Death Valley Wilderness Area Dispersed Camping — Death Valley National Park

11mi in from Warm Spring Canyon road (heading west off of West Side Road along the Badlands) is a settlement of buildings established to mine talc in the nearby mine. There’s a hidden gem of a warm spring about a 10th of a mile up the side of the mountain. An outcrop of big, shady trees offers escape from the heat. Wild burros, bats, crows, and hummingbirds frequent the area.

The road leading to it is a mix of packed washboard road, sandy patches, lots of smaller sharp rocks, and some larger rocks. My AWD moderate clearance crossover made it, driving a safe 3-5mph through tough patches. Fully dispersed camping—no facilities, no toilets, no cell service.

South of Jubilee Pass Rd on Badwater Rd.  No camping allowed for the first mile. There are basically some short driveway width areas where you can just pull off. I drove a few miles. It is sandy in places. I decided to turn back into Death Valley and camp somewhere else at a little higher elevation. I may go back and explore the area some day.  It looks interesting on Google Earth.

Just south of Ashford Mill Ruins where Badwater Rd meets Jubilee Pass Rd, you can continue down the unpaved portion of Badwater Rd/Harry Wade Rd to find a long sandy stretch that leads out of the park to the south. I'd recommend AWD with high clearance at a minimum as the road can be a little washboardy and sandy. There are ample dispersed camping sites along this portion of the road (use previously disturbed spaces within the 50 ft wilderness boundary). The sites are a little rocky/sandy but most looked fairly level and all offered remote, stunning views of the park with little traffic. We had one visible camper sharing the entire valley with us, couldn't ask for more.