Joshua Tree South - BLM Dispersed

Right off Rt 10 near the South Entrance of Joshua Tree National Park is tons of free BLM camping. 

Easy access. Lots of spots. You can drive into the park about 5 miles to the Cottonwood campground to dump tanks and fill your fresh water. 

You can hear the highway in the distance.

We turned off I-10 then took the third left. Right near the road, there were lots of RVs, but after driving about a mile down a fairly washboarded dirt road, we found a spot beside a hill that was secluded and quiet. We never heard the traffic and were close enough to enjoy hiking the park. We felt safe. The winds were gusting to about 40 mph our whole stay, but locals said it's not usually that bad.

The map directions for the coordinates for this particular spot lead you to a soft/wash type road. We got stuck in sand and had to pay $475 to get towed out. Go up to the spots closer to the entrance on the west side of the Cottonwood Springs.

If you’re driving towards the park from the freeway, we parked on the left side of the road. There were plenty of other people and it felt like a very safe site just outside the park! The ground was pretty soft and it didn’t get too cold overnight. Easy to access and lots of space.

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.

absolutely incredible views, in my opinion better than the park itself! easy road and so many open spots + so many cool people

Really convenient if you’re in Joshua Tree. The sunset was a 10/10. Very quiet, but we went in July so it was miserably hot. There are fire circles scattered throughout each site. Cell service for xfinity was great. Very nice quiet night

Stayed 1 night in this easy to access free area near entrance to the National Park. No fee required to camp here. Was not busy at all end of March. Fire Rings randomly throughout. Verizon 5G works great here.

I arrived at 5pm and already almost all spots were taken. I campt on the second site from the road leading to and from the National Park and there was a lot of traffic on it in the evening and well into the night. 

No facilities but good cell service.

No shade at daytime, it got hot quickly and at 7am almost everyone was gone already.

Lots of spaces and possible to find one that is secluded if you go far enough off of the main road. Some freeway noise but good views and great sunsets. Near access to wildflowers in the spring. One of my favorite spots in this area

Stayed here end of February / March. TONS of open spots. Was able to camp as much distance from anyone else as you’d like. Had one day of rain and wind but the rest were perfect! Also only about 30-35 minute drive from civilization. Great stay I would definitely recommend.

Can get pretty windy at times but other than that, can’t complain. Plenty of spots around for everyone. RV’s, travel trailers and some tent campers here while I stayed. Great AT&T. T-Mobile was just good enough to get me by for work. Close to Joshua Tree NP entrance, and a gas station and diner not too far away if you don’t want to drive into Coachella/Indio.

Pros: Super convenient for going to the park. Roads to get out here were very passable. Washboard in places but doable with any vehicle. There’s tons of space. We were here in early December and there were ample sites. It’s also FREE! That’s always a Pro right? Cons: There’s a bit of road noise as you’re pretty close to Interstate 10. And well….you’re pretty close to Interstate 10 so it’s not the most visually appealing place to camp. There’s also big power lines that go thru the area. They aren’t terribly bothersome either but again, not the most picturesque

I was surprised how fabulous this place is because it’s not even 5 mins from the I-10 and 2 mins from the Joshua Tree South Park Gate. I extended my stay here as a Nomader coz it was safe and comfortable.

Pros: Clean, quiet, fire pits, sites are spread out. Unreal sunrise and sunsets. Dog can roam free safely. No through traffic or passerby’s.

Cons: (these aren’t my cons, but it may be for some people so I thought I’d point them out) Slight noise of the I-10. Honestly tho, I slept without earplugs and couldn’t even hear traffic. There’s a slight traffic white noise during the day, but I’d rather hear that than some busy BLM peoplely spaces or dirt bikes etc.. It’s also under and close to hydro towers. But I chose a spot a few hundred feet away and it doesn’t bother me.

Unlike the Joshua Tree north BLM, this BLM area is calm and relaxing. Maybe it's because rather than a wide open lake bed it's individual huge pulloffs where you can sort of feel like you have your own space. There were so many people here when we were here in mid November, including a bunch of atv people, and yet everyone was respectful and quiet (everyone around us anyway).

Be aware of the patchwork of BLM land here, and watch for signs marking borders prohibiting camping.

We stayed here almost two weeks, and most days were pretty windy. Guess that's the norm here.

Good cell reception.

Finding a flat spot is pretty impossible, as the whole area is on a slope from the park down to hwy 10.

Great place, tons of spots. Keep going and people will thin out.

We use this on our way to Quartzite. Easy off and on. Traffic noise is fairly bad. Quite a lot of space. Box Canyon across the highway is better

This site has plenty of parking but come early and be careful because it’s easy to get stuck out here. It’s pretty quiet but does have a lot of traffic and is a popular place to camp! We loved it.

Absolutely love staying just outside the park. Easy access to some beautiful trails and you can easily fill up with water, dump out, and use the garbage from your vehicle. We met some other really friendly travelers and had a couple nights of campfires together. Sunsets and sunrises were incredible and even though you’re just off the highway you don’t hear any noise. Only 40 min away from Indio to pickup groceries - I recommend WinCo.

Just outside Joshua Tree NP, and just a mile or so from I-10. I-10 is close enough so you can see the traffic, but far enough that you can hardly hear it. Lots of space. Lots of established camp sites with fire rings. The west side has more sites, closer together, better roads. The sites on the east side are more spread out, but some of the roads have softer sand in areas. The land is mostly flat, but not level. It slopes about 3° towards I-10.

Pulled in at dust to find dirt roads out into the desert shrubs. Road at times rough, but manageable. Had a beautiful sunset, evening star gazing, and sunrise undisturbed. Awakened with about 2 dozen other campers spread out over the mile I could see. Just couldn't pass up the price.

This site had the Best sunset view! Enough privacy in general but not a lot of privacy when it comes to peeing. So I’d bring a pop up privacy tent or something like that! Haha. Our site had a fire ring and was large enough to set up a couple tents!

Great place to stay free while exploring Joshua Tree. Southwest facing so you can spend a little more time in the park during winter months since it is a decent haul back down to the Cottonwoods.

We used this area for a single night getting back to AZ. Worked fine for that. Would also work to access Joshua Tree but would rather stay in the NP. It is quite a distance to get to good hikes in Joshua Tree.

Loved it. Lots of good spots. Got a little Windy in day two… Highly recommend

This was a good place to stay when Joshua Tree campgrounds were full. Plenty room to space between other campers. At least 30+ other RVs when we stayed. Everyone was quiet by 8pm. Easy access outside park.

It was clean, there are fire rings, you are spaced out from neighbors, but I don’t know something just felt off in my gut.

Pros: free, existing fire rings. Cons: too close to the freeway (feels like people were pulling in here to do shady stuff), sky is polluted with light from Indio/Palm Springs.

I would recommend this place to anyone really nice place and lots of space just a lot of trash please take your trash with you!!

Great land. Warm, but beautiful scenery.