Palm Springs-Joshua Tree KOA

We stayed over President's Day Weekend with our 3 GRANDs. We had a double wide back-in site. The receptionist at the desk when we arrived at 7:50 was GREAT! She only had 10 minutes left to her shift but your wouldn't have known it by how pleasant she was to work with. It was extremely easy to get into the site because the roads are wide and we didn't need to maneuver around other coaches. There were activities all day long, all weekend. The kids loved the pool, the bounce pad, the climbing wall, etc.

Stayed for three nights, location allows for east travel to Joshua Tree and Palm Springs. The community surrounding the park is a bit sketchy but the park itself is secure and feels safe. Staff were helpful and friendly. The pool and hot tubs were well maintained. Very dog and kid friendly, lots of family activities and amenities. However, if you aren’t traveling with pets or kids, neither are bothersome. We will definitely return when in the area next.

Let me say that I consider this one of the best KOA's here in SOCAL. I have stayed in Visalia, Temecula, Ventura, Santa Margarita, and consider this one of my favorites. The preferred sites are basically two sites in one and is very spacious. T-Mobile is strong in this area. The site is well maintained and staff very friendly. And the location is close enough to visit Palm Springs and Joshua Tree. As a result, I have stayed here (3) times and have had an awesome experience in all.

The only negative I see is that their sewer hole is a bit elevated on the preferred sites. I have to somehow raise my sewer hose up towards the end of it just to dump my tanks. Its a nuisance, but not a deal breaker.

Stayed in mid-Nov 2022
Site type: Back-in, FHU 50 AMP. Site 142

THE GOOD
Site 142: Was one of the largest sites we have ever had after 100+ campgrounds (not all are reviewed here yet). The KOA seems to have combined 2 sites into one in this row (ex: 142 also included what once was also 141).
Site: There was also really nice privacy hedges between sites on the sides (partial length of the site) and behind (full width of rear of the site).
Staff: Very nice folks and really helpful.
Location: Fairly close to Joshua Tree NP.
Grounds: Clean and nicely maintained!
Office/Store: Some basic needs available.
Cell: Both AT&T and Verizon were good.
Amenities: Playground, mini golf, pickle ball courts. Gas fire pit with at the site with propane filled and ready.
Noise: Fairly quiet campground, even though it was generally full for the time we were there.

THE BAD:
Odor: There was a really strong smell of grey water at the campground. It went away for a bit and came back. It may have been someone dumping. However, we have stayed at enough campgrounds to know if it is normal dumping, or a bigger location-specific problem.

WORTH NOTING (not good or bad):
Sites: The sites are all gravel. No grass.

The park is windy - they even have a sign saying “Yes, it is always windy” right on the office counter. The whole area is windy though which is why there is a huge wind farm with hundreds and hundreds of windmills about 10 miles away. We enjoyed seeing those! This park has amazing views of the mountains all around and is landscaped with cactus and plants. There are some activities to do in the park. I booked it seeing that it was close to Joshua Tree National park, but be aware that it is actually nearly an hour to any of the park’s entrances. Most sites are pretty normal sized, but we got one of their 90 foot patio sites which was really nice. (Sites 65-70) Plenty of room on both sides of the RV and we could park our truck in front of or behind the RV. We had packages delivered from Amazon and they texted me when they arrived in the office and held them for a couple days since we couldn’t get back before the office closed.

The park is windy - they even have a sign saying “Yes, it is always windy” right on the office counter. The whole area is windy though which is why there is a huge wind farm with hundreds and hundreds of windmills about 10 miles away. We enjoyed seeing those! This park has amazing views of the mountains all around and is landscaped with cactus and plants. There are some activities to do in the park. I booked it seeing that it was close to Joshua Tree National park, but be aware that it is actually nearly an hour to any of the park’s entrances. Most sites are pretty normal sized, but we got one of their 90 foot patio sites which was really nice. (Sites 56-70) Plenty of room on both sides of the RV and we could park our truck in front of or behind the RV. We had packages delivered from Amazon and they texted me when they arrived in the office and held them for a couple days since we couldn’t get back before the office closed.

We don’t usually stay at large RV resorts like this unless we have a specific reason to be someplace, like visiting nearby family or touring a city. One of the reasons we bought a smaller, high-clearance camper like our R-Pod is to be able to camp in state or national parks or to boondock. But the Palm Springs-Joshua Tree KOA is absolutely one of the nicest large, corporate campgrounds we’ve discovered in our travels.

Our original plan was to stay here for a single night en route from the Bay Area to Tucson. We arrived well after dark, so it wasn’t until the next morning that we realized how spacious and semi-private our site was, and how nice the facilities are. Our original site was one of the larger ones, with a (fully provisioned) propane fire table that we lit up for morning coffee. Sitting there, enjoying the view of the nearby snowy peaks, we decided to stay another night after doing some day hikes in Joshua Tree National Park.

The friendly folks in the office weren’t able to get us into the same site, but put us in one right across the road. We didn’t use any of the amenities like the hot springs, pool, or mini golf, but certainly would enjoy them if (when?) we return for a longer stay. Everyone else we interacted with—especially the work-camp crew doing site maintenance—was also super pleasant to talk to.

Only (minor) negative was that the campground is a bit out of the way for both locations advertised in its name: Palm Springs and Joshua Tree are each a 30-60 minute drive. So if your goal is to maximize time in one of those particular locations, you might want to consider a different campground, such as one in the park itself. But if you need full hookups or want to split your time among area destinations, this is a great choice.

We stopped here for an overnight stay while traveling from California to Arizona at the end of September. Early fall must still be considered the off-season, as there were very few RVs in the campground and the pool facilities were not available. There is a gate house at the entrance to the campground with an exit gate on the left; turn right and head to the end of the road to check in at the office.

The campground has a variety of pull-through and back-in RV sites, tent sites, and cabins. We stayed in one of the extra long patio pull-through sites, which gave us more than enough space in the front and back. The entire site was gravel, which was true of most of the sites, and very level.

Most of the amenities are located at the front end of the park. The pool and hot tubs are enclosed in the courtyard of a building containing showers and restrooms as well as laundry, meeting, fitness, and game rooms. There is a playground for kids next to the building containing the office and the store, and across the street from the playground is a mini-golf course where balls and clubs are available next to the first hole. In the same area but a little further into the campground, there is a pair of pickleball courts and a decent-sized basketball court with opposing hoops. There is another building with a laundry room and restroom and shower facilities near the back end of the campground, and there are several dumpsters and recycling bins in various locations.

There are two separate adjacent dog parks at the front of the campground with a gravel and dirt surface. The line of tall pine trees next to the parks on the west side provide welcome shade in the afternoon. There is not a lot of shade in the park, and the near-constant winds that blow through the area are an impediment to deploying awnings, so I’m guessing RVs that stay here in the summer get quite warm. On the other hand, the lack of trees means you have fairly unobstructed views of the surrounding hills.

Given our one-night stay, I only did one speed test with my Verizon Jetpack with MIMO antenna, which told me I was getting 46Mbps down and 21Mbps up, and we had no problem streaming video. The one speed test I did with my AT&T phone showed only 7Mbps down and 1.5up.

We would stay here again if we were in the area.