Cottonwood Campground (CA)

We tent camped one night. Nice campground. Bathrooms are clean. Water easily accessible. No designated tent pad site which was ok since it was not full, but could possibly have your neighbor close depending on where they set up. We did hear someone walking and standing close to our tent in the middle of the night. They left as we got out of the tent. Dark sky park which is awesome! No lights even in the bathrooms. You can see all kinds of constellations.

Easy to find. Clean and all amenities were pleasing.

Very friendly staff at the gate, restrooms were clean for a campground, overall great experience

We tent camped one night. Nice campground. Bathrooms are clean. Water easily accessible. No designated tent pad site which was ok since it was not full, but could possibly have your neighbor close depending on where they set up. We did hear someone walking and standing close to our tent in the middle of the night. They left as we got out of the tent. Dark sky park which is awesome! No lights even in the bathrooms. You can see all kinds of constellations.

Easy to find. Clean and all amenities were pleasing.

I have no doubts those leaving reviews about loud and rude neighbors are telling the truth. However, for our time, this was the quietest campground we've ever stayed at. This was during spring break and all sites were full, but it was so quiet after dark that when someone coughed about 5 sites away it felt jarringly loud. Almost complete silence. During the day there was of course the normal noises. We were able to sleep between the hours of 10pm to 7am without any issues of noise.
The bathrooms were kept clean. There's no mirrors or electricity in there, but besides these things was totally serviceable.
Trash and water were both easy to access. We drank the water without issue.
The sites provide easy access to hiking trails towards Cottonwood Springs.
Our site, 20B, was very close to the restrooms, a trash bin, and water. I was worried this would lead to some disturbance or smell, but nope, no issues at all.
Not all sites are great for tent camping, as there are a mix of bushes scattered around which reduce the space where a tent can fit, and some are not quite as flat as preferred in a tent. Most sites had an RV. I would recommend 20B for tent campers, we fit a 9x9 tent between 2 bushes, and we could have fit another slightly larger tent in a different spot, though it has a slight slope. This site has more bushes than many other sites which helps a lot at making it feel secluded. As of now, the site across from this site, on the outside of the loop, is not in use which means you aren't going to have an RV parked out there, unless they start using the site again.
If you did have an issue, we didn't see a ranger up there once (though I'm sure they do come through). No cellular service so, you'd likely have to head down to the visitor center during their open hours to try to get it resolved.
This shouldn't scare you, but you will find a lot of critters in or near your site. We saw desert recluse, scorpions, lizards, rodents, and snakes (including rattlers).

I have no doubts those leaving reviews about loud and rude neighbors are telling the truth. However, for our time, this was the quietest campground we've ever stayed at. This was during spring break and all sites were full, but it was so quiet after dark that when someone coughed about 5 sites away it felt jarringly loud. Almost complete silence. During the day there was of course the normal noises. We were able to sleep between the hours of 10pm to 7am without any issues of noise.
The bathrooms were kept clean. There's no mirrors or electricity in there, but besides these things was totally serviceable.
Trash and water were both easy to access. We drank the water without issue.
The sites provide easy access to hiking trails towards Cottonwood Springs.
Our site, 20B, was very close to the restrooms, a trash bin, and water. I was worried this would lead to some disturbance or smell, but nope, no issues at all.
Not all sites are great for tent camping, as there are a mix of bushes scattered around which reduce the space where a tent can fit, and some are not quite as flat as preferred in a tent. Most sites had an RV. I would recommend 20B for tent campers, we fit a 9x9 tent between 2 bushes, and we could have fit another slightly larger tent in a different spot, though it has a slight slope. This site has more bushes than many other sites which helps a lot at making it feel secluded. As of now, the site across from this site, on the outside of the loop, is not in use which means you aren't going to have an RV parked out there, unless they start using the site again.
If you did have an issue, we didn't see a ranger up there once (though I'm sure they do come through). No cellular service so, you'd likely have to head down to the visitor center during their open hours to try to get it resolved.
This shouldn't scare you, but you will find a lot of critters in or near your site. We saw desert recluse, scorpions, lizards, rodents, and snakes (including rattlers).

We had a nice camp night at the Cottonwood camp site with family. Though it was cloudy night, we had very good time and pleasant weather. The restrooms were neat and clean, less crowed. We love the Cottonwood Campsite.

We had a nice camp night at the Cottonwood camp site with family. Though it was cloudy night, we had very good time and pleasant weather. The restrooms were neat and clean, less crowed. We love the Cottonwood Campsite.

Great facilities. Friendly neighbors. Beautiful sunset