friday night or bad bowel movement that morning. So, be friendly to people if you want them to come back, your pay checks depend on it.
The resort is situated a dozen miles past the Lassen Nat. Park entrance, on the wilder and more secluded side of the park compared to the westerly direction of route 44. A positive in my value system, since I aim to get away from cell phone coverage when camping.
We planned on spending the night in our pop up camper, but then one of our kids got cold symptoms, and we rented one of the motel rooms. We were VERY positively surprised: the room was clean, neat, came with fridge and microwave, and a set of table&chairs which was actually usable to have breakfast etc with the kids. Marriott and co should take it as an example.
A couple of miles further East is the town of Old Station, which is a quirky place –the local economy seems to rely on fighting forest fires (there is an outsized fire station for a town that size). JJ’s diner makes a mean Denver Omelette with surprisingly non-​greasy fries, and is a favored hangout for locals and Pacific Crest trail hikers. Yet another 20 miles on is the Hat Creek observatory, which houses a SETI telescope array, and which is open to visitors on weekdays. Make sure to chat with the technical staff, they are very knowledgable about the mission and technology.
Anyway, wel’ll be back (as long as the rates don’t go up — LOL).

This place is awesome!
We decided to rent out one of their quaint cabins as the kick-​off to my first vacation in two years and celebrating our 3 year anniversary. I wanted to check out Lassen (just down the road) and this was close and reasonably priced.
The cabin was very clean with a modern bathroom. It even had a working TV but we opted in for streaming on Netflix. Yes, the Wifi was great! They’ve really created a community here! All the other guests were friendly. It was very quiet with a posted «Quiet Time at 10pm» sign that everyone was respectful of. Our cabin faced Hat Creek which was a great way to fall asleep every night. They have a small general store on the grounds with all of your basic necessities, even craft beer! I’m not sure what part I enjoyed more… sitting on the porch watching the light rain that was falling, counting the Turkey Vultures that lived in the giant tree across the highway (got up to 20!) or enjoying the acrobatic dance of bats catching their food every night.
If you’re in the area, stop by and check it out. As for me, I can’t wait to go back!

We had a late check in, when we arrived a paper with my name was pinned to a board. When we went to check out, no one was there and I had to leave my key in the room. I never saw a person who worked there… What if I needed something? Part of the appeal of getting a motel vs. camping is the availability of staff. We had no one to ask where we could get food. You WILL NOT find food after 6 pm in this area. Everything is closed. Just FYI.
The room was super spacious. The beds were larger than expected and comfortable. The view from our room was incredible. The bathroom had a spacious tub. Everything was impeccably clean. The internet was difficult to figure out, in fact, I just gave up after 10 minutes of registering for something. Phone service is pretty bad out there.
The price was decent considering it’s so close to Lassen Volcanic National Park. I would consider getting a Yurt next time which is like camping with TV and some amenties. This place is perfect is you have a group of people, some of which want to camp and others who do not. You get the best of both worlds. There are fire pits and grills available for cooking. Bring plenty of snacks because the local grocery store closes at 6!

A very nice stay. I had a room at the motel. Easy access to Lassen National Park. Very friendly and helpful staff.

I came here to unplug and that’s exactly what I did. Do not expect cell service, wifi, or tv to work well, or at all. That was perfectly okay with me. I was looking for a getaway and I got it. If you are used to camping, and walking to your bathroom, you’ll be fine. I loved the creek. Very loud, but happy to see and hear water flowing rapidly. Very pretty. It’s a treat to me after seeing water sources here on the central coast all dried up. :(The resort store is very cute and organized and it looks like they have a good thing going, here. Our yurt was very nice, better than expected. It did get pretty chilly at night, so a portable heater would have been ideal, but just bring your extra sleeping bags/​blankets. They provide blankets too, but it’s a good idea to be prepared. Also, warm showers are bonus, but stick to the 5 min limit. It’s just the nice thing to do. Maybe I don’t expect much, but I was pretty happy here. I like getting away, I like nice people and pretty places. Next time I’ll remember to get food before everything closes, and firewood.

We have stayed here before and a had a great time. Had to cancel a reservation do to my husband having surgery. Cancelled 2 weeks prior to our reservation and they charged us $ 10. It’s not the cost it’s the principle. I find it ridiculous. We won’t be staying there again.

More like 2.5 stars… Stayed in a back-​in rv site (in-​laws in the camper, but I was in a tent).
Pros: There are lots of tall trees in the park so there is plenty of shade. There is running water, electricity, and flushing toilets. The laundry room was clean and while the bathrooms needed a deep cleaning (and new toilet seats, which are currently cracking) they were not dirty… the floors were swept and relatively clean. People were respectful and quiet. This place is literally right on hat creek which is great for fishing. There is a store on the premises (though I didn’t check it out) and lots of options for camping (a motel, yurts, cabins, tent sites, pull through rv sites, and back in sites.) There is a basketball court and horseshoe pits. It’s really close to Lassen National Park and the lake at that back entrance is beautiful.
Cons: First, it’s incredibly dusty. It didn’t look like any of the roads in the «resort» were paved. When people came by in their large campers it sometimes kicked up dirt. We went fishing at camp sites (which I think were maintained by the forest service) nearby and all of them were paved. The lack of roadways made it hard to understand the flow of traffic too. There are not a ton of restrooms, instead there are a lot of port-​a-​potys. Actually there are not even a lot of those, the bathrooms are really spread out in this place. The wi-​fi did not work. I was able to access email once during my stay. When I say it doesn’t work I don’t mean you just can’t access Netflix, I mean you basically don’t have any internet, period. AT&T does not have service here either. I thought the layout was poor and some sites are right on top of each-​other. The map on their website doesn’t really highlight this.
We came in just before some big fires hit nearby. The power went out in the complex on our second night there. This wasn’t the fault of the owners, of course, and to their credit, though they would not refund our money if we checked out early– they did offer us a voucher to come back at a later time. We ended up staying. When the power went out the pumps for the water didn’t work so we ended up dry camping, which we were unprepared for. They shut down the restrooms we were near by. It was a bit of a walk to those port-​a-​poties which really needed to be emptied. The water still worked at nearby camp-​grounds, should you run into the same problem.
If you stay pick a spot near the restrooms because they are pretty far between. If the place was paved I might have given it the extra star or two. You pay more to stay at place like this and so I expected it to be worth the extra money… The location is outstanding! If you don’t mind the dust and the hikes to the restrooms, this is a good place.

We stayed in a yurt and it was great. Had a microwave, tv, fridge and was by the river. Very pretty. Only complaints: no bathrooms (outhouses), no heater, very, very hard bed, dirty blanket smelled like rancid perfume. One night was ok and had a great bike ride with my hubby. Close to Lassen and Burney.

Our family reunion was planned at this site so we were given a link and we all followed suit and reserved a space… some of us roughed it and chose campsites while others decided to take a spot at the motel– 3 of us chose to go the middle ground and get a yurt because they looked awesome and spacious on the web site… however they are not awesome (not horrible, but still not awesome) and they are only about 13 foot diameter circular structure. I’ve stayed in some amazing yurts in Northern California and sadly this one did not make the yurt-​astic list!
If you decide to get a yurt here are some tips… when you check in open up the top window with the metal bar thingy that they put beside the door… they don’t tell you about it in directions or at check in so just do it and leave for 3 hours– when you come back it will be semi-​livable– it would be a much better first impression if the staff would just open that up when they have yurt guests but they don’t =(The cable TV is iffy so bring DVD’s if you are looking forward to TV– their wireless internet is super iffy so download Kindle books, do your Emails, and let everyone on earth know you won’t be in contact because you will NOT get phone/​text/​email. If you do need to make a phone call there is an operable phone booth at the entrance (yeah, I didn’t know they still existed either)
In general: bring shower shoes… or better yet don’t use the showers because they are filthy cesspools of fungus and flesh eating bacteria just waiting to feed off of the adventurous souls of the Hat Creek campers. Also there are no mirrors in the bathrooms so if you gotta put your face on bring a compact, do without, or be daring and do your eyeliner without a mirror… that’s what I did and apparently it looked so awesome people couldn’t stop looking!
If you go left out of the resort there is a place on the left hand side of the road with piles of free firewood– also on the right side of the road is a breakfast place called JJ’s which was good considering it is the ONLY option outside of the café on the other side of Lassen or the deli (ew) at the Hat Creek store.
The sign on the store regarding story time says 11:30PM-12:30PM which at first was interesting to me because I thought that ghost story time with some of the «characters» they have running that place would be awesome… but then I discovered that it was in fact a kid story time for the middle of the day. NO FUN!
If you are there for fishing… well I know nothing about fishing and apparently it is an awesome fishing spot sooooooo I guess you got me there.
If you are there for hiking and just having fun in general I would suggest doing the Subway Tunnel which was a super easy little walk but still fun– Lassen has oodles of beautiful lakes and trails etc. etc. to discover to pay the $ 10 and enjoy the park… we hiked in to Soda Lake and it was so beautiful and peaceful I just wanted to soak it all in and stay there forever.
If you are doing Lassen and you have a dog they have new more strict rules that basically say «no dogs outside of the car, but don’t leave them in the car». If you are not careful you’ll get busted by one of the rangers… just be respectful and rein them in when there are others around. I went on a busy weekend so I didn’t have any trouble but if there weren’t so many people and vehicles to keep in check I am sure my dog and I would have been escorted out!
Have fun, sleep tight, and don’t let the bed bugs bite (seriously though, check for bed bugs)

I got a great deal through Groupon. The junior suite was big and roomy. Nice and clean too. It is a pretty place to stay if you really enjoy nature which we do. They need to become better informed about the general area because I like it when people can answer my questions about where to eat and where to go. The Nature trail needs to be marked with signs and cleared out a little bit for easier hiking and better visability.
All and all I will come back in a couple of years to see if things have improved under the new management.

Found this through Groupon & decided to make it our spontaneous weekend get-​away. We aren’t into fishing but the location was still very nice, right on Hat Creek. We could hear the creek from our cabin. Cabin is super cute, bathroom small but better to have your own than community bathrooms. Shower needs a complete remodel but works fine. Kitchen is basic but worked great for our meal plans. Service is ok — they messed up our reservation but did correct it. When we asked them the best route to the south entrance of Mt. Lassen, the woman said she had no idea. Another traveler in the store had just come from the south entrance (park roads were not yet fully open) and he shared two great routes we could take. We drove to Burney each night for dinner since the options in Old Station were limited & closed at 6 pm. Next time we will pack more food since the amenities would accommodate cooking larger meals. This would be a great place to stay if you want to hike Mt. Lassen, explore the Subway Cave, Lava Beds, Burney Falls — all that we plan to do next time when the season is in full swing and everything is open.

This is a nice place in a nice setting but be prepared for some service that is not normal for a motel. We stayed here when we came to photograph the annular solar eclipse on May 20, 2012. We got a motel room and they didn’t clean the room, empty the trash nor replenish the coffee and the TV had no reception of any kind. They had a water line break and we had no water at all after a very long day of scouting locations and then photographing the eclipse. The water as back on by morning and the line break could happen to anyone so I don’t hold that against them. Also, the office is staffed by some very officious ladies and only open from 9:00 AM until 5:00 PM and there is no one to see for any kind of help after hours. The campground is probably the best bet here.

STAY AWAY FROM THIS PLACE!!! While the location might be convenient, the management and staff are absolutely horrible! I’ll try to keep this brief…
September 2011, my folks made reservations for our family and rented 3 spaces– one for them, one for us, and one for my sister’s family. My folks went up a few days before us, and we arrived on a Friday. Having never been there before, I drove in pulling my tent trailer looking for my parents and to find out where we’re supposed to set up. As we drove slowly through the campground, a scruffy old man in a red «security» shirt walked up to my window with a scowl and rudely asked, «Can’t you read? The sign says check in! You didn’t didn’t check in!» I explained I was only looking for my parents, that they’re already here and waiting for us, and that I’ll go check in as soon as I find them. The grouchy old coot just started pointing to the main store up front and grumbling, «Nope, you gotta go check in first. Go check in.» I ignored him and started to drive away when he started yelling and jumped in his golf cart. I found my folks just around the corner, then went to check in. The nasty old fart had already drove his golf cart up to the main building to tattle on me, so the crusty old hag behind the counter refused to let us check in because «I broke the rules.» An arguement, some choice words, and darn near a fist fight with Mr. Security and we were all, including my folks and my sister’s family, kicked off the property. All of this simply because I didn’t see their litle sign that says «check in». The jerk coulda politely explained the situation when I arrived, but they decided it was better to be a bunch of a-​holes instead of making sure we were happy and comfortable. They lost quite a bit of money on that deal, and we went down the road a couple miles to another resort where the staff was extremely polite and happy to see us.
Don’t go anywhere near this rathole. Not to sound all sour-​grapes, but it really isn’t all that nice anyway. Lots of debris and garbage piled up around the place, it looks like a construction zone for on ongoing project that isn’t ongoing, its just a mess.

Interesting. I give the room 3 stars; it was ok, clean and met the need. I give the management 1 star. I made a reservation online the night before heading up to Lassen. Arrived around 3:00 PM to a pretty deserted «resort» and hunted for the office. Finally spotted a small hand written sign indicating to check in at the store. Asked the «nice» lady in the store if she had any rooms. «Nope.» Well I said, «better have one for me because I have a reservation.» She looked in her book and said «nope.» Well, my credit card was charged. «Oh, did you reserve online?» «Yep.» «Oh, someone didn’t do their job. Here’s a key. I don’t know if it’s upstairs or downstairs, I’m new here.» «No problem. Is there a restaurant in town to get something to eat?» «Nope, only the deli in the store here.» Turns out all the other rooms remained empty except for one. I guess they figure it’s easier to tell people they’re full instead of hassling with the paperwork involved in checking a paying customer in! I have pretty reasonable expectations when in the middle of nowhere but I do expect honest, good people everywhere. AVOID THIS PLACE!

Pros: Hat Creek is literally a stones’ throw away…
Cons: no cell service; WIFI is a joke; VERY DUSTY…
We decided to bring our travel trailer here. Like another said, this place is nestled in the trees; make sure to have them guide you in because its tight in some spots and its hard to find them anyway. There were some big rigs, but some spots are so tight between trees, one guy could barely get his slide open. Several of the spots were at weird angles; the guy next to us had a hard time getting his truck out without hitting our truck. Its very dusty, more than any other place I have been to; make sure to have an extra hose to spray down the dirt — even trying to keep the doors shut and leaving shoes outside, I was constantly cleaning. Bluck!
Customer service: we thought everyone was nice and friendly; well, all but one. Perhaps the son of the owner? I don’t know — short, husky late 20’s or early thirties guy. Seems to lack social skills. We went to the store to buy some ice — there were two signs saying they were open. This guy just stood on the other side of the door staring bug-​eyed at us. When we asked if they were open, he just continued staring at us. When we pointed at the open signs and verbalized this, he finally angrily pointed at where the hours were posted. Then he walked off. Couldn’t he have just said, we’re closed? We had another encounter with his lack of finesse, but I think this sums it up: Weird dude.
Cell service: one of us had Verizon — it worked most of the time. One of us had AT&T — nothing in the campground. They say their WIFI is just slow — out of five nights, I got on 2 minutes one day; about 30 minutes another day, and then nothing the rest of the time. Of course, once I got onto 44 and 89, I got service.
Be careful — they have a 7-​day cancellation policy, so if you change your mind and want to leave early, they will charge you.
Any places to eat are at least 30 minutes away, so be prepared. We like to cook our own food, so it wasn’t a problem as we brought plenty.
Burney Falls and Subway Caves and Lassen Nat’l Park are cool; but the Radio Conservatory on their website has been closed for a year.
Fishing was great along Hat creek — too many people in the campsite along the creek, so we drove just a few miles down and parked and caught our limits — mostly rainbow plants but also a few native brookies.
Would I stay again: No… checked out another place with almost the same name that looked a lot cleaner and well-​maintained.

Many times, it is how it is said rather than what is said that makes the difference.
Was traveling through Old Station and the Hat Creek Resort looked like a place that I wanted to stop and feed my family dinner (they had a BBQ going) as well as get two rooms. A long stretch on the road and all of us needed to stretch our legs including our four-​legged child, the dog.
As we were getting our wits together, stretching, etc. an older overweight man with a ring of keys, a scowl, and a black hat with white stenciled «SECURITY» came up and said «Get your dog on a leash». Not «Good evening», etc. just the command «Get you dog on a leash».
Hmm, is this their idea of customer service? No signs to the contrary. Upon getting home, I saw that they proclaim they are «pet friendly». Strange behavior for a «pet friendly» location. The delivery may have been appropriate if we were in front of a sign, perhaps, but we weren’t.
After the way the message was delivered as Hat Creek Resort exhibited «customer service», we figured we would find more relaxing accommodations someplace else and headed off down the road.

We had a 2Q bed room in the motel part of the resort. The room was fine — it was clean and spacious with a good sized dining area, and plenty of storage for clothes and bathroom items.
A few problems: we found the people who run the general store and check-​in nice enough, but not very knowledgeable about Mt. Lassen Volcanic Park and not very willing to help us find out more – for instance about where to rent horses for a trail ride. They did not provide a map of the park, only one showing the entire Northern California to Oregon volcanic area scenic route. So, it was a little hard to plan our activities for the next day. Luckily the complimentary Wifi connection was sufficient and served as our «concierge» and tour guide.
(In comparison, the similar resort nearby Crater Lake where we had stayed the previous week had a detailed map of the national park, as well as offering us help by way of recommendations for sightseeing and activities.)
No cell phone reception at the resort; when trying to make a horseback-​riding reservation which I found out from the internet is available in the park, we were told we could drive 5 minutes up the road where there is a cell signal, or pay them 2 bucks for the use of their business phone. No one bothered to tell us there is a working pay phone in the resort, just around the corner from our room.
The TV had about 10 — 15 channels to choose from. We traveled with a portable DVD player which could hook up to the TV, so we could enjoy a movie of our choice at night.
The following day we did enjoy the park very much, albeit without much advice or information from the front office.

This RV park is truly nestled into the trees, which is great for keeping cool and out of the sun. We stayed here this past September (OK… so I’m just a bit slow with getting it posted, LOL) and really had a nice time. The park staff were really friendly and helpful. And our RV space was a large, level, full hook-​up back-​in with tall pines all around.
If you’re a fisherman, you can’t beat the convenience of this place. Hat Creek runs right through it. You can have an RV space, a Yurt, or a cottage right along the banks of the river… so you can roll right out of bed and cast your line. OK… so maybe you’ll want to get a cup of coffee first. No problem… head over to the office where they’ve got a well-​stocked convenience store and a luncheonette.
We enjoyed the remote beauty of the place, took a walk along the Pacific Crest Trail (it passes right by the park, so you can hike or go horse-​back riding) to a ridge that overlooked Mt. Lassen, and spent a day exploring Lassen Volcanic National Park.
We really enjoyed it here and look forward to coming back. Check it out yourself and see how much YOU like it!

This campground was a cute little area in right by Lassen Natl Park. We got a 2 bed, 1 bath cabin. It was nice, clean, & we had a clutch fire pit out front. The park was nice and for the price, pretty sweet. There was a small creek about 200 ft away that we could go fishing in, a store on the grounds to get food, wood, etc.
Unfortunately, there’s no cell reception and the TV had 1 channel (TBS), but when you’re out in the woods, do you really want either of those things?
Go see the volcanoes & smell the sulfur!