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Lava Beds National Monument Plan Your Visit
Lava Beds National Monument is always open to visitors. The Visitor Center hours are 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. during the Winter, Fall and Spring season, open 8:00 a.m.- 6:00 p.m. during the summer season (Memorial to Labor Day), and is closed Christmas Day.
Klamath Falls International Airport is the closest airport, about an hour away by car. Medford, Oregon is another option, with more flights than Klamath Falls, but is a 2 hour drive away. Flights into Reno, Nevada may be less expensive, but it is almost 4 hours from Reno to the park by car.
From the I-5 corridor, take U.S. 97 north at Weed to a right turn on California Hwy. 161, also known as Stateline Road, as shown by large signs. Travel east on CA 161 through the Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge to Hill Road. Turn right on Hill road at the West End Grocery Store, following monument signs. Travel south on Hill Road 10 miles until you enter Lava Beds National Monument.
From the Klamath Falls area, take Oregon Hwy 39 south approximately 20 miles until it enters the town of Merrill, OR. Approximately one (1) mile south of Merrill, turn right (south) on Malone road. Travel south on Malone road approximately 2 miles until you reach Stateline Road 161. Turn left (east) and then take the immediate right at West End Grocery Store onto Hill Road. Travel south on Hill Road 10 miles until you enter Lava Beds National Monument. You will pass the visitor center for Tulelake National Wildlife Refuge on your way to the monument.
For those traveling east on California Hwy 299 from the Redding or Lassen National Volcanic Park areas, travel north at Bieber on Hackamore / Lookout Road to California Hwy 139. Travel north on CA 139 until meeting directional signs that will direct you to the monument at a left turn.
This south entrance into the park is paved, but in very poor repair. Drive slowly and carefully around the potholes. The Forest Service is hoping to repair it, if funding is available.
No public transportation is available.
Most park roads are newly paved, and we also have two maintained gravel roads. One leads north into Modoc National Forest past Mammoth Crater. The other leads to the trailhead for the fire lookout on Schonchin Butte (trailers are not recommended on this road).
Maine ocean islands provide the only nesting sites for Atlantic puffins in the United States. Eastern Egg Rock in the midcoast region, Seal Island and Matinicus Rock at the mouth of Penobscot Bay, and Machias Seal Island and Petit Manan Island off the downeast coast provide habitat for more than 4,000 puffins each summer.