Jumbo Rocks Campground — Joshua Tree National Park
Reviewed Nov. 1, 2021

Racist hosts and rangers!

I wanted to love this campground but I can’t. I had the absolute worst camping experience and probably the most stressful. I was forced to move my pop up camper from space 99 to 43. There was a group of 4 families and we were placed in 99. The reservations were made months ago and not by us. So we trusted which sites were assigned to us.

A camp host initially came to tell us our site wasn’t a camper or trailer site and that we had to move; it was only a tent site. Meanwhile a whole Airstream was in the next site over. This after we are all set up and level. Anyone that knows about a pop up camper knows it’s not the easiest thing to just break down and move. We decided to wait it out and get official word from the park rangers. Eventually 2 park rangers came that seemed to be okay with us staying in our site, until another camp host came by ranting about measurements and nonsense. At this point we were told we had to move. And please note…kids were crying and upset at this point. You think these grown adults seeing kids cry cared…NOPE! My son in particular l, because he hadn’t seen his friends in months and the thought of having to leave would crush him. So after all the back and forth, we started to attempt to halfway break down the camper down and move to the other site, 43. And note this site wasn’t close.

So next, some super park rangers with guns came to our site. I was already upset and here they come. We already complied and agreed to moving so this crazy camp host for some reason, felt the need to call the cop rangers to our site. Also note, I never had any words with this woman or anything to have her feel the need to call them. I don’t ever like to think race plays a part in situation like this but at this point, when ranger police are called to our site after already agreeing to move, I had no choice to believe it was for anything other than being black.

If it wasn’t for our crying son, I would have just packed up and left. We made the move and had a rather tolerable weekend.

I won’t be rushing to ever come back here again. If your black just beware, they will find a reason to mess with you and pick on you for minute things that can force you to move or leave your campsite.

Beware of the hosts; I believe they are a couple and just terrible. And ALL the park rangers. They walk your site looking for reasons to make you move or your camp experience a living hell. They also don’t mind making kids cry just to prove a point!

Site99 and 43
Month of VisitOctober