Places: Joshua Tree National Park
DETAILS: Joshua Tree National Park
I camped in Joshua Tree National Park on four different occasions, always between January and March. I toured most of the park (including the various campgrounds) and highly recommend visiting! I stayed in White Tank Campground all four times, but wanted to share some helpful info of what I learned about the park and various campgrounds.
There are 8 campgrounds, all of which can accommodate our V/Ns. In the peak season (October-May), 4 campgrounds are reservation-only, and 4 are first-come, first-served. In the off season (the hot months of June-September), all campgrounds are first-come, first-served.
Based on conversations with rangers and NPS volunteers, the reservation-only campgrounds typically fill up 6 months in advance. The first-come, first-served campgrounds fill up on Thursdays and Fridays and stay full through the weekends. During all 3 visits, I arrived on Thursdays and departed on Sundays. It was evident on Fridays that if I was to have showed up a day later, I likely wouldn't have found a site!
The cost is $15-20/night (different costs in different campgrounds) and they are all dry camping sites. Water and a dump station are available in both the Black Rock and Cottonwood Campgrounds.
If the campgrounds are full, there is free, dispersed camping available on BLM land immediately outside the South entrance of the park.
For more information about each campground, or to book a reservation-only site, here is the Joshua Tree campground section of the NPS website: