Best Tent Camping near Ocotillo Wells, CA

This is totally a great place to go tent camping it's peaceful and quiet during the week. It's clean and just a fun place to camp.

Went camping in August, during a heatwave, and had Covid restrictions. Even with all of that, we had a good time! We were in spot 21 right by the pond. Camped in a tent trailer and had plenty of room to set up an outdoor sitting and cooking areas. The only issue was “meat bees” that came around when we were trying to eat. Bathrooms were clean and stocked with supplies. Pool was nice and refreshing but had little shaded areas. We definitely would camp there again when it isn’t so hot!

Great county park. Quiet and well maintained. Pay showers. $29/ night. Pets welcome. Fire pits and picnic tables at each site. Tent camping available as well.

I brought my family with our 2 dogs for Thanksgiving and unfortunately we left early because it was a major danger for our dogs with the very bold and brave coyotes.

We tent camped but I feel like if we had an RV it would have been safer for the dogs.. for us alone with out the dogs, tent camping would have been fine!

Other than that. BEAUTIFUL!!! We loved every single moment from the colorful drive up to the stars and checking out the observatory which was also pet friendly. It’s SO FUN to see all the different color leaves and the sunsets, the sunrises, the crisp air, the views on the way up….all of it was so beautiful.

Best tent campground

I have only tent camped here and enjoyed the quite and clean site. I like that it is not far from civilization but feels very remote. My kids caught their first fish in the little pond.

I have only tent camped here and really enjoyed the clean and quiet spot not too far from civilization but feels like in the middle of nowhere. My kids caught their first fish in the little pond :)

Cabins are fun and shelter you from the occasional strong gusty winds.

Tent camping in the rain is also do-able here due to the temperate climate. There are a couple playgrounds, so a very kid-friendly environment as well.

Ramona Oaks is exactly what it says RV Resort, they do have 4 tent sites available which are ok just very rocky. One thing i didn’t like was the tent sites being so close to the main road that all night long you hear semi trucks and rice burners with their load exhaust driving down the windy road. A lot of the RV spots look to be permanent or semi permanent residence and nobody really comes out to socialize. There wasn’t a lot of kids out like i thought there would be like when i used to go camping as a kid. They do have a small lake that is catch and release only, don’t know exactly what fish are in there but i did catch a few sun fish. They do have a nice playground for the kids.

The county park is quiet and peaceful. During the week I’m 1 of about 4 campers. It has filled up on the weekends with mostly families and scout troops. It is a mix of RV and tent campsites.

I really like this campground! The bathrooms are very clean and well maintained! The campground features a creek that runs through the tent sites towards the back! There were so many frogs and tadpoles! The creek eventually flows into a pond located on the other end of the campground. The pond is actually pretty large! Lots of space to walk around and explore. There is quite a bit of poison oak in the area, however you are in an old oak tree grove so it’s inevitable. Every other site was occupied in order to maintain new physical distancing requirements, the added privacy is great. Site 59 has to be one of the best tent sites, right on the creek with bathrooms close by. Lots of families so it was a little loud at some points of the day with all the kids running around, but not too much of an annoyance. Overall, I enjoyed my stay here. It is far enough from the main highway that you feel like you’re out in the woods. I would stay here again!

I took my kids here for a trial run of tent camping with them. The campground is well maintained. They sell wood, fishing licenses, and other items you may need.

We stayed in space 45 which had a nice view of the lake. This space was surrounded cactus that may be hazardous for little tikes.

I'd also highly recommend bringing some shade of your own as there are not many trees at some sites.

The campground at Lake Morena has around 80+ spots that range from hookups for RV to basic tent camping. There's a indoor entertainment room and multiple bathrooms. The campground is not located right on the lake but a 15min walk away. The cell service is roaming but was decent; around 500kb download. The PCT goes thru the campground and there's an area designated for thru hikers camping. The campground can get crowded during the weekend. The adjacent town has a small store.

I love this camp site. I prefer the Hillside loop for tent camping as the spots are large, lots of trees, and feels fairly private. It was easy to get a walk up site, the campground hosts are helpful, and there is super easy access to all of Mount Laguna hilling trails. We went once on a Monday in April and had the place to ourselves, and once over Thanksgiving weekend and we were still able to get a good spot! Dogs allowed as well!

In February we had the place to ourselves. Temperature dropped to 43'. Best hook up site #24. Best tent site #65. A few pretty good trails to get the heart pumping. We took the Cedar Trail on the left side of the fork. The water at the spigots spewed dark brown water. Bring your own water source. Definitely cougar country so kept pups close to us. Clean bathrooms and wild stormy skies.

This is by far the best place to tent camp that we have found. We love hiking the rope/ladder trail loop during the day and star gazing at night. No bugs and the weather is amazing if you’re at the base of the canyon. There’s loose sand roads the further you get in, so 4wheel drive only if you’re trying to get far away from the main road. There is a bathroom towards the beginning, but nothing close to the main hiking area.

This campground is a very large site, with huge amounts of RV and tent sites spread out, hookups and non-hookup sites, with a layout around the water of Lake Hemet. We only stayed for one night before continuing on to Idyllwild, so cannot speak for anything related to the actual lake but there was a lot of recreational boating and fishing going on when we were there in August. Our site was a tent site in the interior, we did not pay the extra money for a premium lakefront site. Overall it is your run of the mill campsite, but with the lake as a main attraction and focal point of course. With all of the families and kids it was more on the noisy side, and was noisy until later into the night. I would recommend this campsite on the value of the lake if that is something you are into, but other than that I would prefer something more quiet and peaceful. Another downside is visitor parking and I believe even day use of the grounds to get in were an extra charge. There is a large country style camping store before the gate. Overall, the surrounding scenery is still beautiful, and you can't really beat that.