Impromptu Backpacking in Joshua Tree: Every Campground Was Full
We headed to Joshua Tree on Easter weekend hoping to spend a couple of nights camping. We knew it would be busy, but we figured arriving around 9:30 in the morning would give us a decent chance of finding a campsite.
We were wrong.
After driving by campground after campground with FULL signs, it became obvious we were just a little too late. Every time we spotted a promising site, someone else had claimed it. We spent hours going through the park, watching tents go up and campers settle in while our chances disappeared.
There was one bright spot. Our favorite campsite at Belle Campground was occupied by a couple whose tag showed they were leaving the following morning. We stopped to ask, and they confirmed they'd be packing up early to head home to Northern California. We let them know we'd be back first thing in the morning, hoping to grab the site for our second night and they offered hold it if we got there early!
With the afternoon slipping away and nowhere to camp, we decided to change plans entirely.
Instead of heading home, we drove to the Twin Tanks Backcountry Registration Board along Pinto Basin Road. The parking lot was surprisingly busy, with groups hauling everything from pillows to coolers into the desert. We even saw people carrying firewood, despite campfires not being allowed in the backcountry. It wasn't exactly the Leave No Trace mindset we hope to see.
Since we'd planned on car camping, we weren't carrying our normal backpacking gear. We emptied our 30-liter hiking backpacks, loaded only the essentials, and accepted that this was going to be a very minimalist overnight trip.
Dinner became a couple of protein bars, and we packed a few liters of water, and, naturally, a flask of whiskey. We took one luxury item with us: our REI Flexlite chairs. The one piece of gear we couldn't leave behind was our oversized REI Relax Bed air mattress, which is not at all designed for backpacking. We had no other sleeping pad options, so it had to come along. It looked a little ridiculous, but it made for a comfortable night's sleep.
Most of the other groups headed east toward Twin Tanks, so we crossed Pinto Basin Road and walked west toward the Pinto Mountains instead, hoping to find a little solitude from what looked like potential chaos the other way.
We found a quiet spot tucked among the rocks. We were over the required backcountry camping distance from the road and trail, set up the tent, inflated our comically oversized mattress, and spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the area before sunset.
One of my favorite parts of backpacking has always been how simple everything becomes. As the sun dropped toward the horizon, we sat on the rocks with our improvised dinner, watching the desert slowly change colors.
Once darkness settled over the desert, the silence was remarkable. The night was wonderfully quiet. We crawled into our sleeping bags earlier than usual, played a word game on our phones until we were laughing so hard we could barely keep score, and eventually drifted off under a sky full of stars.
We woke with the sunrise, drank chilled cans of espresso that had cooled overnight, packed up camp, and headed back to Belle Campground.
True to their word, the couple was packing up when we arrived! We filled out our campsite tag, then wandered over to a nearby boulder with breakfast and hot coffee while they finished loading their car.
With our campsite secured for the second night, we spent the rest of the day exploring dirt roads in the Subaru and searching for wildflowers. Joshua Tree put on an especially colorful spring this year, and wandering the back roads turned out to be just as enjoyable as anything we'd originally planned.
That evening, we settled into our campsite for the kind of classic Joshua Tree night we'd been hoping for all along: hot dinner over the fire, s'mores, a couple of beers, and a relaxing evening beneath the desert sky.
Looking back, I'm glad the campgrounds were full. If we'd found a campsite that first morning, we never would have enjoyed one of our most memorable nights in Joshua Tree's backcountry.
