About this place
The Lava Flat camping area lies off the Mammoth Road, near Duck Creek, among aspen trees. There are only a handful of spots, on short dirt spurs, and none of them are numbered.
Off-road riders use this forest a lot. Expect ATVs going past through the day, more at weekends.
There are no toilets. Bring water, and carry your trash out. Stay as long as 16 days.
The facts
- Cost
- Free to camp
- Roads around it
- Not maintained for ordinary cars
- Stay limit
- 16 days
- Type
- Open area. Spots are not numbered
- Managed by
- Dixie National Forest
The roads around this place are not maintained for a regular car. That comes from the US Forest Service, who grade every road by the kind of vehicle it is looked after for. Those records cover the roads nearby. They do not cover the last stretch in to the campsite, and nobody has checked that part. Treat this as a warning. We are not promising what you will find when you get there. If you have driven it, tell us what it was like and we will say so here.
Getting there
From Main Street in Cedar City, go east on UT-14 (Center Street) for 31 miles. Turn left on Mammoth Road and go 1.7 miles to the camping area.
Coordinates 37.542000, -112.645000
Open in Google Maps Agency page
What is near here
There is another spot of ours within reach, and some better-known places further out.
- Cedar Breaks National Monument Directions
- Spring Creek Canyon Wilderness Study Area Directions
- Bryce Canyon National Park Directions
- Zion National Park Directions
- Pipe Spring National Monument Directions
Every distance on this page is the driving distance. A short distance can still take a long time. The road may be closed for the season, covered in snow, or washed out. Many of these roads are dirt. Plan your route before you leave home. Out here there is often no phone signal to look it up on the way.
Nearest town and supplies
- Alton, UT Directions
- Parowan, UT Directions
Parowan is big enough that you’d normally expect fuel and somewhere to buy food. Nobody from here has been to check, so don’t count on it if you’re running low.
Why “at least”: this route is hard to measure. We worked the drive out twice, with two separate mapping tools, and they gave different answers. That usually means there is no road close to the campsite, so the drive doubles back a long way. The figure above is the longer of the two. The real drive could be further still, so check the route before you set off.
Why the drive to town is usually twice what the map says — what we found measuring every campsite in this guide.
When it’s time to move on
You can camp here for 16 days. After that you have to move on. This is Forest Service land, and each forest sets its own rule for how far you have to go, so check before you travel.
The nearest other free campsite in this guide is Peek-A-Boo Staging Area, Utah — 27 miles in a straight line, but at least a 42 mile drive. Three more sit closer than 25 miles, if the rule here allows them.
Why “at least”: there is no road right at this campsite, so the drive is hard to measure and the real one could be further. Check the route before you set off.
This guide covers five states and does not list every free campsite, so there may be something closer that we do not hold. Check this site’s own rule before you rely on it.
Have you been here?
Fees and access change, and the records do not always keep up. If you have been, tell us what you found.
Thank you, that is recorded. It helps the next person.
Add road notes for this site
The thing we cannot get from any government record is what the drive in is actually like. If you have done it, this is the most useful thing you can leave behind. We read everything before it appears, and we print a first name with it if you give one.
Thank you. A person will read it before it goes on the page.
Where this information comes from
The description on this page is ours. The facts in it, and the fee and facility details below it, come from the Forest Service’s own records, read in August 2026.