Best Tent Camping near Calipatria, CA

Tamarisk Grove Campground is about 20 minutes south of Borrego Springs. It sits next to the highway but there’s minimal traffic so it isn’t terribly loud. There are tent sites as well as primitive cabins. Each site has a fire ring and table. There are also flush toilets and paid showers. There is no potable water at this campground - be sure to bring your own. The cabins are simple structures with platforms for sleeping. There are no amenities in the cabins - no electric, no water, no mattress, no linens, etc.

The campground is across the street from both the Cactus Loop and Yaqui Well trail heads. We recommend the short Cactus Loop hike over the Yaqui Well hike. Go at sunset to catch the cholla cacti backlit by the sunset.

This campground was away from the primary campground like Jumbo Rock and therefore less crowded. Campsites included fire ring and picnic table. Flush toilets on premises and away from primary sites. Tent sites were very close together and as we found or a very popular site for star gazing and meteror showers. Required aunt of a drive to get into the primary park area and firewood not available in campgrounds (Walmart is the closest location it was available). Camp hosts were very nice however did not enforce quiet hours. We camp with our daughter (5 at the time) and unfortunately we were surrounded by many college students drinking heavily (not Joshua Trees fault). We ended up leaving a day early because of this. Aside from the other campers we had a good desert camping experience. I think next time we would try a different site to attempt to be more secluded and avoid this issue in the future.

Located in the Imperial Dunes, we didn’t even realize this was a “campground” as we drove the short uphill to the lookout to see the dunes. There is a 14-day limit but unless you are really into cruising around the dunes on an OHV, I’m not sure why you would stay that long. It is basically a paved parking lot and there are no markers indicating a separation between “spaces” so you park/camp wherever you find room (there were some sections with no parking signs). Although the road and lot are paved, the wind will blow sand all over and it was VERY windy when we were there! There were two vault toilets, a covered picnic table and several fire rings but no other amenities. As far as I can tell, it is free to camp here. I did notice some RVs displaying rather strident political flags which would have made us uncomfortable staying here overnight so we enjoyed the dunes for a short while and drove on. A plus is the cell coverage is great (you are higher up) and the dunes are beautiful!

This is a new primitive location being constructed in the Anza-Borrego State Park.

It is currently open for use at no charge during the proposed Land Use Action from February 20, to May 31, 2021.

The park will be providing ADA accessible Concrete Vaulted Toilet (CXT restroom facility, adding fire rings, and incorporating a $20 per night per vehicle or trailer fee.

Camping will be allowed for up to 30-day maximum stay with adjacent state managed recreational activities include camping, hiking, equestrian, biking, bouldering, picnicking, and street legal off roading.

I met up with an old Marine buddy of mine and my 15 year old son for some camping, fishing and offroading with my friends Polaris Razr. There is a nice boat dock that is well used. NOTE: The walking dock to get into your boat is not setup and is not functional. Fishing spots are around the camping sites... fishing from shore into the river is doable... but the flow of the river means you probably will be like I was just practicing your casts. The trails on the Arizona side off of Levee Rd. We're great. We went out into the desert by the Hart Mining area and saw Big Horn Sheep and a Log Cabin from 1910. The weather was great... wind did get a bit gusty in the afternoons. Other than that great sunrises and sunsets. Camp fire rings were full of past ashes. We dug ours out to make it better for a fire. The Vault bathrooms are Really Bad. Luckily I brought my privacy pop-up tent and Lowes bucket with a toilet seat. That was way better than the stench of the toilet. No water so you need to bring your own, same with firewood, toilet needs... no toilet paper provided, no sinks or clothes pins required. We were the ONLY campers in the main campsites by the off duty camp host trailer on the river on Sat night and woke up to an empty campground.

I stayed at Arroyo Salado one year during a super bloom at Anza Borrego Desert State Park.  The campground is very, very basic.  You pull up and find a spot and camp.  There are no designated campsites.  And it's free.  There are pit toilets, which are clean and don't really smell.

We had the pleasure, as I said, of coming during the super bloom, when all of the sites closer to town were booked.  This is in the "badlands" part of the park, leaving Borrego Springs and heading toward Salton City, which happens to be the cheapest place to get gas in these parts.

There's room to pitch a tent.  You basically set up camp wherever there is room. We were among blooming desert lilies and had to be careful not to damage any, but plenty of fairly flat sandy soil to pitch a tent.  You can bring your own barbecue if you want a fire, but fires must be self contained and you have to pack out what you bring in, so don't leave behind your ashes or coals.  Want to be lazy?  Grab dinner from one of the restaurants in town.

This part of the park (the badlands) tends to be slightly warmer than other areas of the park.  (Because of elevation and topography? I'm not sure why.)  This is a dry camp.  There is no water, so you have to bring your own. But Borrego Springs is maybe 15-20 minutes away if you need a supply run.

During the blooms and when it's not super hot, it's lovely, but it's ungodly hot in the summer here (110-115 degrees), not cooling much at night.  There are off-road roads in this area.  We watched a lovely moonrise amid some night-blooming flowers.  So time it right and it's lovely.