Best Campgrounds near Salton City, CA

This is a nice place to camp- we stayed one night. stopped at the laguna recreation area visitor center before hand to pick up a free permit. the road was recently paved so it’s easy to drive on, there’s a handful of spots just along side the road, as you go further in the road the views get better- we parked on the side of the road and then walked uphill about 8 minutes to a campsite we liked but there are definitely more where you just camp next to your car. there are more campsite further down the road when it goes back down in the valley but the views end there. we only saw 3-4 other cars the whole time.

Great area--it's just close enough to some expensive campgrounds and a few connecting trails, so it's awesome to camp here for FREE. Pine Creek Road itself is paved, and the camping spots are packed dirt so it's easy to get around even in a FWD. Warning though: if you're nervous about driving on single lane mountain roads, this is not the place for you! Pine Creek Road is several miles long, with some sections that are on sheer cliff edges with very few turn-off spots to allow for passing.

Additional word of warning: the camping spots are not close together and there seemed to be very few of them. Even driving slowly, I counted only 6 or 7 sites total, separated by up to a mile. I saw only 1 other spot with campers, at least 2.5 miles from my site. Some of the sites are fairly large--could easily fit 2 cars and a couple tents--but others seemed to be just large enough to pull off the road and sleep in the car (no tent space). Some spots were tucked back from the road with lots of trees (I barely saw or heard any cars, even though I was probably only ~15ft from the road); but some were barely more than a shoulder with no trees for coverage. I stayed in the same spot two nights in a row, though I packed up during the day because I assumed I'd find another spot down the road. At least in the site I picked, there was very little trash from previous campers.

Suggestion for the permit: make sure you apply for the free permit a few days in advance especially if you plan to go on the weekend. List the place you're going as "Pine Creek dispersed camping," and keep a printed copy in your car. I didn't have trouble with any rangers, but it's better to be safe than fined. Very spotty service (Verizon), which makes navigation and planning difficult if you don't pre-download trail maps.

It was kind of funny. The roads very bumpy, but my sedan made it no problem. Just pay attention to the ground because there are some anthills. Stayed out of their way and they’ll stay out of your way. Not really noticing any bugs, light breeze, I went a mile off of the road so I can barely hear the highway. I like that the mountains will block the sun in the morning so I can do some yoga and meditation. Got up to 105 today so I’ll probably be out of here by seven. Up at four or five in the morning. I can’t tell if this is a good place for hiking, but there’s lots of places to camp and it’s all free. You could show up here in the middle of the night and you’d probably find a campsite, although it’s dark and I would not recommend it. If you’re planning to go here, get here when it’s light out so you can have an easy time of set up, etc.. and you don’t wanna get any surprises. I thought I might see a snake or two, but I haven’t seen anything. I’ve had my shirt off and there’s been no bugs so for me, avoiding a hotel and paying a fee to campsite, this was a winner.