Jumbo Rocks Campground

Stayed for the weekend on our tents!!! The place is just awesome!!

There weren't lots of campers around and we had enough privacy, so we felt like home!

The kids played hide and seek at the rocky environment and they truly enjoyed it. If you have kids, bring some proper shoes with you because the rocks can get steep at some point.

It was great and it will become our destination next year as well.

Totally cool place to camp. You feel like you are in a different world. Great for star gazing and rock climbing.

This is a first-come first-served campground so you might need to drive through it a few times to find a spot that works for you and is available. For our size of trailer the only sites that worked were "parallel park" style along the main road through the campground. Obviously this cut down on our privacy out one side of the trailer. However, we had lovely privacy out the other side facing the rocks!

We found a lovely labyrinth a few hundred yards from the campground that was very picturesque and meditative.

This campground is a great jumping off point for many of the drives and hikes in the park.

We did not have Verizon cell service at this campground (or really anywhere in the park other than Black Rock Canyon Campground).

We stayed at Jumbo Rocks over Spring Break and arrived the Thursday after Easter Sunday. A few days before arriving we called the park ranger who suggested that we arrive no later than 10 AM for our best chances of getting a spot. We arrived at Jumbo Rocks campground by 9:20 AM and finding a spot was a mad frenzy! We pulled into the first spot we saw and as my husband drove off to back-in the trailer other campers were trying to take our spot! However, once we (and fellow campers) were settled-in the campground is absolutely beautiful and very peaceful. There are beautiful boulders to climb, amazing trails to hike, and magnificent sunset views. Additionally camp fires cast a magnificent glow off the nearby rocks. By Sunday at noon the park was completely empty and very quiet. We will most definitely return especially during a non-holiday week/weekend and will purposely arrive on a Sunday. We did not have cell service in Jumbo Rocks but were informed of various hot spots about 4 miles away.

This was a camping trip for us, so we were in a tent not the RV. We went on a Thursday afternoon and had a few choices of spots. It's first come, first served, so you have to drive around looking for spots. We noticed at least one tag left on a post that was old. So, if you see a tagged spot with nothing in it, I would double check the tag to see if it's old. Friday morning, while we were making breakfast, we had non - stop inquiries as to whether we were staying or leaving.
The spot itself was great, right next to the rocks with a picnic table and fire ring. Pit toilets were nearby. Lots of space to go exploring and the night sky is incredible.

On a February mid-week day, the campground looked quite full. Only after driving around did we realize most yellow tags were outdated! So make sure to check the dates if you think a site you like is taken. There is A LOT of variety in the spots. The ones with large, flat parking spots seem to fill up fast with RVs and trailers. We did end up choosing and really liking site #124. CONs: it is the last site on the way out, right by the entrance, so you do get the traffic going in and out. PROs: large flat parking spot for our van, which blocked the view from the road and along with the giant rocks surrounding the site, gave us privacy. No one on either side (site #123 is dinky and probably last to be chosen). The fire pit is right up against a rock face so it feels secluded and we enjoyed sitting by the fire listening to the coyotes howl. Overall, a great campground in the center of the park!

This is the campground everyone comes to when the other smaller ones are filled up (like us). There aren't very many big rig spots, our size rig (27') was one of the biggest and a few of the loops are a bit tight to drive through. The sites can be right next to each other or separated by giant boulders. If you need multiple sites you could get some awesome combined sites.

Being that it is a bigger campground there are a lot of people coming and going. We had a lot of people passing our rig so close that their jackets would get dirty from our dusty rig. So it was nice to have a little free cleaning but I got worried about scratches.

There is NO cell service in the park. NONE. If you need to get on the internet you'll have to drive to the visitor center or into town.

The campground connects to the "Skull Rock" trail and has big boulders all around to explore. One can't really complain while camping in the heart of Joshua Tree!

I would say this is the best site in the campground! Our truck and camper fit perfectly into the pull off and behind us on 3 sides were hillsides. So we had a very private and quiet spot. However, we were there on a busy holiday weekend and there was a continual parade of cars driving through the campground. It was quite relentless, continuing into the night, when there were at least a dozen cars driving through after midnight. I think this would be a 4 or 5 star during the week. There is cell service 4 miles down the road toward Cottonwood.

***RV CAMPING REVIEW!!!***
We pulled into this National Park on a whim in October of 2016 on a Sunday afternoon, and were directed to Jumbo Rocks campground by one of the rangers. We have a 32ft fifth wheel and a long bed truck, and headed in through the West Entrance Station (we were driving eastbound on the I-10 and we followed the signs for Joshua Tree NP, which took us to the West entrance, when we left we drove down all the way through the park an exited at Cottonwood Springs, which you could just as easily enter through as well). It’s a bit of a drive and the map they give you is a hair confusing - but just stick on the main road until you see the signs for the campground. There are a TON of sites in this spot and the views are AMAZING!!! The map they give you doesn’t actually show you the layout of the campground but everywhere you go does eventually end up a loop or circle, so figure you can drive around for awhile and find the perfect spot without getting stuck (there are a lot of gorgeous sites). There were also a lot of other smaller campers and tons of people in tents!

It did take us awhile to find a spot that would fit our entire rig (we eventually settled in site #71) and wow are we glad we decided to stay. We barely fit into this spot though, so if you’re bigger than we are you may want to look into Cottonwood Springs (the RV specific camping area which you can reserve ahead of time online some months of the year for $20/night). This is a first-come, first-serve campground where you can’t reserve anything ahead of time. Jumbo rocks costs $15/night (make sure you have exact cash as you will put your money in an envelope at the front of the campground, and a pen to fill out the envelope with) gets you an amazing view with a fire pit and no hook ups, it was worth every cent! They have some pretty stinky pit toilets, no showers and no water. It was so quiet in the park, it’s a big enough area that there you can walk all over and see so many gorgeous rocks and views.

Skull Rock Hike also begins right in the campground with amazing views and a fairly flat walk (we wore our daughter on our backs and it worked great). Lots of pavement for bike-riding, huge rocks to climb and a lot of fun areas to explore. Amazing dark skies and night filled with stars under a campfire made this campground one of our favorite spots to go, we are already trying to plan our return trip! I highly recommend it here!!

Check out our video RV Reviews here:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKmZqsaeydzPKNgZ3ilx_gA

Stayed here about 5 yrs ago, what a magical place and on my list of places to return to. Don't recall the nightly cost, but not expensive. No hooks up etc, strictly boondocking from what I recall. We seriously lucked out and got a sweet spot at the very far end of the campground. It's first come first serve here, best advice is to arrive mid-week. Campers were driving through all day and late into the evening looking for sites ... it's VERY popular, be warned.