Searching for a tent camping spot near Borrego Springs? Find the best information on tent campgrounds near Borrego Springs, including sites, reviews, and tips. Each tent campsite offers quick access to one or more of Borrego Springs's most popular destinations.
The Kumeyaay Lake Campground is open for Friday and Saturday night camping. The 46 campsites are available for reservation on a first-come, first-serve basis and the is $22.66 per night. On the reservation website page, go to the "Location" drop-down menu at the top of the page and select Kumeyaay Lake Campground. All cancellations must be made 14 days in advance.
$24 - $25 / night
Guide
I have been coming here for 25 years. Sadly the lake is disappearing, but it have beautiful sunsets and is isolated and peaceful ( except for the occasional train). Avoid in the summer, but winter is amazing.
Traveler
We stayed here multiple times to car camp and have stayed in sites 3, 6, and 28. We really enjoyed site 28 due to the spectacular views of Escondido. The reason I gave it 4 stars is because their can be some creepy people occasionally like some old guy was following my son in his car. But other than that we had a good stay. If you are in a camper I would recommend Escondido RV resort instead due to the more inviting feel (we stayed there in our Coleman travel trailer). But if you car camp a lot like myself I would recommend staying here at Dixon lake. Great stay overall👍😊
Traveler
Very nice to find a campsite this private on a weekend in southern California elevation is high enough that temperatures were very enjoyable (mid 80's)
Scout
I would like to emphasize that the implementation of natural language processing(NLP) technologies https://lightpointglobal.com/services/data-analytics/data-science/nlp-services can significantly improve customer interactions. With the help of solutions such as chatbots and virtual assistants, you can automate answers to frequently asked questions and provide round-the-clock support, which will increase customer satisfaction. NLP also allows you to analyze guest reviews, determine their mood and extract valuable insights from open data, which will help in further development and adaptation of services. Language translation capabilities expand accessibility to an international audience. Thus, integrating NLP into software allows you to improve user experience and increase the efficiency of business processes.
Scout
I have never had a bad experience at a camp ground with any ranger. They have all been wonderful. Not at this park. My registration tags went to my home so I did not have current tags. I had to have a family member collect my mail and forward to me on my travels so it was delayed. I did have a receipt which I was required to provide. However, the ranger barged into my campsite in a huff, treated me as if I were vomiting a crime and demanded my receipt on the spot in front of all. It was quite over the top. Later the same man barged back into my campsite throwing accusations at me that I hadn’t paid my measly $4.00 parking fee and breaking the rules of the park. He had the nerve to argue with me after I explained that in fact I had paid. He backed down after realizing I had. He then returned to harass us for the kids using chalk. There were kids from several campsites using chalk. We apologized and made them clean it up, no big deal. But the ranger was didn’t simply ask for it to be cleaned. He was threatening and confrontational. I dealt with one other ranger here who was quite nice and helpful but this other was awful. I discovered I was not the only one to have this experience here. I would recommend Sweetwater or Lake Jennings in San Diego area or Aqua Caliente where they are quite friendly. Yikes this was horrible
Scout
Wow, Highland Valley is beautiful! This is a great place to camp your RV - especially if you love the farm vibe. We stayed in the front spot, up against the property line, which felt private.
Guide
i loved camping here! the campsites are pretty close together but only a few others were there when we visited so we were spaced out. the first campsite we chose had a few pretty big ant hills so we moved to another which had none. wood fires are allowed. the stars were absolutely beautiful at night! you are near the highway so you will get headlights shining towards you occasionally but it was overall still pretty dark and quiet. no amenities but you’re within a half mile of a cute family restaurant and gift shop, the general patton museum, and a gas station. when you first drive into the campground, you will pass some old tanks. keep going until you see the campground sign. i had an amazing time camping here with my dog and my friend. i hope to come back here with my family sometime!!
Traveler
This is a very nice and quiet campground and everyone there was very respectful of quite hours. The place was very clean and very beautiful. The only con was that there are way too many insects everywhere, My base camp got bombarded with a swarm of wasps, And I was forced to leave a day early, and had to leave my cooking pot behind because of the swarm of wasps... I wish there were some kind of rangers or someone there that I could have asked for help about this, or I wish someone would do something about this issue but I guess it is what it is at this location lol 😆 Other than not being able to cook and eat without wasps in your face and In your food, it was really nice
Guide
There’s a few designated camp areas up this way. Went out in early Sept 2024 and the road was fine. I drive a lifted AWD overloaded Honda Element and I had no issue. There were two sections on the final ascent loop to the top of Thomas Mountain that were a little scratchy. You do not need to complete the final ascent to the top to enjoy the camping areas. Although if your car is capable there’s an excellent spot at the very end of the loop.
Scout
Let's start off with the fact that this"resort" has REGISTERED SEX OFFENDERS living there and TWEAKERS SELLING DRUGS. When I mentioned it to the management they could care less, didn't say a word and walked away laughing. They DO NOT perform ANY BACKGROUND CHECKS and especially with children in the park I find that very disturbing. They nickel and dime you for every little thing and the rent has gone up 3x in one year. The water supply smells like sewage when you take a shower. Because they do pump outs the resort smells like human excrement most of the time. The lakes are polluted as well and completely full of cyanobacteria AKA green algae which is a respiratory hazard. POTENTIAL BEWARE.
Scout
Quite easy to get to. I drive an Acura RDX and had no problems (I actually had a lot of fun driving the road).
There were way more flies than we were expecting. Prepare to get swarmed. Luckily just gnats and no mosquitoes from what we experienced.
We applied for a permit on Friday and did not get it by Saturday when we departed. Luckily, no rangers patrolled during our stay.
Some spots with good shade.
GuideLabor Day weekend. We occupied the only spot out of five. Lots of wildlife. Raccoons in the night, gray squirrel, other squirrels, many birds. So much
Guide
The campsites are fine. Well used. There are pit toilets. Fresh water (you can fill water without camping). Had spaces on Labor Day weekend. It’s cooler than Palm Springs. (It feels like summer, not hell). Fire pits. I guess that works when fire risk is low. Note: I can faintly hear dogs and chickens from nearby houses. Oh, and the road traffic.
TravelerA great spot if you want to get away and enjoy some alone time. It’s a little warm in the day in august this time of year so you can’t hike around or explore too much. My girlfriend and I stopped in Julian on our way out to get a late lunch and then head to the campsite. The road is paved until you turn off Lone Creek Road and then it is a dirt road. I have a stock Rav4 and it was able to drive on it although there are a few spots you need to be careful at so you don’t scrape the bottom of your car. We only spent one night but we never saw another person during our stay
Traveler
The scenery is incredible and varied from deeply forested to open meadow. There are miles of hiking trails. The campground layout is nice and for many of the loops it is possible to find a site that feels separated from your fellow campers. This place fills up during the weekends in the spring through fall seasons, so book sites early on recreation.gov. As implied by my title, there are no hookups here so any RV camping is dry camping. For RVs with a good solar array, it is possible to find open spots that keep the energy flowing throughout the day. There is one loop dedicated to longer RVs. As a personal note, I don't recommend Site 62 for RV camping - it is angled and has some erosion issues coming off of the asphalt pad. I have been to this campground several times as both a tent camper and an RV camper and have not had any problems with cleanliness of the facilities or excessively noisy neighbors.
Legend
We traveled as a group of 17 campers and were able to disperse evenly between 4 close together campsites. We were in 19, 20, 21 and 23. Even though the website says it allowed 2 cars per site we were charged for the 2nd vehicle. In each site. I had also checked online prior to make sure we would have cell service with that many people meeting us. Only those of us that had Verizon had only a single bar. The campsites in the inner ring (ours was #21) are VERY close together. Not at all private, your camp is literally up against a couple others. We had children from the other sites running all through ours and it was so close you could hear everyone else’s private conversations. #19 and #20 were on the outer circle but just enough space to park and then walk through very sticky manzanita trees into the campsite and picnic table area. None of them had much or any shade. Our saving grace was our 4th spot - which gave us enough room to have all of us sit out of the way of the sticky trees and one tree in the middle to give us a touch of shade throughout the day. It had 2 picnic tables and was much more private so we didn’t disturb anyone and we didn’t have everyone else disturbing us. The vault toilets (yes, I know what they entail, and yes, it’s summer) were horrendous and barely useable, but we had 2 within very quick walking distance of us. They do allow dogs (we had 5 dogs and 3 cats with us) and it’s a short drive into the little town of Idyllwild. It’s a campground that served its purpose in getting all of us together and of course we had a blast, but it’s not on my “must camp here again” list.
Traveler
Peaceful dispersed campground. Wide open great views. Didn’t even know I had neighbors until I walked around in the morning and saw neighboring campers over the hill. Clear skies when I went back in November, could get pretty windy. Saw some coyotes pass by my camp.
Scout
My fiancé and I were last minute camping and this campground was beautiful, quiet, and very aesthetic! There is a lot to do near by, a very convenient store about 5-10 minutes away called valley center foods! Employees were sooo sweet and friendly! DID NOT DISAPPOINT!! Ps isn’t that expensive when tent camping ⛺️ 🙌🏻
Scout
Great rv resort. Close proximity to casino.
Scout
Pretty small spot off the road, does get kind of loud from cars but overall a decent and clean spots
TravelerThis is a great area. I recommend you bring extra mosquito repellent. Have fun!
Scout
The pictures can be deceiving. It’s beautiful there, however, other than the picture showing flat ground, and wide space, this isn’t accurate.
This time of year, mosquitos and flies everywhere to the point where it really ruined the experience. No matter what sprays, lotions, candles or anything we tried, it was not working.
ScoutHere in late May and the bees and other bugs have been nonstop on me the whole time I've been here. It's a really beautiful area and the spots are spacious
ScoutThis was a last minute Memorial Day weekend trip with my boyfriend and 2 dogs. Friday sent an email to SM.FS.DescansoRD@usda.gov requesting the free permit (after doing research and finding out you need one), filled out the form, and got it back in the same day. Easy to get there, easy directions once there just make you pass the sign that says leaving the recreation area after that you can find any spot and camp. It was a little bumpy but nothing too bad. Drove with my jeep renegade that isn’t a 4wheel drive. A little busy due to the holiday but not too bad. Cyclist riding by, vehicles, and hikers. Which was nice saying hi. Hardly any service for my carrier which is T-Mobile. Definitely will camp out here again.
Traveler
Absolutely quiet and an amazing starry sky
Ideal for tents
Scout
I don't think this map pin is correct for Yaqui Wells Primitive Camp, the location according to Google Maps is a little further south just off Yaqui Pass Road off Highway 78. There are two different camps similarly named, Yaqui Wells and Yaqui Pass, fairly close to each other. Anyway, we stayed here at Yaqui Wells for one night after attempting to camp at Blair Valley but getting swarmed by bees. Only saw 2 other vehicles, and while the sites are pretty small and close to the dirt road, they are nice enough. BE AWARE THOUGH: pull your vehicle well into the sites, we had 6 lifted off road trucks come flying through around midnight at a ridiculously high speed without slowing down at all and it could have been catastrophic if we were closer to the road or if we had been walking our dog at that time.
Traveler
Saturday night in May. All other public campgrounds nearby are booked solid, but there are only 3 other groups here beside me. 1 camper told me the CG is always empty. Why? Because it's at the end of a 7.5 mile dead-end road in an OHV area, yet no OHVers here. No piped water, but the creek is flowing in mid-May of a wet winter. So peaceful. Lots of shade.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is the most popular tent campsite near Borrego Springs, CA?
According to TheDyrt.com, the most popular tent campground near Borrego Springs, CA is Ocotillo Wells State Vehicular Recreation Area with a 4.4-star rating from 16 reviews.
What is the best site to find tent camping near Borrego Springs, CA?
TheDyrt.com has all 26 tent camping locations near Borrego Springs, CA, with real photos and reviews from campers.
