Death Valley Backcountry Roadside Camping

I like the Backcountry sites, but the reservation system has problems. There's no way to change the reservation once the time period has passed. If it was only the money I wouldn't care but there are limited sites, and it is unfair to others when last minute situations prevent one from using the site. I was prevented from coming at the last minute, and it makes me mad that nobody could use the site. This is not how most reservation systems work and you need to fix it!

Awesome camping alongside road. No water alongside road for camping use but that's to be expected. Overall great experience

Stayed in both Echo Canyon camp spots and Hole in the Wall camp spots. The roads are well-graded, and the camp spots are spacious and a nice distance apart. Highly recommend

Site C5 in Cottonwood Canyon was OK. Basically just a side drive plowed next to the road. Very rocky and gravelly - bring strong stakes. C6 and C7 farther up the Canyon about the same. C6 had a flatter area for tents than C5.

Downside of the reservation site and app - no GPS coordinates for any of the sites. They should include this to help decide how far up the canyon you want to go.

I stayed at Echo Canyon for a couple of nights, site E5. Nice gravel road, I didn’t feel the need to air down. I thought that E5 was one of the better sites as it was right outside of the mouth of the canyon and didn’t feel too out in the open like sites E1-E4. Sites E6-E9 were all inside of the canyon which felt a bit cold and claustrophobic due to limited sunshine and the steep canyon walls. Site E9 opened up a bit to a nice clearing. A few miles down the road was Inyo Mine, which is slightly interesting although the drive was really pretty. I forgot to mention The Eye of the Needle which is a neat rock formation, easier seen on your way back down the canyon. All in all, a solid place to camp, nice views, quiet (when I was there), and well taken care of with no visible trash around and easy to get to. I did switch over to 4 High as the gravel is pretty deep and I didn’t want to throw any rocks around while cruising around. There is a ranger that patrols the area checking reservations so I would advise against squatting at a site.

We camped in both Echo canyon as well Hole in the wall. All the spots are well taken care of and the solitude is perfect for a camp spot . The roads are maintained and the spots are well marked.

Great spot to watch the sunset and stargaze! So quiet and beautiful

I'm a big fan of these reserved sites in Echo Canyon. The campsites were semi-flat and spaced out about 1/4 mile from each other, giving you the peace of the canyon at night. Though it wasn't a lot, I do wish the night traffic would slow down.

Camped at H2 site, Hole in the Wall Road. Great location, nice views, not far from visitor center. Subaru Crosstrek handled road well. Fairly quiet location on weekend Jan/Feb.

Be advised it takes at least an hour from the main road to get anywhere near these sites. Although we do enjoy remote camping we did not realize just how far we were going and how difficult it would be for us to get in and out (our intentions while visiting were to see the key features of the park by day and sleep here at night). We ended up just staying one night and camping elsewhere so we would have better access to the main roads. If you plan to camp here and stay here, this is a unique area of the park that would be worth exploring. There really are no turn out spots and some areas are very narrow, so if you want to turn around, especially in a larger vehicle, you’re pretty much out of luck. Overall, a cool and very remote place but not what we had in mind for our first trip here/trying to see as much as we can.