Black Rock Canyon Campground

I simply love Joshua Tree National Park. Endless hiking opportunities, helpful Ranger staff, and views to die for! If you've never been, you owe it to yourself to visit! I have been both a daytime visitor a couple of years ago, and this time as a camper. All campsites have a picnic table, fire ring, and a charcoal grill. Potable water is available at frequent intervals. There are also dumpsters scattered throughout the campground, as well as a dump station. Generators are allowed 3 times a day...from 7-9am, from 12-2pm, and from 5-7pm. Plenty of sunshine for your solar equipment too! Joshua Tree National Park is just a short drive away.

Black Rock Canyon Campground is a wonderful place to go camping. It’s family and dog friendly and very close to Joshua Tree National Park entrance (25min). There is also a visitors center on the campground with a pet-friendly shop. The bathrooms are clean and accessible and they have potable water taps. We loved camping out here. The highlight for this place is the stargazing at night. Definitely include that in your night plans!

The campground has seen better days. For a popular NP, it should be maintained with a better campground road, leveled sites, and bathrooms. There seems to be a lack of funding or low priority in maintaining a standard quality campground you would find elsewhere. Look at Organ Pipe Cactus NM, for example. There is no firewood for sale at the office, so you will need to purchase somewhere else. Unfortunately, this is a premium service that campers are looking for. As a camphost myself, I saw very little effort by the onsite volunteer camphosts. Riding a golf cart shouldn't be their only duty. Walking around the campground to pick up litter, rake the sites, and clean out the fire rings should be some of their expected duties. And the trail parking right at the main entrance should be prohibited!!! Try navigating a large RV between parked cars without hitting anything is a formula for disaster. The campground is also right next to residential homes. Not a place to camp if you're looking for solitude and dark sky. It's disconnected from the main park and requires you to drive to Joshua Tree to enter from the west side. There are other campsites within the inner park that would be better suited.

Nice little campground on the edge of the park. Could feel crowded when full, but we were fortunate enough to have a good portion of it to ourselves. Dirt roads of the campsite were still washed out after the previous week's storms, but I'm sure they'll take care of that soon. You may get more of a sense of being in nature at the campsites actually inside the park rather than on the edge, but you won't get the nice bathroom facilities with flushing toilets, sinks with running water, and drinking water stations. So if you're looking to enjoy camping but also enjoy some of the basic comforts of civilization, this is a nice compromise. Staff at the welcome station were friendly and helpful.