Black Rock Campground — Joshua Tree National Park

Reservations are required but the park is easily accessible. We picked an easy location for our maiden voyage and the need for cell service for my spouse. Cell service was just adequate. Facilities are clean and well kept. Visitors center staff was friendly and helpful. Sites are decently spaced but there will be sharing with RV’s and generators. I would stay here again but if time permits the sites within Joshua Tree NP would be my preference.

This place is reservation only, through recreation.gov. The rangers at the visitor center do not handle anything with reservations whatsoever. We managed to get two nights fairly last minute, only to arrive and find the campground mostly empty. That’s pretty aggravating, probably due to people making reservations and not showing up. 

Sites are $25/night, and rec.gov does not charge a processing fee, which is so nice. 

The roads throughout the campground are in terrible shape, but we managed in our 26ft class C. The roads and many of the sites are washed out and crumbling. Most sites are not level. Our site,#90, was ok with leveling blocks. 

There’s recycling here (no glass accepted), trash dumpsters, flush toilets, and a free dump station with potable water fill. No showers here. There are many hiking trails directly from the campground, which is nice, but dogs are not allowed on the trails. 

ATT had good service and Verizon was usable but very weak.

Stayed for one night and we totally enjoyed our stay there. Beautiful place. Cell service was very good.

I guess it depends on what you like. Tent campers or class b campers might be alright but I didn't like it. The roads in are narrow and absolutely terrible. I was in site 97 and it was way out of level. I suggest not getting there at night because the roads are not well marked.

This campground is very nice. The roads could use some work and if you have a RV/Trailer/Van you may want some block to help get you level. The sites are nicely spread out. Bathrooms are extremely clean. Overall I had a very nice stay aside from the weather being not so great.

Large campground with nice leveled spots. Clean toilets. Lots of hiking trails close by

I have stayed at this campground 2 times over the past few years. The last time was for a  fun 1 night weekend visit to watch meteor showers with a group. The skies were awesome! 

The bathroom wasn't amazing but was usable. The campground while on the edge of joshua tree is not really inside the park. You don't pay park fees, but you can't go directly into the rest of the part from the campsite. 

The plus here is that you can get reservations fairly easily. The campsite was pretty busy for both trips. The hills around the campsite are fun to hike around on, but don't compare to the rest of the park. 

We also came here in January a few years ago and it was very cold and windy. We even got rain while we were there. Just remember to tie down your tent well!

Joshua trees all around

Mostly level spots. Since tricky to back into. Clean bathrooms, sites are right next to each other.

The bathrooms were SO CLEAN! Really impressed.

The site itself was fine, nothing too fancy. The Joshua Trees around the site were really great and the kids had a good time climbing the nearby hills and hiking the trails. We had a camper van and our site (24) was relatively level. Nice picnic table and fire ring, although ours was a little older and seemed like it had low walls.

Pretty close to the entrance to the national park and we spent two days driving through it climbing on boulders and hiking to the dam. Great time.

This was our favorite campsite on our road trip! The campground was quiet, clean, and beautiful!

Great quiet spot nestled beneath the Joshua Trees. Nice bathrooms, no shower. Pretty sunset and sunrise views.

Sweltering hot and the campsites are just too close together. Probably delightful in the fall or spring.

Amazing views. Great stargazing. Nice clean bathrooms and drinking water. Gets windy so secure your belongings.

Joshua tree is beautiful! This campsite is close to Yucca Valley so it’s close to stores and shops. It was super hot! I would prefer to camp further into the dessert so that there is less light pollution and bigger rocks to climb on.

Solid campsites with clean bathrooms and sites. The scenery around the area is nice and there are some decent, easy to medium hikes in the area.

At one site (54), had some trouble finding a flat place to stake in my tent. Happened to be really windy, so it was tough to get a fire going with one placement of the fire pit, but shouldn’t be an issue on most weekends.

Don’t have to pay park entrance fee for these sites, which is nice. Drive to the park is about 10-15 minutes.

Overall, nice experience.

We spent 5 nights at this national park campground hopping from site to site (this is all we could do with reservations really hard to get). At this time the campground is only by online reservations. Best site was the last #29. Campground has flushing toilets, no showers as usual for national parks. Dump station is also available. Good AT&T cell reception.

It was a very nice camping location however there is virtually no signage to direct folks to a campsite number- very poor . The roads are paved, but are in horrible condition.

Sites vary in size. Make reservations on recreation.gov and make sure the site you pick is adequate in size for your vehicle. Many sites are pull through, although mine was a bit tight to pull in due to a Joshua tree and vegetation on one side. The site was fairly large and nice picnic table.

Public restrooms' are available and Wi-Fi is available near the main building. 

This is a nice location if you want to be close to shopping and also close to the main entrance to the National Park.

While technically in Joshua Tree National Park, this campground sits on the Northwest edge of J.T., requires no park entrance fee, and does not connect with the main road through the park. It's a fine campground for those who can't get a site at one of the other campgrounds, or those who don't want to make the long, slow drive into the park. If you want to actually visit Joshua Tree, I'd find a different campground further into the park.

PROS: Easy access, Lots of sites with nice views overlooking the town, Several hiking trails starting at the edge of campground, separate campground for people with horses.

CONS: No shade, lot of the sites are uneven and hard-packed ground  (You can't get spikes in deep enough at some sites, I wouldn't trust my tent being secure in high winds), Not really "in" the park, long drive to park entrance, you don't get that isolated feeling, campsites feel a bit too close to each other.

Each site has a fire pit and a concrete picnic table. Size of campsites seem to vary greatly. Facilities are clean, with flush toilets/urinals.

After being unable to get a site at our preferred campground in Joshua Tree we grabbed two spots at Black Rock Campground. While not bad, it wasn't that normal Joshua Tree feel, the lights from the nearby town wash out some of the night sky, and the camp just felt packed, even when it was at ~60% capacity.

Although it's technically in the park, you'll need to drive over to one of the main entrances for park access. Still, this is a great option. The horse stalls are on the north end of the camp, and there are a few loops. It's desert camping so bring your own shade and lots of water. The weather was great in October, and there is a short trail on the west end of camp (plus lots of other in the area to explore).

We had an RV so I can't speak to the bathrooms.

This campground is a little outside the main Joshua Tree area.  It used to be the only campground you could reserve ahead.  So we usually spend the first night here and then head into the main park in the morning.  It has full facilites and water on sight. It has a small visitor center/ranger station as well.

You drive through a residential area and then you are at the campground.  You are on a knoll or incline so you are looking down over the valley.  There is horse site as well but I do not know the details of that.

We are tent campers. There are  good tent sites as well RV sites.  A great place to watch the star, the sunset and the sunrise.  Trail right fromt= the campground up to a hill/mountain behind the campground.

Be prepared.  We have been snowed on here and wind whipped. Always go in February.

Sites have tables, fire rings and water. Modern bathrooms.

You are surrounded by Joshua Trees and if you catch them in the right time they are blooming.

This is always our first stop when we go to Joshua Tree.  It has all services as well as a little Visitor Center.  There is water here so we use it to stage going into the main park for the first come fist served sites the next day and to make sure we have enough water for those campgrounds which have no water.

I am a tent camper. Beware, the wind can roar through here so stake out your tent.  For tent sites there are some sites that are open without shade or cover. So choose your site well. ALso try to get there at least once when the Joshua Trees are in bloom.

There is a nice hiking trail at the rear of the campground and a mountain/hill to climb.  Nice views from the top.

Also a nice place to watch the sunset or even the sunrise.  Star gazing is a plus as well.

The campground offers 99 individual sites with drinking water, flush toilets and a dump station. The campsites are clean, well maintained and provide plenty of space. There are great hiking trails around Black Rock which provide great views of the low and high peaks around Palm Springs.

One thing to note is that this campground is not located in the National Park and takes about 20-30 mins to arrive at the park entrance.

This was the first time I was camping in this type of terrain, I normally am near large bodies of water and or National Forest(s). But arriving at Joshua tree was unbelievable! A huge factor when it comes to camping is always the time of year and I made sure to make reservations during spring to see the wild flowers and get good weather. I arrived the second week of March in 2019. During the day it was in the low 70s and by sunset we got low 40s. The sunsets were nothing I had ever seen before, and the night sky was lit with stars. You can see so much of the sky here because it’s so open, which was a huge change for me always being surrounded by trees. The campsites were nicely spaced apart and we had a good amount of room at our site. The bathrooms were super clean and well maintained. Although there isn’t a camp store in the campground, stores were right outside the area (7 minutes away). There’s service here also because it is pretty close to neighborhoods.

They weren’t huge sites and the only one available right before Thanksgiving was a small tent only site (due to cancellation).

Reserve in advance!!

Important note: It’s not actually inside the National Park, so great news - you don’t pay National Park entry fees (usually $30)

Beautiful area. We camped at site 68, right by the entrance. Lots of space in this site, my 7 year old son and I played baseball, football and loved the campfire. Rangers here are friendly and super helpful, very welcoming. They have a “Junior Ranger Program” for kids, they give a little booklet for. We saw a lot of jackrabbits. Heard the coyotes but didn’t see them. Loved it.

Black Rock is a wonderful national parks campground in Joshua National Park. It's the easiest park to get to so it can get crowded on the weekend. The camp spots have about 15 years between each one. There's a bench but no hook ups. There're water spigets throughout the campground and an RV dumpsite ($5). The store is open from 8am to 4pm. 

Hiking: There are a few hikes that leave from the campground. Take the West Loop Trail to explore the area and hike up to the High View Peak to see the surrounding area. 2-3 hours. 

Cell Service: Roaming (3bars)

Get ready to sleep outside because the stars are insane! Tons of hiking trails leaving directly from the campground. Had some privacy at camp and didn't feel too close to others. Clean bathrooms and sites included a table. Lots of parking.

Spent 4days there it was windy we went hiking trails are marked and there fire pits campgrounds get packed . Loved the views my wife and I really enjoyed our stay there even though we had to put large rocks inside the tent. Restrooms were clean

I've never considered Joshua Tree one of the "crown-jewel" national parks, and yet people are now flocking here as if it is. Black Rock is the first campground I have ever stayed in at Joshua Tree, and here are my thoughts. 

I'll start with the good:

If you're looking for Joshua Trees, this is a good place to camp because they are plenty throughout the campground. Many of the other campgrounds in the park actually don't have the trees; This campground has running water and clean bathrooms with flush toilets. This is actually a luxury when camping in Joshua Tree because most of the campgrounds have no water and just vault toilets; This campground has a lot of hiking opportunities without having to drive. There are actually tons of trails that lead directly out of the main camping area, so if you're not in the mood to even leave the campground, you can still experience a lot of nature; There is actually a small visitor/nature center located in the campground. Again without even leaving the campground you can get a lot of information about the park; This campground takes reservations(for peak season), which is also a luxury here because only a few campgrounds take them. And be sure to reserve because this campground fills up fast!! For these reasons, I think that Black Rock makes for a really good overnight/short stay, as you can see a lot in a such a small area. 

Now onto the not so good: 

A lot of the campsites are pretty close together. There were some spots that seem more ideal and secluded, but be prepared for close proximity to neighbors in most sites; Neighbors/clientele can be very noisy, and I mean noisy in a number of different ways. There was loud music that was audible far beyond campsites, but that was not the most annoying part. Over all it seemed like this campground was actually pretty quiet, that is until it was actually quiet hours! . An entire boy scout troop decided to roll in and set up an entire base camp right next to us after 10pm. Needless to say, it was very loud and bright until at least midnight. Good thing we had ear plugs; The campground is very close to the town of Yucca Valley, which some might consider a good thing, but there are neighborhoods literally built right up against the campground, so it doesn't really feel secluded at all here. When you hike up the trails and look back you can see the cityscape/city lights in the not so far distance; The wind can get really crazy. I don't know if it was just a freak weather event, but the wind was crazy both days I camped here, and it got so bad that we tore down our camp in the dark and went home early because there was no way we could have slept with that much noise and freezing wind blowing; It's kind of hard to find your way through the campground because there's no signage indicating which loop is which; The firepits were extremely full of ash and needed to be cleaned out; Lastly while the campground is technically inside the national park, it is not connected to the rest of the main part of the park, so you have to drive out of the campground about 20 minutes through the town to access the main park; Also firewood is not sold on site, so you must bring your own from outside. 

Overall, the campground is fairly decent with nice bathrooms and plenty of trail access. If you are looking for a quick and easy trip to experience nature and a national park, this is a good place to go. But if it's desert solitude you're looking for, you may be disappointed by the dgaf clientele and the proximity to civilization.