Best Dispersed Camping near Palm Springs, CA

Free dispersed camping just North of Interstate 10. Take the paved road North about a mile and you can turn left or right on the "main road" just before the park entrance (right before the berm) . A few people were camping South of the Interstate. Dirt road has some washboards but it firmly packed and can be driven by any type of vehicle. If you take one of the smaller side roads, you may have more trouble and there are less camp sites cleared on those roads, but are more private.

Lot's of people cluster up near the paved road but the further you go away from the paved from the more space and privacy you have. I went about 3 miles to the West from the paved road and had about a quarter mile in each direction between me and my neighbors.

No noise except maybe once and hour a car drives by but it's not disturbing. Camp fire rings made of rocks in almost all clearings. Very private and a huge bonus to have cell and internet at almost full signal in such a remote place.

It is BLM dispersed camping so it's free, first come first served, and has zero amenities. Be sure to fully stock up on water, gas, propane etc before arriving in the area.

Gas station next exit down the highway about 4 miles. Has a free water spout for customers but it's kind of slow so don't plan on filling a 90 gallon tank this way. No firewood sold there, you have to go 30 minutes into Indio.

Verizon Cell/Network Service: 5/5 - Full bars in the BLM land

AT&T Internet Service - 4/5 - Half bars, great for how remote it is

Rig Details: 2008 Toyota Tundra 4WD w/ 27ft Travel Trailer

We love this BLM dispersed boondock area. It’s one of our go-tos. There’s always room, even though there are always lots of other campers here. Once you leave the main road and drive on the dirt road for a bit in either direction, people start to thin out and you have your own huge patch of camping. 

The road is washboard in parts, but manageable. Heads up that the BLM land is a checkerboard type situation, but nobody seemed to care. People were camped anywhere, and we’ve never seen anyone from BLM come by. 

Cell service is great out here. Getting your spot level is tricky each time, and we usually have to dig a hole on one side and use levels on the other just to get our rig level. Of course we fill the holes back in when we leave.

I researched this spot a ton and was hesitant to go - mostly because my 1987 VW Westfalia isn’t 4WD, and everything I read said you must have an off road vehicle, but the area looked beautiful and we didn’t have lots of campground options based on COVID park closures so we went.

I’m glad we did.

Box Canyon Road - the main road that goes right through Mecca Hills is paved and that drive alone was worth it. Beautiful.

The reviews were right that my car couldn’t make it to Painted Canyon or Mecca Wilderness Campground (a bit past Painted Canyon), but because it’s BLM land there’s dispersed camping anywhere off Box Canyon Road, which was amazing.

We saw old campfire pits all over and we pulled off on a dirt road that didn’t need 4WD, found a man made rock pit and setup shop. It was around a mountain so we felt totally isolated.

I had to be careful where to drive as there’s lots of sand but it was great. Glad we went. There were two other cars within site of us doing the same thing.

We had a great fire that night and enjoyed the stars and solitude.

We love BLM camping, but frankly living near LA free dispersed or BLM land is far between and hard to come by. Thankfully Joshua Tree has the perfect BLM spot just northeast of the park right south of the Pinto Mountain Wilderness. We usually come out here on holiday weekends because while the parks are full beyond capacity you can go days on BLM without seeing anyone. We’ve stayed two weeks before seeing one person in the “off season”. There’s a reason why us dirt bikers love this kind of area. Free camping, all the dirt trails you could ever want, full fire options, wonderful place to get space and seclusion; everything you could want as a disperser, minus access to water and shade (unless you bring it with you). And you should, the town is not close and the likelihood of encountering someone to help you out of a tough spot, or supplement missing something is near nil on the off-season. Remember people, this is the desert, if you don’t bring it with you, you won’t find it here. Inexperienced dispersed campers are not recommended. Many grossly underestimate the water/shade they will need/use and if you’ve never had to be 100% self sufficient, this is not the place to start. Cell service is spotty at best, and with the main road several miles away, and town several miles from there, not recommended unless you know you can be completely self reliant. Also in the summer temps soar easily in the 100s and drop hard after the sun goes down to the mid 50s. Even more unpredictable in the “off season”. That being said we love it here and get our desert fix in and plenty of dirt biking done. A great spot to go if you know what you’re doing, place your ego aside, if you know what you’re doing you’ll have a blast. Don’t? And you could end up in trouble quick. Can’t wait to go again in November!

We drove up to a spot in the dry lake bed area, sat there for a few minutes, and decided to leave. The place was fine, for a different kind of camper or maybe we would have liked it on a different day. But when we were there on a Saturday in mid November, there were so many people and so many ATVs, we just felt like we'd have ATVers zipping around us all night. And there was so much trash! :(

The environment was fine, easy access for our 26ft class c, wide open, flat land, good cell reception, close to town. We just didn't like the vibe. There's zero shrubbery or any kind of division to make you feel like you have your own space. It's just a wide open dry lake bed.

Be sure to keep an eye on the map as you're driving in to make sure you camp on BLM land. There is a lot of non BLM land surrounding this area, some but not all marked with "no trespassing" signs, and some sad encampments set up on the non BLM land. So just because you see an RV or a tent set up, doesn't mean it's BLM land.