Best Dog-Friendly Camping near Mojave, CA

It took two tries to finally make it here. Our motorhome slide refused to slide. But a month later we made it. Feb 3 and it’s 70 degrees. Nice soft breeze. No pool. But our fur kids said the TWO dog parks made up for it. Judith the resident staff person was a ROCKSTAR in getting our reservations changed and rebooked. The spaces and long and plenty of side room for slides.. that you know…. Slide Definitely making this a come back to park.

Decided to go camp here for a day because it’s omly a 3 hr drive from my home, but it was too windy. Sand/dirt and wind are a terrible combo for camping. Got in the tent, in our food, in our eyes. We went on a Wednesday which was nice because there were so many open spots. You can see the highway from the park which is kind of a bummer, but the canyons are pretty cool to walk around the rim up top. It’s also pet friendly and the dogs loved all the open space however it could get a litttle dangerous if you let them off leash. This campsite particularly was our favorite because it’s the very last one and nobody drives down there unless they’re camping next door. Most private.

Nice spot if you don’t want to drive far. Fantastic views. Get there early to get a spot with shade...we arrived in the late afternoon and the only spots had zero shade. It was so hot!! Sites are relatively private and pets allowed.

This is our go to spot just to get out and camp for a night without going far! Beautiful hikes with tons of scenic outlooks. Kid and pet friendly, never crowded it seems so you can also have some privacy. Great camp site and well maintained. We love it!

Hardly anyone there when I went in March and felt like I had the place to myself! Hot showers and picnic table available. Just a 1 min walk down the hill to the lake - a perfect place to have my morning coffee! They allowed pets which is awesome. Super quiet, lots of stars, and a beautiful view. Couldn’t ask for better!

This was our first trip with our new motorhome and first camping trip ever.  The staff was really friendly and accommodating.   The grounds are nice and very large.  Sites are easy to navigate and pull into, especially for a first timer.  

The RV sites are pretty close together but the full hookups makes it really nice.  Will stay here again and they are very pet friendly which was nice.

I'm quite certain the hiking here is very nice, but I wouldn't know as I was traveling with my dog and unfortunately the California State Park system hates dogs and doesn't allow them on trails.  The campground is serviceable, nothing super special, but nice sunsets, Mojave Desert scenery, etc. Some road noise and camper noise. A Boy Scout troop was encamped there when I was there, fortunately their adult leaders had them under control for the most part. (Not all do).  A few of the available sites are well spaced apart. I think I was in #1. It was badly infested with fire ants but fortunately large enough that I was able to move my camper to the far end of the site and avoid them.  None of the bathrooms had functional locks or latches. This was bizarre. Some restrooms were not functional.

This is my second stay at this RV resort. Both times I was here the Rangers would not enforce any rules and regulations. This particular stay there were two RVs with excessive dog barking from 7 AM till 10 or 11 PM every day and night. 

One RV was parked right next to the restroom and they would tie their dog up to the picnic table for over 12 hours a day. Every time someone walk down the sidewalk to use the facilities, the dog with lunch and start barking at them. The manager and the other Rangers said they do not care and did not enforce anything over a three week. This was an aggressive dog that was lunging, and I’m very concerned that it will break loose invite somebody. None of the Rangers have any concern for our safety.

 The second RV left two dogs and a cat alone for 12 hours a day. They left the windows open and the dogs with aggressively bark and how all day long. Again the Rangers did not care and did nothing about it. Brian, the manager, and three other Rangers witness the dogs in the window, barking aggressively, and refused to do anything about it. 

My neighbor and I called over 20 times to the Rangers. I even personally met with the manager Brian. He said he would take care of it and he never did. The Ranger name by the name Sandra said that she was unwilling to do anything about enforcing the rules, and that if I didn’t like it, I should move. I informed her that I’m paying her salary/wages and I expect her to do her job. She hung up on me. She is completely useless, and should be removed from the staff. 

I’m not sure why Thousand Trails system as allowing Rangers to collect their paychecks without doing their job. 

I regret purchasing by thousand trails membership. If I wanted to hear dogs barking all day, I would stay at a dog boarding kennel. Beware before you visit or purchase a membership through thousand trails Soledad Canyon. Chances are you will regret it.

I only gave it four stars because in the summer it’s HOT! The Rock formations are out of this world, my daughter asked if we were on the moon, we all had a good laugh. Water was accessible in serveral locations throughout the park along with restrooms. The park did have its own visitor center with a small museum inside. There were also several hiking trails located throughout the park. Dogs permitted on leash. The Park also had a picnic day use area that was very nice. It had shade covers, fire pits and bbq’s that were all newly updated. Overall a very cool campsite. Snakes and scorpions do inhabit the Mojave desert so I would use extreme caution in the spring to fall months while hiking day or night. I also didn’t have cell service towards the back of the Park. We can’t wait to go back this fall when the temps are cooler!

Mojave is in the middle of no where. But if you find yourself out this way, Spaceport RV Park makes up for it. Full hookup for $20.00/ night and VERY helpful park staff!!! It’s my understanding they let you dump for $5.00 and fill your freshwater tank for $2.00 even if you don’t stay here.

April 2, 2018

I hosted a Girls Who Hike LA 2nd annual 1st time campers workshop where I taught girls

To camp for the first time. This place was a great choice. The scenery was beautiful and the space was great for all 15 of us. I was also able to reserve this space which was ideal for me. The campground only allows 6 vehicles and you do not need a permit to park there unless your not park of the 6 vehicle rule. The 6 vehicles are covered under the cost of the campground. The water source was not working when we went and the bathrooms are located on the other campground next to ours so it wasn’t fun if we had to go to the bathroom at night. This site does not have any bear canisters yet the trash cans are bear proof on the campsite. There was only one real place to hang 1 hammock and you have to make sure you call the office to get the combination code so you can open the gate. I had to call the day we went and I was able to get the code from the visitors center people. We got very lucky and we all participated in the Chilao Visitor Center Star Gazing event 1 mile from our campground. It is walking distance away. I have to warn you the weather changes dramatically from day to night. I checked many different weather websites for weather and they all lied to me. The best was to get the weather was to call the Chilao Visitors Center. Meadow Group Campground IS within the Chilao Campground. You get absolutely no service while you are camping. The visitor Center has a phone if you need to call someone or if you go up the highway 2-3 more miles there is a restaurant called Newcombers where they have WiFi and some really great food! Pets are allowed at this campsite but require a permit. DO NOT BRING YOUR OWN FIREWOOD! They encourage you to collect wood around your campsite. I would recommend bringing a hatchet or axe to help break down some of the larger wood peices. It was freezing at night it got below 30 degrees prepare for cold weather at night just in case! We had no issues with animals! All around this is a great campsite!

Beautiful spot. Old school mountainside camping in the tall trees. Campsites are around 6,000’, pit toilets, grills, steel fire pits, picnic tables and potable water taps. We spent a night in late May and there were only a few other sites occupied on a Wednesday night. This is a hidden gem. It was 100 in Mojave and 70 in the TMP. Gorgeous tall evergreens and some larger oaks, a few might be old growth? ***Note: this is not a place for large RVs or trailers. The road in is tight and twisty with no shoulders and some trees and rock faces snug up against it. The campground is very steep, the roads are one lane and very very curvy. Some sites are very near each other, others are more dispersed. There are large groups sites.

Campground has three separate site loops with about 90 Dry Camp camp locations. Water spigots are available in some areas, but not for permanent hookup. I was here in November and it was pretty empty except for the weekend. Some people changed their minds about camping as often in California, there is high risk of fire and no campfires or BBQ's were allowed.

Common areas and every other site was closed due to Covid restrictions. Camp host was very friendly. Some nice hills for hiking and Pyramid lake was close by, paid access to the lake was not included in campground fees.

Restrooms are available and cleaned daily.

I enjoyed my stay here and there was plenty of room for walking my dogs.

I've had some amazing times out here getting away from it all, and there's something about the atmosphere out here that makes the BEST sunsets. You can get right up in the joshua trees, and a lot of the time you have the place all to yourself. Awesome place to bring your dog and friends and just goof off. Easy to get to, but still secluded. It's about a 15-minute drive to the nearest neighbor, but you're still less than a mile from the highway.

I've been here in the winter and the summer. I actually like the winter better! When there's snow on the Tehachapi mountains and the San Gabriel mountains, the view is incredible. And it's Southern California, so it doesn't really get cold.

The only rules are don't hurt the joshua trees, and don't start any wildfires. That's easy enough to comply with.

A step or two up from a casino parking lot (probably more like 3.5 stars), this is a basic, friendly and most of all cheap place to park your RV for a night. There's laundry facilities, showers and bathrooms. Most excitedly there's water and electric hookups and a sewer dump all included for the flat $20 price. If you're stopping here on the way to somewhere else for a night and have a self-contained RV, this is a great place to get some cheap, quiet sleep.

Spots are on gravel or a concrete pad with plenty of room to maneuver, and while some are right next to each other, when we were there there was plenty enough open spaces to not have to cram in. Lots of monthly/permanent residents but mostly those rigs are off in other areas separate from the nightly spots. Overall the feeling is of a safe, friendly, basic spot to stop for the night, but not somewhere you'd want to set up a table and chairs and hang out for an extended period of time.

Tips: The coolest thing about this park (besides its nice price) is the Mojave Air & Space Port located immediately next door. Stop by its little park and cute, friendly restaurant where you can watch airplanes take off while having delicious fries or a milkshake.