Painted Rock Petroglyph Campground

Visited this quiet campground in mid January, 2024. Easy freeway access; paved roads until reaching campground. Campsites - some back in, some pull thru. Reserve /register through Recreation.gov, so plan on paying reservation fee regardless. Small area of Petroglyphs, but many drawings on individual boulders. Clean and nearly new vault style toilets. Bring your own water, as none is available in campground. No dump station. A few off road trails nearby. There is a host site but unoccupied during our two stays. Great sunset views. The campground is in typical flat desert with mountains surrounding it. There are animal feed/dairy operations a few miles away but we only saw a few flies around, probably because of cooler temperatures.

Overall a good place to stay in an area with limited public camping opportunities.

Great spot for one night. We don't do much dispersed camping. Large enough sites so we don't have to unhook. The bonus of have the petroglyphs to check out is fun also. Didn't realize that you cannot just come in anymore. You have to make a reservation. So glad we had made one ahead of time just for the fun of it.

Great spot for one night. We don't do much dispersed camping. Large enough sites so we don't have to unhook. The bonus of have the petroglyphs to check out is fun also. Didn't realize that you cannot just come in anymore. You have to make a reservation. So glad we had made one ahead of time just for the fun of it.

A wonderful spot, fantastic vistas and large sites. The only complaint is that even though all the sites are reservation only, a lot of the sites do not have a permanent reservation only sign on the site number post. The signage at the main entrance is also very poor, with small notes that these are reservation only sites. There are clips on the site post which leads one to think that if the site is taken there would be a piece of paper hanging there, like in most other parks with reserved sites. We were fortunate in that no one took our site, but it could easily happen. If you show up and someone is in your site, what then? There are camp host sites but we never saw a camp host in 5 days. I think Recreation.gov needs to address this. It should be pretty easy to put up better signage at the main entrances and on the site signs.

A wonderful spot, fantastic vistas and large sites. The only complaint is that even though all the sites are reservation only, a lot of the sites do not have a permanent reservation only sign on the site number post. The signage at the main entrance is also very poor, with small notes that these are reservation only sites. There are clips on the site post which leads one to think that if the site is taken there would be a piece of paper hanging there, like in most other parks with reserved sites. We were fortunate in that no one took our site, but it could easily happen. If you show up and someone is in your site, what then? There are camp host sites but we never saw a camp host in 5 days. I think Recreation.gov needs to address this. It should be pretty easy to put up better signage at the main entrances and on the site signs.

Quiet, out-of-the-way place to camp for a while. Reserve ahead of time. No walk-ins. Trash dumpsters and pit toilets. The petroglyphs are worth seeing. Clean, easy RV or tent camping.

Quiet, out-of-the-way place to camp for a while. Reserve ahead of time. No walk-ins. Trash dumpsters and pit toilets. The petroglyphs are worth seeing. Clean, easy RV or tent camping.

Great site for a laid back weekend of geocaching and easy hikes. We will be back.

Great site for a laid back weekend of geocaching and easy hikes. We will be back.

LOTS of space between sites, very clean vault toilets, calm and quiet in January 2024 for us….. Would stay again if in the atea