Best Tent Camping near Ocotillo, 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.

We went to Culp Valley in April just in time to explore the Anza-Borrego State Park during an especially rainy desert season. There were wildflowers everywhere and despite high heat during the day it was so bad you felt like you were in the desert. It's a beautiful time to explore. There is a small city just outside the park where you can get any need supplies, lunch or do some antique/thrifting.

The campground is just West of the state park and at a higher elevation. The sites are first come first serve, and best of all they are FREE! The ground is sand and rock, and outside of clean vault toilets there are no amenities. We had a decent spot with three tents set up and brought our own fire ring. No fires allowed outside a fire ring/pit you bring along. It's a smaller campground and is well known in SoCal but if you arrive before afternoon you'll usually find a spot.

Because of it's location on hill it is subject to gusty winds. Keep that in mind. You will get dusty and check the weather so you set up camp facing away from the wind or you'll get a full tent of sand. The night we were there most recently they broke wind gust records which was unexpected. It was a long night of whooshing wind coming up and over the desert hills before slamming into our tent at speeds nearing tornado strength. That sucked but that was more our fault than the campgrounds.

It's less of a leisure camping spot and there were no big RVs the times we visited. There is a reservable state park campsite nearby if you need more amenities.

This area is know for it's stargazing and the night sky in the desert is incredible. The lights from the nearest town are blocked by the rock.

Free camping! Located off the S22, border of Anza Borrego,just 3.5 miles past the town of Ranchita. If you keep going down the hill you'll hit Borrego Springs. Keep an eye out for the Culp Valley Camp sign because otherwise there isn't much indication. Barely any service so make sure you prepare well for an extended stay. It does extremely windy here, especially in early fall with the Santa Ana winds. Hot during day, frigid at night. It's primitively camping so No water, picnics tables, fire rings, and charcoal grills, but vault toilets and ground to put a tent on are available. In Culp Valley there is TONS of boulders to climb; varying from beginner v0's to advanced bouldering. Check out mountain project to check out some routes or just go spot out some of your own! This is place is definetly worth a weekend trip, but Shhh try to keep it a secret. ;) 

Campground coordinates: 33.220541, -116.458858 (33° 13′ 13.94″N 116° 27′ 31.88″W)

68-year old, still tenderfoot tent camper. This was my first experience in California after three prior stays in Texas and Arizona. The San Diego County system centrally handles reservations of its campgrounds, which was fortunate for me. I mistakenly reserved one campground thinking it was another (my preferred, Potrero), but it was 30 miles away. Even though I paid for two nights in advance, their phone reservations help was superb and got me transferred without any hiccups. Big shout-out to the ranger at Potrero for suggesting. I interacted with several and they were all professional, friendly and helpful.

There's one central plumbed restroom and shower facility. Further out along the tent sites there was a hand portapotty. When you first drive in you'll go past a very large day-use area with its own facilities before you get to the overnight camping sites. Alcohol is permitted if alcohol content < 20%.

My site #7 was the last in the row of tent-only sites and appeared to be the largest with plenty of shade and flat pad site. Without seeing other tents it's a little hard to gauge size, but I'd guess walking by the other sites that there's probably at least 80-100 feet between tent pads, or even more. Lots of open spaces. The seven tent sites shared a couple (maybe more) of water spigots.

The primary annoyance was with the park's neighbors who seemingly had a whole pound of dogs who barked loudly through the nights. Given how otherwise silent it was, it was the barking was noticeable and to be distinguished from the coyotes, birds and owls. I think I also heard roosters crowing each morning as early as 3am.

The major event of my stay was the arrival of, as Steely Dan sang, "Here come those Santa Ana winds again …" At 5 a.m. the first morning, it was still and quiet as can be (sans the neighborhood dogs). A few minutes later, the winds hit. For the next 11 hours, surviving the wind 30-40 mph sustained winds, gusts over 50 was the only concern – both for my little tent and my car and myself due to the wind effects on the large trees surrounding us. In the end, there was no noticeable damage but seldom have I spent a full day out in the weather like that.

All in all, I'm not sure you could ask for more at about $25/night. Although I would've paid double if there were a no-wind option. I also had two great tent parties my second night, a couple about my age who were returning to California after summering in Baja, and a young woman from Germany traveling by herself around the world. Interesting neighbors to say the least.

At site #7 I had zero T-Mobile signal. Outside the Ranger Station I could get at most, 2 bars LTE.

We stopped and setup tents a little before little Blair valley. Night sky was alright, but couldn’t see the Milky Way, so not dark enough for that. Probably a Bortle 5. Got up in the morning and went all the way until the end of the road on maps (Apple or Google) on our 2WD, was doable. 4 bars T Mobile LTE where we were.

Campsite itself was very nice. The place we found had a man made but multiple time used fire pit. Great sunset and sunrise, you have the chance to have as much or as little company around you. Little bit of trash at our site that we picked up.

Leave no trace!

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.

My wife and I stayed here in early May 2021. This was our second time at Paso Picacho after visiting here a few years ago. We were even more impressed this time around. I can't say enough about this place. The grounds are serene and well kept, the atmosphere is relaxed and most of the campers were very respectful. The campsites are huge, if you know which ones to nab with an early reservation, and the staff there are just the most delightful people on earth.

On our first night there, a couple of huge pickups showed up to the spot right above ours at midnight, and they blasted music, partied, and screamed at the top of their lungs often (for whatever reason), and we couldn't sleep. We were super bummed and had thought it was pretty much going to be an awful trip. However, we talked to the campground host and the staff at the entrance, and they were super understanding and helpful. They said that they know people come here for peace and quiet, and that they take it seriously when any campers violate their quiet hours rules.

The camp host hopped on a cart right away and sped away to the offending sites to give them a talking to and made sure to mention that if they violated the noise rules again, they would send in rangers and have them booted out of the campground. It worked like gangbusters! The rest of our trip was amazing, and we didn't hear so much as a peep from the neighboring sites (it was a big group) all weekend. The camp host followed up with us afterward and said that we could come by his site anytime and tell him if the other campers were loud again, even if it was 3am in the morning. He said, "It's no trouble. That's what I'm here for."

Awesome, awesome, awesome. The fire pit worked out great, and we were able to cook all of our meals on the grill that comes with it using the cast iron skillets we bought. They had plenty of wood for sale at the front, as well as ice. The wood price is a little steep ($8 per bundle), but all that money goes back into the park. Knowing that, it actually felt good paying them for the wood rather than buying it elsewhere.

The trails were well kept, and the views were fantastic even with the fire damage. We got to do everything that we wanted to do and then some. We even had time to go to Julian and do some shopping - check out the Cider Mill for some delicious treats!

As far as campsites go, our site (#30) was so, so great. We researched a lot online beforehand (campsitephotos.com was helpful along with this site, Google reviews, and Yelp), so we had a pretty good idea of what the site was going to look like.  But it was even better than the pictures. It was a huge site with plenty of room for 2 tent pads. The picnic table and fire pit were positioned just under a huge, climbable tree that gave us plenty of shade while we were there. The only downside to this site is that it was very close to the bathrooms. That actually bummed me out a bit when we first arrived, but it ended up not being much of an issue at all. The traffic to and from the bathrooms was very light, and the section of the bathroom building facing our site was all showers, which barely anybody used. There is also a lot of bushes and tree cover in between the site and the bathrooms, so we barely saw anybody the whole time we were there.

Reading reviews online is what helped us find such a great spot, so I promised myself  I would walk the grounds and post all of the good site numbers online when we got back. So here they are, at least in my opinion:

Top Three

30: our site- the best!

70: easily the 2nd best site on the grounds- very private, secluded, lots of bush cover, fire pit and table are far from the road- the only downside to this site it that it has very little shade, so bring a canopy or tarp to setup your own shade situation. Other than that, this site was incredible. We will probably check this one out when we go back here in the fall.

85: My pick for the 3rd best site on the grounds, although my wife disagreed. This site is surrounded by forest, trees, and bushes on 3 sides. If you don't count the front facing view, it is one of the most secluded sites in the campground. It is on the outside of a bend in the road, and there are no other sites to the left and right of it. I personally prefer a"bathroom bush" close by to save myself from having to walk to the bathrooms in the dark, and this place has tons of'em. The downside here is that the front of the campsite faces 2-3 other sites that are right across the road. If the site were a house, basically the"front door" is wide open to the campers across the way. If you had a bad group camping across from you, it might be not so fun. However, you can park your car in such a way that it would block out some of that wide open space in the front, making it more private.

Honorable Mention

44: my wife's pick for 3rd- big site, lots of shade, secluded, a little too close to the neighboring site on the left side(facing the site from the road) but nothing but road on the right side

8: Nice, big site that is not close to other campsites. Private, secluded. Lots of trees and shade. The downside to this one is that it is right across from a cabin. Depending on the campers using the cabin during your visit, that proximity to the cabin might be a bummer. However, there were no big parties at the cabins while we were there.

51: Good site, lots of trees and shade. Semi-private.

54: Good site, lots of trees and shade. Not all that private- kind of open and on a little bit of a slope.

20: Just kinda okay. Trees and shade but not very private or secluded. Good if all of the above are booked.