Best Cabin Camping near Palm Desert, CA

June 4, 2018 A great way to escape the heat of Palm Desert...however

Their premium priced “meadow view”($53) was a very small back in space with low pine branches. My sewer hookup was up hill, and the water spout was at the front of the site on the opposite side and needed two hoses! I looked around, and NONE of the spaces I saw looked level. When I complained to the staff, I was told “it’s an old campground”, and I could switch to a “regular” spot....however no refund of the price difference would be given.
No free access to the lake for campers. Camp store is way overpriced(a small 3lb bag of ice was $5). No WiFi, No cell service(T-Mobile).

BTW.... take the long route! Drive up the mountain from the town of Hemet. DO NOT attempt the Palm Desert side...especially with a large 5th wheel or a class A. The Hemet approach has a more gradual grade and wider roads.

Visited the last 2 weeks of August. Great place for family and kids. Affordable. Campsite #295. You can fit two 10' x10' canopies to cover the bench table, and fit 2 individual tents (4-6 person) OR a bigger 12p tent however you decide to position it. It has its own Fire pit. Different campgrounds for all chosen methods (Tent, RV, Glamping, etc..) There's restrooms you can use. There's showers you can pay per use. The swim zone isn't too far from this campsite, 5-10 min walk w/ no accessories. If you have little ones, you can take them with a wagon but I'd recommend just driving your car with a few items to the zone. Bring your own shade for this campsite, your own water too. The marketplace is near the entrance BUT they only sell individual waters (No 48 pack types). You'll definitely hear your neighbors snore at night after a long day LOL.. quiet hours are from 10pm - 8am. Overall, this is a great spot. If you're lucky to snag other spots with trees covering you then great but this is still a good campsite. Happy camping! ... Oh yeah, T-Mobile no service up there (apparently Verizon, AT&T do)

There are no bathrooms or water here, but you have cell service and a convenience store very close by. This is a great spot to find a free camping site and still be somewhat in your own seclusion. The sky is really nice here at night. You can see the freeway a bit of a distance out from this location and it takes about 45mins or so get back into Joshua tree National park from here. The fire pits are in the ground so you might have to rebuild the walls above ground if they’ve been knocked down. Overall a very cool spot to check out that’s right outside of Joshua tree National park with beautiful sunset views. This is BLM land

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 tent camped 3 days 2 nights during Memorial weekend with 3 other families. We really enjoyed the drive up Idylwild, beautiful scenery. I think the sites are a bit too close to each other, I would prefer more space between sites. But it's a quiet campground, everyone goes to sleep early around 10pm. A downside during our visit, is the restroom/bathroom; the resort closed down couple restroom/bathroom for renovation, so we had. to walk far to shower/potty. Maybe they were short staffed, the restroom/bathroom were dirty, toilet flushing issue and trash bin overflow. Overall we had a good time, also be aware of coyotes they come out at night.

Near and clean campground with clean restrooms requiring a key code to enter. Two laundry rooms. One large pool and three spas (hot tubs to folks not from So Cal) all heated with naturally heated mineral water. Secure. Park staff drive around at night to keep an eye on things. Most camps are close to the neighbors but most folks are quiet. Pay extra foe larger or premium campsites. Play area for the kids by the office. Put-put golf. Not much shade but many hedges. Gravel parking. Separate are for tents, communal sinks. Few trees around. Each camp has a sturdy picnic table. Propane fires only. And probably the same for BBQs. Great AT&T 5G cellular. Wi-Fi is weak, but it’s free.RV spot had fill hookups (water, 30 or 50 amp power, sewer, but no cable TV.

Well run and friendly, responsive staff. Understand that Desert Hot Springs is sometimes WINDY!! And that can mean dust storms, but that goes for the entire Cochella Valley. Not close to anything out here. A convenience store about 1/3 mile away. You won’t be running for coffee here. The the management sometimes hosts events and a weekend breakfast can be purchased.

All rigs are in good repair and I’ve seen nothing sketchy here at all. Been here 3 weeks with 3 more to go.

Bottom line: I would definitely stay here again, but it is a drive to get into DHS or Palm Springs. And it is windy/dusty.

This was our first time here. 

We made it clear, at the time we reserved, that we needed a 50 Amp hookup. It turns out that our reservation was for a 30 Amp site (#21). We again made it clear at the time of check-in that we needed a 50 Amp site, we were moved from #21 to #31 (the only 50 Amp site left in the park). It is a lakeside parallel parking site that is beautiful. The lake has a fountain in the middle that gets illuminated at night, very nice indeed. 

Now for the bad, although there was clearly a gate at the front entrance, we never saw it closed. The park provides security until 10 pm, after that, it seems that ANYONE can come and go. We heard from others that thefts had become common-place. 

The tiny store at the entrance closes at 5 pm every day. Luckily there are several stores only a couple of blocks away. 

Showers are not included in the price of your site rental, an average shower will cost between $1 and $2. You must purchase shower/laundry tokens from the tiny store. When we went to the store to purchase our tokens, we were told that they had to go empty the machines so that they had more tokens to sell. The laundry room was actually closed for the first 2 days we were there. 

The dump station in the park was locked (no sewer hookups). You had to wait until someone from the tiny store was able to get free long enough to open the locked dump station. 

The WiFi situation is horrendously bad, especially after about 9:20 pm. Apparently that is when their metering software kicks in. We went from watching our shows (NetFlix, etc) to the point that we couldn't even play a complete song over the connection. Still unhappy about the WiFi, an ominous warning came across my devices stating that there was suspicious/hacking activity on the WiFi network, disconnect immediately. 

**OMSB: When are RV parks going to learn that in today's world, good, safe, WiFi is essential, and should not be an afterthought? TO ALL RV PARKS: Upgrade your WiFi now, I (and probably many others) would happily pay another $5 to $10 per day for great WiFi service. **

There seemed to be an inordinate amount of trash around the entire place. There were multiple empty beer cans on our site when we arrived. The nice green lawn area that we walked our dogs on was littered with waste from other inconsiderate pet owners (please pick up after your pet). 

The place is a little pricey for what you actually get, Everything seems to cost more, as long as you get it before 5 pm. 

We have gotten much more, for much less. Overall the place was beautiful until you looked more closely. Unfortunately, it looks like people have stopped caring about maintaining this park.

I had a reservation at Wilderness Lakes, and I was a day early, so they let me in! Off to a good start! Full hook-ups, laundry and showers about 50 yards away, no matter which way you go. Laundry is done with an app, and pretty cheap, $1.75 wash, $1.75 dry. Nice canals running through the park, with ducks and their ducklings trailing behind. I chose to stay at the far end, away from the crowds. I got a great site, with no one on either side, and 2 neighbors across the street. While I was setting up, one of my awning screen poles broke. I called ShadePro, and they were out the next morning with a new one. Management seems very friendly, there’s a store at the front of the park, and a nice one mile hike around the perimeter of the park. Unseasonably warm the past couple days, so used my AC for a couple hours in the afternoon, to cool Riley and I down. The internet pretty much sucks. Good for email, and very little surfing, but way too slow to stream Netflix, etc. I just put on some music and relax, or throw in a DVD at night. Plenty of trash receptacles, playground for kids, mini golf, and much more. They even have cabins to rent. Will definitely come back!