In addition to chronicling our adventures, I thought I’d make this blog a bit useful as well. And so this begins a series of campsite reviews for the places that we are camping. We’ll start with Black Rock Canyon Campgrounds, in Joshua Tree National Park, California.
Of course for a review to be useful, it’s got to be conducted along some sort of metric, it needs to be accompanied by photos and it needs to be personal. I’ll only review campsites that we stayed in for 2 days or more, so that in fairness we stayed long enough to get a general sense of the place.
Metric
Here is the grading scale and criteria that I’ve developed for these reviews. Scored from a 1 to a 5, with 1 being the lowest performance and 5 being top notch. The criteria will be as follows:
- Cleanliness – The state of cleanliness of both the individual campsites as well as overall grounds.
- Location – Location of the overall campgrounds, and the individual campsite where we stayed.
- Amenities – Picnic tables and individual fire rings in the campsites? Any other amenities for general use by the campers, such as a pool, laundry, general store?
- Facilities – How were the bathrooms and other facilities for use by the campers?
- Noise/Ambiance – Noise level, general atmosphere of the other campers and the camp hosts.
- Overall – Based on the other criteria and a general sense of the camp experience, an overall rating.
Are there any other criteria that would be helpful to you in a campsite review? Please comment below to let me know!
So, with this in mind, here is a review of the Black Rock Canyon Campsite in Joshua Tree National Park, California:
Black Rock Canyon Campsite, Joshua Tree. We stayed in this campsite for 3 nights with Ryan’s parents, so we occupied two campsites – #s 90 and 93.
Cleanliness: 4
The campgrounds were very clean and our individual campsites were also pretty clean, though there were ashes remaining in the fire pits from previous campers. Not a big deal in my view, but some may prefer that they were cleaned out. I saw no trash floating around and there were plenty of trash and recycling bins for people to use, as well as large trash bins in the bathrooms so that there is no reason for any trash to be anywhere but in those bins. The campsites were dirt and gravel (as are most it seems), so that leads to some dirt and dust in the tent or camper, but that is much to be expected in a campsite, particularly one in the desert!
Nice, clean bathrooms
Location: 4
Black Rock Canyon campground is located in the very north part of Joshua Tree National Park, close to the town of Yucca Valley. It is tucked behind a neighborhood so that you wind your way away from the highway via a road that takes you through the lovely homes to get to the campgrounds. The location of the campground is convenient both to explore the northern part of Joshua Tree National Park, and also to be able to stop in town for anything you might need – a hot meal at one of the restaurants in town, a stop by the grocery store or Wal-Mart, or any other errands you may desire. In particular I would recommend stopping by The Jelly Donut for a homemade donut (yum!), and if you want a big diner breakfast for very little cost, John’s Place can’t be beat. [Beware the HUGE portions at John’s!]
Donuts from The Jelly Donut!
The location of our individual campsites (#s 90 and 93) was really fantastic and I’d recommend them. They were on the outer edge of the campsites, so that while we had campers next to us, there was nobody behind our campsites and so we had beautiful unobstructed views of the desert and the Joshua Trees. It was also less noisy because we were not surrounded by other campers.
View from the front of our campsite
There is a hiking trail that starts from the campground itself and from the cars parked nearby seems to be a popular hiking trail. We didn’t make it on that one because our days were tied up in the Park itself, but it’s a nice option to be able to go on a shorter hike right from your campsite.
Amenities: 3.5
There is a fire pit in each campsite as well as a concrete picnic table. While we were camping, the winds were too high to have a campfire outside and to eat our meals out under the stars, unfortunately. So we cooked our dinners on the stove top in Ryan’s parents’ RV. If they weren’t there, we probably would have sucked it up and eaten outside, but we were quite happy for the option to eat inside. Especially when, during one dinner as we sat at the little dinner table inside the RV, warm and toasty and enjoying our wine, we glanced over at the campers next to us who were huddled up in their jackets at their picnic table, with their hoods cinched up, hunched over trying to eat their food in the raging wind. And for sure that will be us in the near future, but at that moment we reveled in luxury (relatively speaking of course!).
Firepit – ashes were from previous campers.
The campsites are not very private – there is no foliage between the sites, so each of the campsites mostly blends in with the next. Everyone respected other campers’ space, but we could all see everything that was happening in everyone else’s camp.
Our picnic table, and looking to the campsite next to ours (#91)
Facilities: 3.5
The bathrooms were close to our campsite, which was helpful, and they were spacious and clean. The women’s restroom had three sinks and a large countertop, three big stalls, a large mirror and lights that came on at night. Running water, flush toilets (with TP) and a light at night make for a happy camper. Someone had thoughtfully left some hand soap and that was even better. There were no dryers and no showers, so it wasn’t total luxury, but in the scheme of campground facilities, it trended towards nicer.
Bathroom facilities
Noise/Ambiance: 4
We thought this campsite was so lovely. It was very quiet for us – which may have been helped by the fact that we were at some of the outer campsites. I overheard a woman in the bathroom complaining about a group of teenagers being quite noisy – they must have been on the other side of the campgrounds. We did see a couple group campsites and those of course would be noisier than single campsites, so if you are looking for some peace and quiet, I’d recommend sticking to the outer sites and away from the group sites. The only noise we noticed was the howling of the wind and the chirping of birds in the morning. Everyone observed the quiet hours in the campsite quite nicely, and there was a park ranger patrolling every so often on a golf cart to make sure everyone complied with the rules (which warmed my strict rule-following little heart so much!).
Other campsites down the lane
Overall: 3.8. I’d definitely recommend a stay at the Black Rock Canyon Campground! Note that when we stayed here, it was VERY windy. I don’t know whether it is always windy in that location, or if we happened to stay during a windy period, but it is something to consider and look into if you are planning a trip to Joshua Tree. And also I recommend a visit to Joshua Tree – see my thoughts here and here!
Bonus – Dogsitting! Joshua Tree National Park allows dogs, but only within 100 feet of the paved roads and not on any of the trails. Which basically means that you can drive through the park with your furbabies but can’t take them out anywhere. With this in mind, I found a wonderful woman to watch our furbaby two days while we were in the Park exploring. The Blue Barn Ranch is a private ranch just north of the town of Yucca Valley and the owner, Kathi, was as sweet as could be when I called up to see if they had room to watch our little darling Coconut. The next two days, we dropped her off around 8am and picked her up in the evening around 6pm. She had a lovely stay at the Blue Barn Ranch, making friends with the owners and making sure their laps were nice and warm (she is the master lapdog!). She might have even met one or two of the horses at the ranch – Kathi boards and trains dogs and horses! The cost was $17 per day of petsitting, which we thought was very reasonable given that she was with Kathi all day. We are also used to San Francisco prices for everything, and you couldn’t get someone to watch your dog for even an hour for only $17! So the Blue Barn Ranch was a steal! Coconut even got her 15 minutes of fame and was featured on their Facebook page. I highly recommend Kathi at the Blue Barn Ranch to watch your little furbabies while you explore the Park.
Coconut was Blue Barn Ranch’s little office helper!
Black Rock Canyon Campground
Blue Barn Ranch
BY Jackie
LOCATION Black Rock Canyon Campsite, Joshua Tree National Park, California
