Wildlands Conservancy | Established Campground

January 26th, 2024 by kaelan.young

Beautiful preserve with a small camping area. Free for up to 3 nights with direct access to dog friendly trails, unlike many other trails in the area. Saw a lot of Bighorn Sheep! There are a plethora of picnic tables, clean bathrooms, and potable water. Be sure to leave a small donation if you can to help out the Wildlands Conservancy that runs the Whitewater Preserve and 24 other preserves.
There are no services, pack in what you pack out.

November 26th, 2023 by abbi.dempsey

Closed indefinitely due to road damage from flooding

June 4th, 2023 by Blake king

We stayed here two night and it was aweosme! Free, well manicured, great shade during the day, and great bathrooms! They also had pottable water and encouraged us to fill up our van before we left! You can only stay 3 days per month, but free!

March 27th, 2023 by chrissnguyen

Incredible place! Hard to believe it us all free to use. Beautiful grounds, friendly staff, clean bathrooms, gorgeous scenery with a variety of trails to spend your day hiking. The Pacific Crest Trail is nearby too and we met a group of thru-hikers to chat with. We spent 2 days here, wish we could have stayed a 3rd but the weather forecast caused the park to close the next day.

February 10th, 2023 by Lady Ferns

Free. 3 night max. No cell reception at all. 10 mins drive out of canyon for cell reception. Only works for tent/van or super small RV that can fit in one parking spot when unhooked with tow vehicle in another. Would Advise to make reservations before hand. Gate is only open from 8 am - 5pm to the public. Must be there before gate closes to check in, once checked in you will receive the code to come and go as you please. You basically park in the lower parking lot. And if you have a tent you can set that up in the meadow with lots of picnic tables available.

Potable water available, 4 flush toilets. Garbage for campers ONLY, and can be used only after hours. Visitors to park must pack in and pack out. No fires, smoking or alcohol. Dog friendly (on leash at all times).

February 4th, 2023 by briana9823

Amazing free campground. Trails around it are beautiful, and there’s gardens and water features on the grounds. Only 2 other tent campers and a few RV’s stayed. I got there at 4:30 and got a space. There was a ton of day visitors leaving, as the gates close at 5. Dumpster available for after hours use only. You can stay 3 consecutive nights a month for free. Gas stoves only.

December 2nd, 2022 by andrewdboggs

As others have said this place is incredible. Beautiful oasis in the canyon. Rolled up at 4:30, park ranger was incredibly friendly, gave us a spot, the code to exit the gate and let us know we could even fill our water tank if we wanted. Stayed one night and hiked the trails. Only downside is zero cell service (even with weBoost). can't believe this is free.

November 10th, 2022 by peterkozlik

Free. Reservations advised: we could only spend one night because they where all booked up for next night (Veterans Day). You do need to register at the Ranger station and get a slip for overnight parking/camping! NO swimming or dipping in the ponds🙁. Wading pool only.

July 1st, 2022 by ace4van

As previously mentioned, the preserve is open from 8am to 5pm. I spent one night there and I had the whole place to myself (they give you the code of the lock to open the gate if you need to leave early). Really beautiful place. Amazing hiking trails and access to the river. The toilets are super clean. Highly recommend this place.

May 16th, 2022 by lunastravelstories

You need to arrive before 5pm, otherwise the gate is closed

May 10th, 2022 by jackie.ricc

Got there at 6pm and the gates were closed, it looked like there were people camping but they were locked in for the evening. Gates said 8am-5pm. The canyon is really beautiful but it looked like they were very strict about no overnight parking on the road in from the i10. We drove out to desert rose collective campground 20 mins north instead

March 20th, 2021 by waltbx

Great place. A wildlands conservancy with three beautiful ponds plus a wading pond. Trail hooks up with the Pacific Crest Trail, crosses a stream several times, and is a pleasant hike. We did not see anyone camping. This is about 15 miles west of Palm Springs, CA., about 7 mi off the interstate on an easy paved road.

January 30th, 2020 by /blogs/66827

Only short RVs or vans here. They will turn you away. You can stay a maximum of three nights per 30 days for free, but donate!

It was only me and an RV for both nights. Extremely dark and quiet. Zero cell service. Clean bathrooms, potable water and great trails.

The far end of the parking lot kind of stinks like sewage so better to park away from there.

November 6th, 2019 by lee.myrah

It is open. And, being a Wildlands Conservancy preserve, it is indeed free - donations gladly accepted on site.

Otherwise, as described. Really cool place. The road in looks very recently repaired - so, yes, it's now open.

The camping is really for tents, but the campervan is in the parking lot with picnic tables very handy. No hay problema.

NPR at 89.3.

May 11th, 2019 by leschouaucanada.blog

This place is permanently closed.

May 6th, 2019 by KK

Whitewater Preserve is temporary closed for road repair (severe damage from storm Feb 2019). Hoping to reopen by September.

April 26th, 2019 by seekseekerfinds

This place is permanently closed.

January 8th, 2019 by roamingabout.com

Only tents and vehicles <19'. Can stay up to three nights per month. Reservations are required. No hookups, generators prohibited. Need to arrive by 4:30pm. Google their website to call for reservation.

October 21st, 2018 by angieamitrano

You must’ve just gotten really lucky guy above because I just tried this place and I got shut out. They said you need a reservation and it is not free.

June 24th, 2018 by paolocattaneophoto.com

amazing spot to spend the night or take a dip in the little creek. free to camp. super clean toilets. potable water. just incredible really. not too much space to park big rigs.