Campvue

Reviewed: Oct 12, 2025

4 out of 5

Campvue here. I usually call out my yellow tent, seen above, to show I actually spent the night at a campsite and am qualified to give you my opinion. I stayed here in early June, when the daytime temps get into the 90's, but the evening temps are cool enough to make the stay enjoyable. And if you watched the whole drive thru, note the campground was pretty empty, because this is considered outside the popular season. Unlike many sites here, which are walk-in style and very close together, site 118 is a little more private then most here. It's actually very close to other sites, but the granite rocks act like barriers to give you privacy. But, there is a site mere feet behind the rocks behind my tent, for example. If the rocks were not there, it would be pretty awkward. That said, the rocks are what make this place. They create much needed shade at various times a day, and are just fun to camp next to. And of course, much desired privacy. In fact, on my last night, I had a quiet couple in a camper van take the site behind mine, and I never heard a peep. I loved site 118, and it seems best for tent campers. It would be hard to park a wide vehicle at this site without partially blocking the road though. There is also a vault toilet very nearby. This is both convenient, and a little offensive to the nose, depending on which way the wind blows. I don't know what it is about the vault toilets in Joshua Tree, but they stink more than the average in my experience. Sometimes modern ones have virtually no odor. Not here. But, it was a very occasional smell you might briefly pick up, and for the most part, stink was fleeting. There are many vault toilets in this campground, so it'll be pretty hard to find a site outside the range of occasional odors. Also, Joshua Tree is a little different than many National Parks when it comes to campsite amenities. Jumbo Rocks, as with most of the campgrounds in the park, is very light on amenities. A lot more than most National Parks we have stayed at. At Jumbo, all you get are a fire ring, picnic table, and vault toilets. No drinking water is available for example. So best come with all you need, or else you'll kill an hour or two driving to and fro for the nearest options. These are not meant to be deterrents to camping here however, but I want you to know these things. This is an awesome and unique campground, near many popular attractions in the park. You could say the campground itself is somewhat of an attraction with the monzogranite the campground is built into. I had a ton of fun and a very enjoyable stay, but I do predict, when crowd levels are heavier, Jumbo Rocks has the potential for challenging stays, especially if you shack up next to inconsiderate groups. That said, site 118 is one of those that will help reduce that risk, if not in terms of noise, than visual privacy. I can recommend it, think it's a fantastic site, but can't give it 5 stars due to some of these factors. Remove the occasional stink and privacy concerns, and this would be a 5 star site all day long. If anything I said scared you, consider visiting slightly outside of peak season like we did, and enjoy the place with very few people, if you can accept the tradeoff of warmer daytime temps, which I'd argue are still reasonable at the higher elevation this part of the park is located at.