Best Tent Camping near Shoshone, CA

You can take that heat from Vegas and completely forget you are in Nevada when you travel just outside the city and to McWilliams Campground and Mount Charleston area. But because of this break in the heat all summer you have to make reservations, even though they say there are walk up sites I wouldn't suggest banking on them to be there.

This campground is dry camping but with the setting of the mountains it hardly seems like any kind of inconvenience. There is a nice bathroom facility here without showers but plenty good for enjoying this place it is heated which makes for a lot better user experience especially I assume during winter months.

When I was there I saw a lot of RVs and Tents alike all pulled into spots and comfortable. While I didn't seem boxed in and overcrowded I did speak to someone who said when it is filled with more RVs it tends to get a little claustrophobic feeling.

Sleeping in a tent here I noticed that I could hear my neighbors pretty easily until around 11 p.m. after that it got pretty quiet and short of a few animal noises here and there it was silent. Temperatures dipped considerably at night so even though it was summer, in a tent I was finding I needed a little more cover than expected and pulled out the sleeping bag for some warmth.

Something I loved about this site was the set up for campers with the fire ring and table. The slab around the ring gives you a flat surface if you have camp chairs and also allows you do better manage your space and keep debris out of your fire.

TIPS:

• Bring a light or headlamp. Not sure if it really doesn't have light or if it was just burned out, I didn't check again, but the bathroom was dark at night so you want to have a way to see.
• Bring Cash or Check they didn't accept cards for the $25 nightly fee.

This was my first time camping at Hilltop. I reserved online, which is great, so when I got there I just pulled into the spot. The camp host came by and asked for either my ID or the reservation.

I stayed in Spot 1, which is nice if you want to be a little secluded, but I did have a lot of traffic noise when trucks or loud motorcycles came by. The tent area was level and smooth, which was a big help when Tent #1, which set up beautifully in my living room, refused to, in spite of much coaxing and cursing. I had to drive back into town and buy Tent #2, which was watertight even when the rain came pouring down.

There is no running water in the campground. Spigots have been capped, and where there once were showers, there are now portable toilets. In the larger group areas, they (and the trash bins) fill up fast, but less so in the remainder of the campground. Walk a little bit farther and you'll likely find a cleaner portable. This campground is very tent friendly.

If you want truly incredible views, reserve spots 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 16, 17, 18. 22, or 23. All are on the outside edge overlooking the valley below. There are also deer that graze when the campground is quieter, and nearby access to a lot of hiking areas.

Pros: Reasonably priced, fairly quiet campground that is close enough to Furnace Creek w/out being in the thick of it. Great scenery surrounding the campground. Modern toilet/sink facilities and potable water.

Cons: Weird site designs - the site boundaries are not clear, so I had no idea which picnic table or fire ring belonged to my site or my neighbors because they seemed to be situated right on the edge of some of the sites. Almost no shade (which is a given), and the campground is very dusty covered in sharp edged cobbles. This is obviously not something they can control, but you'll want to keep it in mind if tent camping - definitely bring 1 if not 2 heavy duty tarps for under any tents, and I would recommend a canopy or awning of some kind. The oddest thing to me, however, is why they would go to the trouble of installing flush toilets and sinks, but not go one extra step and have showers. Even cold-water only coin-op showers would be awesome, and much appreciated at the end of a hot day hiking!

Given all of the above, however, I'd probably choose to camp here again if I was in the park. :)

All of the campgrounds in the valley are glorified parking lots, some more obviously than others. Texas Springs holds our favorite distinction, “No generators allowed!” This alone makes it worth the short drive up the hill, but it’s also got a little bit more charm than the open acres down the hill. The open sky makes it the perfect place to rely on your solar power as there are no electrical hookups here.  Within walking distance of the Visitors Center, the hotel, grocery store, gas station and restaurants, all contained in the Ranch at Death Valley, it’s a great base camp for your park adventures. 

The simple bathrooms have flush toilets and hand washing sinks, great dishwashing sinks with good tasting potable water are just outside of the bathrooms. The sites are stacked pretty tightly together, so there’s not a lot of privacy and there is zero, I mean zero, shade. All of the palm trees are down at the resort, but the scenery is all mudstone, sand and gravel, and it is lovely.  Climb up the hill a short way and you can see clear across Badwater Basin and Panamint Mountains to the west. Sunrise is as lovely as sunset. 

This is Death Valley afterall, so come prepared to set up a canopy but be careful of wind- we saw many shade structures destroyed and discarded in the dumpsters. Mobile service was pretty spotty, we had Verizon which seemed to have a good signal in the morning until more people woke up and then everything slowed down. Service throughout the park was pretty spotty. Showers (and use of the pool) and wifi are available at the Ranch for an hourly or daily fee. 

Biking, hiking and even golf are just a few of the activities available nearby, but pay attention to Park warnings about heat. Pets are not allowed on any of the trails and only allowed to be walked on roadways, because of the hot conditions found on some of the trails. We visited in February/March and found some of the canyons pretty uncomfortable, even that early in the spring.

Stayed at this campground in 2012. Mind you this was my FIRST real camping trip, I was utterly excited. The trail up to this campground is very rough. there was signs after the kilns for 4x4 only. However, we did see a little car mob up this road, like they had done it before. The road took us to just over 8,000ft elevation. Small campground, but cozy. Drop toilet close by that doesn't get serviced too often because of location. You could see telescope peak and the trail was just off the campground. Campsite had picnic table and a fire ring, thankfully. It was FREEZING when we went. Lets just say I was not prepared for how cold it was going to be. It got down to 12°F and lets just say I had just a "normal" camping sleeping bag. The view down to the valley was gorgeous. We hiked up a little ways.. maybe 3/4 a mile the telescope peak trail, then turned back. We orginally had come up to see something that was happening in the sky that late evening ( 1-2 am-ish), but by 9pm it was too cold to stay up, even with a fire going.

The campground was about 80% full which was surprising since it was pretty solitary out that way.

Free to camp.

First come, First Serve.

We camped here because it was one of only 2 NPS campgrounds with tables and fire rings and it was first come first serve. The campground was full both nights we were there. We arrived in the morning and were able to get two sites next to each other. The sites are very close together, so don't expect any privacy. If you are looking for peace and quiet and some stargazing, this place is not for you. People shining their flashlights all over, headlights turning on when they opened their car doors, people driving around after dark and headlights shining in our eyes. Totally ruined the stargazing. There was one car that kept coming and going in our loop. I finally realized that they were driving down to the restrooms. Too lazy to walk two blocks! Restrooms were clean and had running water. There is also a no generators rule. I would not return to this campground.

My brother and I stayed here in January 2022 and loved it! It was surprisingly chilly but the tent only loop was nice and peaceful with only a few other campers there. The restrooms (no showers) were clean and there’s a dish washing sink for camper to clean their dishes with. Camping was cheap (I can’t remember the exact amount but it wasn’t a lot). It was first come first serve though.

Each campsite has a fire pit and a picnic table. Sites are pretty level. There isn’t that much privacy which is to be expected since it is the desert. Either way, very nice campsite! I’d definitely come back