All campgrounds in Joshua Tree are reservation only – but same day reservations are now allowed and you can pay online. There is no cell service or wifi in the park, but the ranger station in Joshua Tree has free wifi, so you can make a reservation from there based on availability. Suggest reserving in advance because Joshua Tree is busy, but we got lucky that there were sites available.

Indian Cove is in the park, but it is not in the main section of the park off the through road.  You have to drive into Twenty-Nine Palms to access the campground. You can access some park trails from the campground, but to enter the park, you will have to exit back out to Twenty-Nine Palms and re-enter through the Oasis Ranger Station or through Joshua Tree.

The campground is big with different loops and many of the sites are set into giant rocks which makes it feel less crowded. I was originally disappointed that we didn’t get a site at Jumbo Rocks, but this was just as great and the campsites were very similar.

Each site had a picnic table and a fire ring. The walk to the pit toilets was short, and there was  trash and recycling. We also saw a snake near our site when walking around the rocks, so it’s worth paying attention.

We had a full moon and a dust storm, so even though the stars were probably amazing, we didn’t really see any. $25 a night, pay online at recreation.gov