The camp was first opened in 1988. The camp's history is rich and begins well over 100 years before Devil's Garden opened its doors. The Devil's Garden Plateau where the camp is located was part of the Applegate or Lassen Trail, a byway that led travelers north to the Klamath region of Oregon or west into central California. After 1874, the road lost its regional importance and fell into disuse. In 1908, under proclamation by President Theodore Roosevelt, the area was placed under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Forest Service and became part of the Modoc National Forest. In the spring of 1942, only months after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the Civil Aeronautics Administration (predecessor of the Federal Aviation Administration), began formal surveys of the site with plans to construct an airfield to accommodate both commercial and military aircraft. Construction and paving of the 6,250-foot runway did not begin, however, until late in 1944, and for reasons unknown the project was abandoned in 1945.

In 1960 the U.S. Forest Service proposed upgrading the airport to serve as an air tanker base to fight fires. Two Navy torpedo bombers were permanently based at the airport. During the height of the fire season, as many as six aircraft with crews remained on alert at Devil's Garden Airport. For eight years the airport was a well-known landing spot for many aviators until it was shut down in 1968. Almost 20 years later, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection surveyed the potential site for Devil's Garden Camp, and in 1988 the camp was opened for business.

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