Camp and Explore at Meadow Lava Tubes
Fillmore, Utah
Details
Distance
1 miles
Route Type
Loop
Description
Added by Travis Sullins
Spend the night inside the caves of a 15,000 year old extinct volcano.
EXPLORE THE AREA
The entrance to the Lava Tubes is located in a rock pit near the NW base of Tabernacle Hill. The trail is not marked very well, so you'll have to use your best exploring skills to find your way. Once you have entered the first cave follow it underground for about 100 ft until it leads you back to the surface. Continue SW for another 100 ft and you'll come up into rock pit, continue hiking and you'll find the entrance to the second cave. Follow it underground for about 130 ft and it will lead you to a boulder field. Traverse across the field for around 400 ft and you'll reach a wide ravine, follow it around and you'll come to the entrance of the 3rd cave. After entering you'll reach a point where the ceiling has collapsed then the last cave begins and goes only about 75 ft. before closing off. Return the ravine and follow the rock trail up and out the S end, continue south and you'll drop down into the main volcanic crater. Head back out of the crater and head north following the road back towards the parking area. To finish the adventure I'd recommend hiking to the top of tabernacle hill. Just follow the trail straight up from the parking area and you'll be rewarded with amazing views of the Black Rock Desert.
MAKING CAMP
This is public land so feel free to camp any where you'd like near the lava tubes. I recommend camping inside the first cave since it will keep you out of the wind, plus you'll be able to say you camped inside a volcano. Two fire pits have been constructed at both ends of the cave that will fill the entire cavern with light, making for a incredible camp site.
side note: Meadow Hot Springs is only a few miles from here. I recommend going on a weekday at sunrise, you'll beat the crowd and see the sun come up over the Wasatch Mountain Range.
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Camp and Explore at Meadow Lava Tubes Reviews
We arrived on a Friday night so it was dark and we couldn't see much. There were quite a few other groups camping, but we found a nice place to camp in one of the collapsed lava tube "canyons." Even though there were a lot of groups there, we felt like we had the place to ourselves down in the canyon. It started to rain pretty hard so we hung out at the entrance of one of the tubes and watched the storm pass. The next morning we explored the tubes. A lot of the passages are obvious and easy to find. But we had a lot of fun crawling into to random holes and seeing how far they went. Road was a little bumpy but the truck handled it fine.
5.0
Camping in the lava tubes is fine, but please don't have campfires in there. When we there recently, we saw numerous bats, spiders, and other creatures. These lava tubes are their homes, and fires in the lava tubes is like someone having a campfire in your home. It disturbs them, pollutes their air quality, changes the temperature of their home, and attracts people to leave trash (we saw a lot of trash near the fire pits on our recent trip). Not cool.
3.0
I took my 5 yr old this last weekend to explore the lava tubes and we had a blast! The dirt road was a little washed out from some recent rains I'm guessing. You definitely need a truck or SUV for the drive up there. Bring a headlamp as some of the tubes are quite dark.
5.0
We camped in one of the caves and hiked around for a while. There's more than meets the eye there so be sure to explore and don't forget a head lamp!
5.0
The terrain is nothing like I've explored before. It reminds me of a large scale asphalt lot, with its cracks and crevices. It's a very unique place and worth the experience. There is a lot of gravel roads in this area that would be fun to explore on a bike or dirt bike if time allowed. I have to imagine there a plenty of hidden caves and crevices in the area. There also seemed to be several "wheelin" roads if your vehicle is equipped.
4.0
This is pretty easy to get to, only the last two miles of road are a little bumpy but we made it just fine in my Dodge Avenger. There are lots of caves to explore, but bring good shoes as it can be difficult to traverse the rocks. There are also plenty of places to camp, but please pick up after yourself, there was a lot of trash when we went!
4.0
Leave No Trace
Always practice Leave No Trace ethics on your adventures and follow local regulations. Please explore responsibly!
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