Best Dog-Friendly Camping near Amboy, CA

This place was the perfect campground as far as I’m concerned. It wasn’t busy at all when we were there in May. The sites are tucked into the rocks which block wind and kept us nice and warm at night. Bats flew just overhead for a couple hours and I thought it was magical! Restrooms were clean and just a short walk away. What I loved best was that it was pet friendly! My dog loved it as much as I did! Definitely will be back to camp in this spot.

Nice desert camping. Joshua tree is awesome if you are into sightseeing. The rock formations are incredible. If you like hiking (without your pet) then you should enjoy this area. The drive through the park is beautiful. Smaller rigs only. Not very level sights.

As a long-time outdoor enthusiast and dog owner, it's with a heavy heart and a sense of duty that I share an alarming encounter at Campsite Desert Rose Collective. This venue, which promises peace and relaxation in the Palm Springs desert, instead presented a nightmare scenario. During what was meant to be a serene escape, my senior dog and I were subjected to a horrifying attack by two large, unrestrained dogs, introduced onto the premises by an acquaintance of the owner. These dogs, with a history of aggression, inflicted serious wounds on my pet and left me with physical injuries and deep-seated trauma. The ferocity of the attack and the owner's lax oversight on such known threats is deeply concerning. 

The aftermath was a scene of chaos, with my dog desperately fleeing into the desert night and me, bruised and bleeding, in pursuit. The potential danger this poses to any visitor, especially those with children, is chilling to contemplate. I shudder to think of the consequences had my daughter, often donned in a playful puppy costume, been in attendance.

 It is not without reluctance that I find myself advising against a visit to this establishment. No charm or amenity can compensate for a blatant disregard for basic guest safety. This incident was not merely unfortunate but a clear indication of gross negligence. Until comprehensive safety measures are visibly implemented and enforced, I implore potential visitors to prioritize their well-being and seek alternative locations for their desert adventures.

This listing was showing as free but when we showed up that was not the case. For simple tent camping, this cost $15/person and charge $5/per kid and pet. Must be gone by 11am. Overpriced for what we needed. Very loud and rude campers next to us until early morning hours evens though it’s against the park’s policies. Disappointed. Front lady checking in was very pleasant. No discounts for Veterans, only active duty.

20 bucks a night isnt too bad! The park staff is all friendly and helpful. Restrooms (very clean!) and pottable water are not very far from any of the 99 campsites in Black Rock. Fire rings with grates and picnic benches are provided in every camp, but no firewood is available. You're not allowed to use ANY surrounding vegetation for campfires (even kindling) so be prepared to cart in your own wood and kindling. Pets are allowed but they aren't allowed on trails and also not allowed to be left unattended-- so maybe leave Fido home this go round. Tent camping is HOT so be prepared for a 5am scorching hot wakeup.

Overall a very nice campground, and due to bathrooms and pottable water sources its a good campsite for the beginner or casual campers.

Easy to access dirt road off of Amboy leads you to BLM land. Left over fire rings mark sites, however many sites are covered in glass and bullet casing from people using this area for target practice. Sunsets are gorgeous, however desert winds are harsh. Wouldn’t go back but free camping doesn’t hurt.

Main Amboy Crater Parking Lot does not allow overnight camping, but their overflow parking area does. Overflow parking is asphalt but has dirt edges you can pitch a tent on. Otherwise, there were dirt areas we camped at. Gets crowded during new moon weekends, and can get windy.

Had AT&T service here. No TMo.

The winning factors for this campground are:

$15 per person/nightly

Really nice staff 👍🏼

A beautiful entry at night, one permanent residence opposite the office has a lovely succulent/cactus garden and the whole garden is pleasingly lit with tiny colored lights.

There is a tiny "lake" with reeds and visiting birds who congregate around the water. Fishing offered, but no swimming.

I spent a very serene time with just myself and my cat. There are so many tent spaces available, it's quite easy to make a camp and stay isolated from other campers. For winter, the location is pleasantly warm during daytime and any site will be nice. But be aware that in summer the sites ideally situated with trees are much more limited.

They have many types of site sections—loads of tent spots, a very tree'd and full hookup area for RVs, and there is also a "dry" RV section with no hookups.

The main bathroom and shower houses are kept very spic and span and there are also a couple outdoor dishwashing stations available. All the plumbed amenities are available for all campers at the park.

One wish that I would really appreciate would be the availability of a 110v outlet bank out in the tent camping area, or wherever putting one in would be feasible. I travel with a mobile freezer and a deep cycle marine battery. Not fully solarized yet, but I do have an inverter, and I really love when I can camp in places that offer electric only sites at a substantial discount off of full hookup sites.

I would happily pay an extra $5per night just to hook up my super efficient mobile fridge/freezer. Er, that is, my cat's mini freezer...it's for her special order frozen🥩 meat 🐈. I just use the little fridge section for the occasional tub of hummus, chunk of cheese, etc.

Overall, this is a very pleasant oasis, slightly off the beaten, no big highway noise. And Joshua Tree, Ca. is just a few minutes downhill where all the small town eateries can be found.

There's also a decent Dollar General store nearby that has the best prices for buying ice.

Slater Bros market in nearby Yucca Valley has hardwood firewood boxes and reasonable prices on all the extras–Firestarter blocks, compressed wood logs, and long nose lighter wands. Gas stations also sell wood, but it's not hardwood, nor fully cured. So that stuff burns up really quick and can be very smoky.

As for this sweet little campground, it's a nice place to get away to, and to have a sense of spaciousness. You might here the eerie, lonesome yips and cries of some coyotes in the distance, to boot.

And I sure can't beat the price for tent camping.

We couldn’t believe we were the only ones here, incredibly beautiful, clean, peaceful with beautiful sun sets and sun rises. We stayed there for 4 days and didn’t see anyone. Our dogs enjoyed it tremendously too.

The campground itself continues to be five stars in terms of quality and facilities. However, there really is difficulty finding a spot during the fall through spring season, so you can’t count on it unless you can arrive early on Friday or during weekdays. Also, although dogs are allowed at the campgrounds, they must be within 100 ft of sites or major roads at all times. This isn’t a fault of the campground specially, as this restriction applies to the whole national park and all campgrounds within it. However, it’s good to know if you’re planning a trip with your dog, because it rules out any hiking and 95% of climbing options.

We camp here every November for a friends birthday and this site never gets old. Plenty of hiking around beautifully formed rock arrangements. Camp sites are dog friendly however trails are not, as this is protected State park land.

We just stayed on June 27 for 1 night. We did a day trip into Joshua Tree National Park, which was amazing. It was a hot day but the RV park had full hookups so we could run the AC in the RV to escape the heat. The RV park was just a short drive from the National Park. There was clean with a little fishing lake and it was dog friendly. We would stay here again next time to Joshua Tree. We had 2 bars of ATT&T

Dry lake bed. Lots of room and easy to park with ability to put a lot of space between you and others.

Pros: free, close to the park.

Cons: people are clearly living here. Drug deals going down at night with people sitting on the edges with high beams on. Peoplenliving here running generators from 8 pm until they run out of gas at 3 am. 230 am donuts in a pickup followed by screaming for his dogs he let out of his trailer.

We stayed on the south side of the park first and that was much better.

This was one of our first camping spots as a family back in September 2020. We borrowed a 1985 VW Westfalia (now we own one). My sister and her family of four came in their suburban & tent. We shared a $20 camping spot.

We drove in from Orange County CA and reserved our spot online. The campground was 85% full and was a little loud with larger groups next to us, but was beautiful.

We brought our large golden retriever, which was great but they don’t allow dogs on trails so that was a bummer while we nicked during the days.

It was hot and there were lots of bee’s and no campfires but still worth it. Skull Rock trail was worth it with our five year old. Totally kid friendly.

We’ll come back for sure. Was a good intro to camping for us.

When compared to Hidden Valley, Jumbo Rocks may often feel pretty isolated. It is roughly in between the northern and western entrances of the park, which means that it's essentially on the eastern edge of most of the rock climbing areas. If you drive towards the northern entrance, you will note the subtle differences in terrain between the Mojave desert (to the west), and the Sonoran desert (to the east), which many people often miss!

Many of the camping spots are tucked away in between rocky alcoves, which provides a great deal of privacy. Unfortunately, like other campgrounds in Joshua Tree, it suffers from a lack of shade and fills up very quickly during the fall, winter, and spring seasons.  

The facilities are fine - a simple pit toilet and trash are essentially all you get, so as always, be sure to bring your own water!

Dogs are allowed anywhere within 100 ft of the campground and the roads, but not on trails or in the backcountry.

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.

March 11-12, 2021

We headed out for a family b-day trip and wanted to see if we could get a spot inside Joshua Tree. When we learned that all the camping (including the disbursed sites) were full IN JT, (which we honestly expected) this was the closest place to stop for the night. It's a huge dry lake bed and not much to do but it was nice for the kids and dogs to run around and not have to worry about scorpions or snakes where we were. We were able to find a pretty level spot regardless and made it a fun evening. We were pretty far from anyone else and didn't hear people during the night. A regular RV made it in fine. It's bumpy due to the dry dirt, but not a challenge. Verizon cell service was perfect and no trash lying around. It's nothing fancy but a free place is better than no place. Pack it in, Pack it out. Happy Camping!

Jumbo Rocks Campground is truly one of the best desert getaways. The rocks around the campground are fun to climb on and explore, plus they create an amazing show of light and shadow from sunrise to moonrise. This campground does have a bit of a party vibe and people stay up late, but everyone was friendly and respectful about it.

This is a clean campground with plenty of toilets and dumpsters, the toilets were cleaned daily. There is no water here, so bring more than you think you need. Also, not much shade, so plan ahead in case you have a site with direct sun all day.

Each site provides a charcoal grill and campfire ring. Unfortunately, fires were prohibited while I was there. Bring your gas stove just in case.

Hidden Springs picnic area is about 20 minutes west of the campground, we used it as a day camp. There is plenty of shade at some of the tables against the rocks. We hung out there during the hottest part of the day to have lunch and stay cool. Twentynine Palms is closer than Joshua Tree/Yucca Valley for groceries, but the drive to Joshua Tree is much more beautiful.

Dogs are allowed, but you can't hike with them anywhere in the park.

Heads up about this place if you’re in an RV like we are. We reserved spot #40, we are a 26ft class c (28 ft total length) and the length limit for this spot is 30 ft, and RVs are allowed. But we felt like we barely fit side to side, and definitely wouldn’t have put our slides out. Not to mention it was so unlevel that we wouldn't have wanted to take the slides out anyway. The spot was cute, a little spot by itself between a hill and the “bump out” type parking spot where you’d park your vehicle. There’s a picnic table, a grill, and a fire pit. We ended up parking there for a bit, walking over to skull rock and the discovery trail to face rock (dogs not allowed on trails), walked back, and left. We would have been way too uncomfortable if we’d tried to stay the night. Oh well- we only lost $20. 

There are dumpsters throughout the campground, and recycling at the entrance. We didn’t see any hosts or staff. There are pit toilets as well. We did see some other RVs in spots that looked fine, but overall I’d recommend this place for tents only unless you know for sure you’ll fit in the spot. Zero cell service in the entire park.

We had such a great time at Prairie Dog RV& Camping! We showed up just after dusk(we used(Hidden by Airbnb) Maps and it took us to the site without problems) and as we pulled in, the entire site was all lit up with hundreds of small lights spread out throughout the camp site- super cool and welcoming touch. Plenty of ground to pitch your tent on soft sand. The site was surprisingly well equipped with cooking utensils(and a food prep table!) right next to a campsite-style grill. Very cool. We used the propane fire pit for a bit and it does add some ambiance for sure. Nearest"neighbor" must be 1/2 mile away the way the crow flies, so you're not bothered by any noise or light pollution, which made the viewing of the milky way pretty sweet. Last but not least(in my book), this must have been the cleanest(and fully equipped) port-a-potty I've seen. Super clean, and even water in the tank so you can wash your hands(use the foot pump). There is a small first aid kit in there, as well as a fire extinguisher as well. Overall very thoughtful. We'll definitely camp there again if we are in the area! Robert was super easy to communicate with via text- oh and yes, there is still cell reception there. Definitely a great desert experience!

This was my first time solo camping and it was the best experience for a nature newbie like me. I appreciated the close proximity of the next door campsite for the only reason of me traveling alone with just my dog. I do appreciate a little more space from other campers now as I’m getting more comfortable camping alone & like my privacy. That being said, I still got the full experience of camping alone with privacy and not bumping into other camps space. The whole site is well organized by space number with multiple parking spots per campsite. It was pretty full of campers when I pulled in but not once did I see or feel too many ppl were around me at the camp ground. I also appreciated how one of the trails from the camp lead right up to a popular pic spot, the Skullhead Rock. It’s a quick little hiking trail with a great ending spot. There was the longest line waiting for a pic on the rock so I passed and drove a little further past skullhead and did some hiking at the end of a little turn off road. The reason why I’m going back: Ranger patrol came to every site to verify the camper and confirmed reservations. Didn’t expect this but once I talked to him, I felt soo much safer and was glad someone at the park was maintaining some kind of system of the sites and who was staying in them. Showers/bathrooms are dispersed throughout. Perfect place for huge groups that book multiple sites or large family.