National parks are phenomenal vacation destinations and a great place to bring your home on wheels. But when you do, some challenges are inevitable. Navigating a park’s curvy interior roads can be tricky, and campsites are astonishingly narrow for modern RVs. In Southern California, two neighboring parks perfectly illustrate the range of accommodations for RVers: Death Valley and Joshua Tree. One is more RV-friendly than the other, but both offer an unforgettable camping experience.
RVing Below Sea Level in Death Valley
If a destination were judged by name alone, few of us would trek to Death Valley. But the 3.4-million-acre park’s dramatic geology and scenery make it irresistible. Where else can you have breakfast at 282 feet below sea level and end the day with a brilliant sunset hike at 9,000 feet? Death Valley National Park has all the hallmarks of a great RVing destination:
* Extraordinary landscapes
* 300 miles of well-maintained main roads
* Spacious parking aprons in RV-friendly campgrounds
* Food, fuel and other basics like dump stations
* Dozens of day-trip options
Two great campgrounds for RVers in Death Valley are found at Stovepipe Wells and Furnace Creek. Both are centrally located base camps for exploring the park.
Stovepipe Wells
The bare-bones Stovepipe Wells campground can’t compare to the majestic Panamint Mountains off to the west. But what Stovepipe Wells lacks in scenery it makes up for with accessibility and convenience. Stovepipe’s gravel campsites will fit virtually any size of RV. You can also choose between inexpensive NPS dry campsites or pricier full-hookups at the concession-run Stovepipe Wells RV Park. On hot days you’ll be especially grateful for optional guest access to the adjacent swimming pool and restaurant. If you’re driving an RV under 25 feet overall length, consider trekking to Wildrose Campground. About an hour south of Stovepipe on the scenic Emigrant Canyon Road, Wildrose is a free off-grid destination just for tenters and compact RVs. Nestled on the flanks of a craggy mountain that climbs 9,064 feet, the stream-side, remote spot is a first-come, first-served summertime gem. As a bonus, Wildrose even has potable water, vault toilets, and picnic tables.
Wherever you camp in Stovepipe Wells prepare yourself for cell phone withdrawal. The only area with connectivity is 30 minutes away in Furnace Creek, which is why it’s an ideal next destination.
There are several options for RV camping at Death Valley National Park/Rene Agredano
Furnace Creek Fun
Furnace Creek is Death Valley’s oasis. You’ll find camp headquarters, the Death Valley Visitor Center, various RV camping options, and many attractions accessible to most automobiles including Harmony Borax Works, Artist’s Drive, Dante’s View, and Badwater Basin. When you branch out from your Furnace Creek campsite to explore more of the park, you’ll find that many scenic drives are best done with a passenger vehicle. The narrow and curvy Artist’s Drive is strictly reserved for autos, and while Dante’s View is one of the most dramatic overlooks in the park, you don’t want to make the ascent with anything larger than a pickup truck. The good news is you can trek to Badwater Basin in your RV—tour buses do it all the time, and a parking area provides ample turnaround space. If you’re coming without a tow vehicle, don’t worry. Just book a rental at Farabee’s Jeep Rentals in Furnace Creek and you can go nearly anywhere in the park.
Official REI Coupons and Rebates page
Furnace Creek has four RV-friendly campgrounds, all close to the Furnace Creek Ranch Resort. Confused about where to reserve a spot? Here’s how they differ:
* Furnace Creek Ranch Resort Fiddlers’ Campground: This private campground is the costliest but in return offers convenient, resort-type amenities.
* Furnace Creek Campground: RV-friendly NPS campground with pull-through sites, full hookups or dry camping and pretty desert scenery.
* Sunset Campground: Bare bones dry camping in a large NPS gravel lot with the longest generator-use hours in the vicinity.
* Texas Spring Campground: The best campground views in Furnace Creek make this a popular choice for small to mid-sized RVs but you can’t run your generator.
All Death Valley campers are welcome to enjoy the Furnace Creek Ranch Resort’s convenience store, restaurant and Laundromat. You can even cool off in the resort’s spring-fed swimming pool with a $5 day pass. Enjoy a few days of easy living in this green oasis, then get moving to your next destination, Joshua Tree National Park.
The Harmony Borax Works ruins are just a short drive from the Furnace Creek campgrounds/Kurt Repanshek
More Epic Journeys at Joshua Tree National Park
Just four hours from Death Valley and two hours from Los Angeles is the colossal 800,000-acre desert preserve known as Joshua Tree National Park. Situated at the confluence of the Mojave and Colorado desert ecosystems, Joshua Tree’s proximity to L.A. makes it a popular destination any time of year.
Soak Your Cares Away
If you drive a tiny RV, camper, or popup trailer you won’t have any problems squeezing into any of Joshua Tree’s eight picturesque campgrounds. Those of us with larger RVs (about 18’ and up) will have an easier time by sticking to any of the three most RV-friendly campgrounds in the park. Black Rock NPS Campground is the most accommodating for larger RVs, followed by Cottonwood and Indian Cove. If you’re a hiker, you’ll love the many panoramic trails originating in Black Rock and Indian Cove campgrounds.
After settling into your campsite, get ready to explore Joshua Tree’s varied and vibrant landscape. Start your journey on Park Boulevard, the main scenic drive that showcases some of the best attractions between the west and north entrance stations. Bring a picnic lunch and spend your afternoon enjoying the park’s moonscape geology and biological diversity. The nicely paved main road is easy for RVers to maneuver, and has pullouts interspersed along the way. Unfortunately, you won’t be able to veer too far off the main road—most RVs are too large for the tight turns and narrow roads leading to epic park destinations such as Keys View and the 18-mile-long Geology Motor Tour. They’re worth exploring though, so be sure to grab a rental car in Yucca Valley or Twentynine Palms.
RV camping in America’s national parks isn’t always easy or convenient. If you want the predictable experience of asphalt camping in franchised campgrounds, perhaps camping inside the park isn’t for you. But if you don’t mind preparing for unexpected surprises, you’ll find that Death Valley and Joshua Tree make memorable vacations like nowhere else on the continent.
Rene Agredano is a full-time RVer who lives and works from America's most scenic spots. Since 2007, she's been roaming America's backroads with her husband and three-legged dog, while chronicling their adventures at LiveWorkDream.com.
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Comments
A couple of comments about Death Valley:
Last time I visited DEVA, gasoline at Stovepipe Wells was something like 20 cents a gallon less than at Furnace Creek. And after a very forgetable Christmas dinner at Furnace Creek, someone who lived and worked in the park told me that there's a different concessionaire at Stovepipe and food service there was much, much better.
So even though the campgrounds at Furnace Creek are probably a bit more inviting, don't overlook Stovepipe.
And I'll definitely second the recommendation of renting a Jeep at Farrabee's. Even though I have a 4-WD truck, I thought it worth renting a Jeep from them rather than risk a blown tire on the Racetrack Road. They run 8-ply tires and mine were only 4-ply. Chunks of chert in the road gnaw their way through tires. Working with them was a real pleasure.
Imperial Valley is fantastic for a winter vacation or getaway