Remote Medicine Lake seems to bring out the best in visitors

Maggie Lonergan and Drew Robb from Burlingame at their camp dinner Friday night at the 7,309-foot Little Mount Hoffman Lookout -- with a viewing the Sochin Lava Field and beyond to 14,179-foot Mount Shasta Maggie Lonergan and Drew Robb from Burlingame at their camp dinner Friday night at the 7,309-foot Little Mount Hoffman Lookout -- with a viewing the Sochin Lava Field and beyond to 14,179-foot Mount Shasta Photo: Tom Stienstra / The Chronicle Photo: Tom Stienstra / The Chronicle Image 1 of / 4 Caption Close Remote Medicine Lake seems to bring out the best in visitors 1 / 4 Back to Gallery

On the trip to Medicine Lake, there comes a moment when you suddenly notice that there are no cars ahead of you and none behind you. For an hour.

You find yourself relaxing. No more push-push-push of the city. Leave that behind and let it go.

The drive to the remote Medicine Lake Highlands might seem endless — more than 300 miles from the Bay Area — yet at the campgrounds, the first three people I talked to were from Santa Cruz, Moss Beach and Burlingame. There are many reasons they were inspired to make the long trip from the Bay Area.

The Medicine Lake Highlands has gorgeous lakes, lake-view campsites, trout fishing, an awesome mountaintop lookout and nearby lava beds with hundreds of caves. Because of the area’s remote setting in the distant north part of the state, you invariably can find a campsite there.

Plus, there is a fresh state of mind. I can’t think of a location where people are friendlier. Something seems to happen to folks on that long drive. With each mile, each of your worries seems to wash off as if you are taking a shower. No push. No worries. It transforms everybody into nice.

The centerpiece is Medicine Lake in Siskiyou County, but within a short radius, there are also side trips that turn this low-cost camping vacation into a spectacular trip. See the 21-shot photo gallery of my trip last weekend that I posted at www.sfgate.com/outdoors.

Medicine Lake: Medicine Lake is nestled in a high-mountain caldera, that is, the mouth of a volcano. The volcanic origins can make you feel as though you’ve gone back in time. The elevation is 6,700 feet, with temperatures in the 80s by day, low 40s — even high 30s — at night, and the air is light, sweet and pure. The lake measures about 4 miles by 7 miles, with its deeper areas about 50 feet, located just offshore the buoy line near the swimming beach and campgrounds. Trout fishing is decent in summer, about a three-per-hour catch rate, and often great in the fall when the cold weather arrives at night. The best bets are to troll trout lures 10 to 14 feet deep, or flyfish with a Seal Bugger or black leech, sink-tip line, strip retrieve. The water level is down a few feet, but the boat ramp and dock are still functional. Four campgrounds are available, with pretty sites nestled in trees with lake views, first-come, first-served. Plenty of room, nice folks.

Little Medicine Lake: At first glance, you might dismiss this as a pond-like alternative to its big brother. Nope. It is also nestled in a collapsed crater and 150 feet deep in the middle, by far the deepest lake in the region. The trout fishing can be excellent, especially for fly fishers in float tubes. It also has a fishing deck, great for youngsters.

Blanche Lake: Little Blanche Lake is like a big pond, quiet and pretty, with a handful of primitive campsites. Free. Yes, free. It’s less than two miles off the main road to Medicine Lake, less than 10 minutes away. The lake is circled by fir and lodgepole pine. As you drive in, on your right you’ll see vault toilets and a large lakeside campsite for self-contained RVs. Just beyond on the access road is another right turn to several small campsites.

Bullseye Lake: Just beyond Blanche Lake is Bullseye Lake. It’s a small lake, yet larger than Blanche, and is gorgeous, full and ringed by pines and provides several campsites near its far shore. Trout fishing can be good during an evening bite, when shade hits the water and the temperatures cool, for fly fishers in float tubes. As at Medicine Lake, use a Seal Bugger or a black leech, strip retrieve. The lake is ideal for stand-up paddleboards, kayaks, canoes and rafts.

Little Mount Hoffman Lookout: This is a former fire-lookout station that is perched atop Little Mount Hoffman, 7,309 feet, and is available for lodging at $75 a night. The views are spectacular; the showstopper is across a huge lava field and beyond to 14,179-foot Mount Shasta. You also can see 9,495-foot Mount McLoughlin in Oregon, the Klamath Basin, the Fall River Valley and distant Lassen Peak.

Lava Beds caves: At Lava Beds National Monument, there are more than 700 caves, and there are few other wild places where children have a greater advantage over adults, ducking under low-hanging ceilings, squeezing through narrow openings. My favorite is the 6,903-foot-long Catacombs Cave. For the first 3,000 feet, you can walk upright for most of the route, occasionally dipping under lowered bridgeways between rooms and chambers. Then, as you probe deeper in this underground world, it becomes more of a gymnastics route, with scrambling, some crawling and plenty of hoping that you will remember the way back out. These are not limestone caves, but lava tubes. To explore, wear kneepads (plastic hard shell), headlamp, helmet and flashlight (many also wear gloves). Sentinel Cave requires no stooping. Skull Cave is wide open, not closed in. This is an outstanding destination for youngsters and for those of all ages with imagination.

Lava flows: From your base camp at Medicine Lake, every road in a radius of 20 miles leads past lava flows, craters and faults. The highlights include Little Glass Mountain, the Giant Crater and many others. Gray dacite and black obsidian can span for miles across a stark landscape with little or no plant or tree life. The most recent volcanic activity was 300 years ago at Little Glass Mountain. However, many of the flows are from ancient times. Archaeologists have found arrowheads made from obsidian there that they estimate at roughly 4,500 years old.

Tom Stienstra’s Outdoor Report can be heard at 7:35 a.m., 9:35 a.m. and 12:35 p.m. Saturdays on KCBS (740 and 106.9). E-mail: tstienstra@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @StienstraTom

If you go

Location: The Medicine Lake Highlands and Lava Beds National Monument are in Siskiyou County near the Oregon border.

Highlights: Medicine Lake, Little Medicine Lake, Bullseye Lake, Blanche Lake and Lava Beds National Monument with Catacombs Cave, Sentinel Cave, Skull Cave (700 caves in all).

Photo gallery: 21 photos at www.sfgate.com/outdoors.

Medicine Lake-area camping: At Medicine Lake, four campgrounds, $14 per night, sites for tents and self-contained RVs, drinking water and vault toilets available; no reservations, first-come, first-served. At nearby Blanche Lake and Bullseye Lake, primitive sites for tents and self-contained RVs, free, vault toilets available, bring your own drinking water.

Lookout station: Little Mount Hoffman Lookout, elevation 7,309 feet, view of Mount Shasta, Mount McLoughlin; 14-by-14-foot cabin, sleeps up to four, no electricity, $75 per night; reserve at www.recreation.gov. Open through Oct. 12.

Lava Bed National Monument: Entry fee $15 per vehicle, good for a week; campsites $10 per night.

Best part: Cell phones do not work within 15 miles of Medicine Lake. With no cell phones, laptops or tablets, the entire region has a more relaxed feel.

How to get there: From San Francisco, drive 215 miles to Redding, and then continue north on Interstate 5 for 58 miles (past Dunsmuir) to the exit for Highway 89. Bear right at that exit, merge with Highway 89 and drive 26.5 miles (1 mile past Bartle) to Harris Springs Road. Turn left on Harris Springs Road and drive 4.4 miles to Medicine Lake Road. Turn right on Medicine Lake Road and drive 27.5 miles (paved, but narrow at times) to the turnoff for Medicine Lake. Turn left and drive 0.3 of a mile to a T intersection. Turn left for the beach and boat ramp. Turn right for campgrounds, Little Medicine Lake and Hoffman Lookout.

Distances: 31 miles from Bartle, 118 miles from Redding, 276 miles from Sacramento, 314 miles from Walnut Creek, 331 miles from downtown San Francisco.

Info: Modoc National Forest, Doublehead Ranger District, (530) 667-2246, www.fs.usda.gov/modoc; Lava Beds National Monument, (530) 667-8113, www.nps.gov/labe.