Cottonwood Campground (CA)

I’m an extremely dissatisfied Recreation.gov customer. I decided to book Cottonwood campground for the following night. I made the booking a few minutes before midnight. Immediately after I booked I noticed it had booked for the date of booking, not the next night. There were only 5 minutes left on that date and I was many hours away!!!
I immediately tried to change the booking date to the correct date. Not only did Recreation.gov want to charge me a $10 change fee, it would not give me any credit for what was already charged. So it would have cost me not only a regular night fee but an additional $10. What a colossal rip off.
I just lost the original fee and decided to end my losses there instead of trying to correct my mistakes.
I am dissatisfied because there is a “change reservation “ option that only allows you to pay way more than just doing a new booking. What an absurdity!!!! Don’t give the change reservation option if one will not only be able to change it by paying Much More than if booked as a new date.

It was very windy especially at night. Lovely wide open space, I really like the ground texture. It’s a fine gravel and it’s not dusty at all. Only issue is tent stakes need to be driven deep to anchor the tent in high winds. Quiet at night and great view of the stars if the moon and clouds cooperate.

It was very windy especially at night. Lovely wide open space, I really like the ground texture. It’s a fine gravel and it’s not dusty at all. Only issue is tent stakes need to be driven deep to anchor the tent in high winds. Quiet at night and great view of the stars if the moon and clouds cooperate.

Thank goodness I was camping in my small car! The parking area at my spot was not very big, but it worked fine this time. Bathroom was clean. I highly recommend hiking the peak there. The presentation by the Ranger about plants on both deserts was enjoyable and very informative. And it was a good spot to look at the stars.

Great campground with desert scenery and clean flush bathrooms.

Thank goodness I was camping in my small car! The parking area at my spot was not very big, but it worked fine this time. Bathroom was clean. I highly recommend hiking the peak there. The presentation by the Ranger about plants on both deserts was enjoyable and very informative. And it was a good spot to look at the stars.

Great campground with desert scenery and clean flush bathrooms.

Nice site! Be prepared as there are no showers or nearby places to restock on essentials. No cellular service which can be great to disconnect with tech during your visit, but not ideal for safety reasons out in such a desolate location. The fire rings don’t appear to be well maintained, ours was almost full to the top with ashes. Cottonwood is the furthest site away from main attractions of Joshua Tree so it’s a good place to get away from crowds.

This site would have gotten five stars but there were several guests who didn’t understand how to abide by the generator use hours.

Nice site! Be prepared as there are no showers or nearby places to restock on essentials. No cellular service which can be great to disconnect with tech during your visit, but not ideal for safety reasons out in such a desolate location. The fire rings don’t appear to be well maintained, ours was almost full to the top with ashes. Cottonwood is the furthest site away from main attractions of Joshua Tree so it’s a good place to get away from crowds.