Modoc National Forest · California
Overview The popular Medicine Lake Recreation Area and adjacent Medicine Lake are located in the Medicine Lake Highlands in northeastern California. The Recreation Area is located in the Modoc National Forest at an elevation of 6,770 feet. Recreation The Medicine Lake Recreation Area offers camping, boating, fishing and swimming.
Sites at Medicine Lake Recreation Area are reserved through Recreation.gov. Sites here can be reserved in advance through the official system, and they are claimed fast — cancellations then trickle back all season, unannounced, at any hour of the day or night.
| Total sites | 75 |
|---|---|
| Site types | Standard |
| Location | Tulelake, CA |
| Book through | Recreation.gov |
| Official listing | Recreation.gov |
Because sites are booked months ahead, a steady share of reservations get cancelled as trips fall through. Each cancellation instantly returns that site and those nights to the official calendar — first-come, first-served, no waitlist, no announcement. Refreshing the booking page yourself, every few minutes for weeks, works in theory. In practice, the people who get these sites are the ones who hear about the opening first.
itOpened scans the Recreation.gov calendar for Medicine Lake Recreation Area around the clock. When a site matching your dates and your vehicle opens, you get a text with a direct link to it. You book it yourself, in your own account, at the normal price. We never book, hold, or resell — your fee pays for monitoring, and openings are first-come, so speed is the whole game.
| Blue Lake Campground Group Site - Modoc NF (CA) | Cancellation alerts available |
|---|---|
| Patterson Guard Station | Cancellation alerts available |
Page data refreshed 2026-10-29. Site facts come from the official directory listing for Medicine Lake Recreation Area; cancellation statistics come from our own scanning logs.