Lake Cahuilla Recreation Area

This is the best kept secret in area! Good sized sites overlooking the reservoir nestled in the hills for a great price. There is usually a spot available and if not there is great dry camping spots adjacent that are always available for $20. We have stayed here several times. Most sites have power and water. Good dump station. Great staff!

Stayed here for 2 nights in January while visiting a friend in the area. We were only there in the morning and after 7pm. Sites were well-kept. There were only a few people at the primitive sites; they had a nice view of the lake. Bathrooms and shower were clean but older. I was disappointed to hear gunfire until 8:15, after dark, from the range across the lake. And the site we had was near the access road; there was road noise from trucks and cars at 5:30 am! Despite that, I’d stay again; there’s not many reasonable options to camp in the area.

You might like the views of the mountains or the reflection of the clouds off the lake surface or appreciate the convenience to places where you'd like to go, but as far as the campground goes, it is, objectively, ugly. Barren, with little green (and even what is green isn't really green), and absolutely no privacy. It's a dirt parking lot in an oval—more akin to the private "resorts" that cynically pack customers in like sardines.

The only area of the campground where it's even possible to have a modicum of privacy are the bumpy, uneven, and more barren "primitive" campsites, which are just randomly located places you stop wherever you want in a big open lot.

When it's windy, you have no protection. When it's hot, you have no protection. When it's cold, you have no protection. I don't doubt that this is helpful in a pinch, for a quick overnight, but this is absolutely not a campground you'd want to stay in.

I want to leave a review to clarify some of the other bad reviews that almost made us not stay here!!***

Mainly the gunshots? Yes you can hear gun shots in the distance sometimes but it is by no means horrible or loud we were concerned that it would bother the dogs and they would be scared or that it would be loud and annoying but you can barely tell that it is a gunshot and it’s very muffled in the distance though you can hear it. We did not hear anything in the camper and we’ve only heard it two times.

Someone also said it is an ugly park with terrible Views surrounded by ugly neighborhoods. I don’t know what park they think they stayed at but that is certainly not the case here you can see by the photos it is a very pretty park there are prettier of course but by all means we thought this was very pretty and it is in one of the richest neighborhoods in Palm Springs area so not sure about those comments either. We got a weekly rate which was 185 for seven nights which comes out to $26 a day great deal for power and water hook ups! There are only two sites within the park site number 28 and site number 30 I have full hook ups including sewer and those are almost never available it is pretty much empty here during the week and maybe a third full on the weekends in the winter

We used this campground as a base camp to visit local attractions. Park has a lake that you can fish in, but no swimming or boating as it is a water source for the local town. Not a lot to do in the park, you can walk around most of the lake, but not all the way. There is a picnic area with a playground and pool. The pool was not open during our stay. Water and Electric only, dump station in the park

Stayed here for a week before a reservation closer to Palm Springs. Nice local park less than half full when we stayed. Easy arrival with nice helpful rangers. The park is about 30-40 minutes drive from most of the shopping, restaurants, etc but you get great views, large spots, electric and water (depending on the site) for the best price in the area. Heard the gunshots but it's not because the area is unsafe in any way, just close to a firing range. ATT & T-Mobile worked well for video calls.

I don’t know about you, but the mix of a shooting range and camping just don’t mix.

For Riverside County Supervisors to cow tow to the Sheriff’s Dept. need to put an outdoor shooting range up against the desert mountains so it echos’ throughout the facility, not to mention the surrounding housing is appalling. Riverside has 5 such outdoor facilities, how many do you need. It is not a “pistol” range as advertised but a full on automatic weapon range, It is HORRIBLE! I carry a CCW permit in over 40 states, so I am not anti gun my no means, but please, screw your head on straight Riverside and put this range in the desert, you do have lots of that.

The review that called this park ugly is not accurate. It is the desert. There are trees at every site. Everything was clean and well maintained. We stayed one week for a total of $210 while attending a conference at the Hyatt where the rooms are $360 a night. We had full hookups. However there are only full hookups at 6 host sites. Site 66 is one of them right on the water edge. It had a lovely view with the water and mountains and you could see the big horn sheep that had come down to eat the grass. Only bummer you are not allowed to swim in the lake water. Fishing only! There is a beautiful pool but it was empty because of Covid.