Parks Ranch Campground

New Sign on the side of the road right off the highway says trailers not recommeded pass it. The sign states camping is only allowed in designated campsites which are roped off with cable down by the loop near the caves which are also fenced in. Trailers and rigs are recommended to go to Sunset Reef Campgrounds or Chosa Campgrounds. The Ranger was making patrols to make sure new regulations are being followed.

Loved the site. It was very quiet and could not hear any noise from the highway. There are 2 areas to camp in. Both have a small area to park in and the camp areas are roped in with cable. One area has 2 fire/grill rings and the other has 1. Both area are dirt pads for tents. There are no trash cans or dumpsters. Pack it in, pack it out. No pit toilets, picnic tables, or shade structures. Make sure to bring everything you will need i.e. water, food, shelter, portable toilet, etc. Nearest town is Whites City 7 miles away with a small store and Wal-Mart is in Carlsbad 25 miles away.

We have been here for a few days and this time of year it's pretty quiet. We have had a few cars come by but not many. We did not have any problems getting our trailer in here but we have a trailer built for offroad. Be sure to bring plenty of water, the days are HOT and the nights are COOL.

Finding the road was a little bit of a challenge the first time. We made the turn onto the first road and then just followed the dirt road up to the the cattle guard (it looks like). The one turn that you can get onto the road is coming south, it's a small entrance right after road 418 (Washington Ranch Rd). The middle is dirt and you will need a high clearance vehicle to get over it. If you make the first turn (before 418), you can use the paved turn around and then make the right. This road will bring you to a gate, you are close, turn around and follow the small dirt road south, you will see the cattle guard and a left hand turn.

After going through the gate we turned left just before the no camping sign, and the right at the next fork. We quickly found a site plenty big for our 25ft travel trailer. We explored more the next day and found more sites beyond ours. There isn’t an ideal turnaround spot at the end of the road but could be done if necessary. The sites are well spaced out which we loved. This was our first boondocking experience and we were very pleased.

We ended up leaving right away. The road to this camp spot is long, rocky and surrounded by bushes and cacti on both sides. Nevertheless we made it all the way to this campground, hoping it will get better... At the end of the road there were just a few tight places where you could possibly fit a trailer, but it seemed that it would be quite a task.

The area was also very secluded, very dark with only one other trailer parked there. We boondocked in many other locations, but didn't feel very safe here

I wish I could have spent a little more time here. There are some cool caves although people told me of a rattle snake encounter.

The spots are not easy to find in the dark although on a holiday weekend I found one.

Great place to stay if hitting Carlsbad in the morning. Not great for huge rigs but my 2wd van was fine. I was kind of close to other campers.

Great open site along the gas pipeline ROW. Bug level: very low, a few flies. Beautiful scenery of Guadalupe mountains all around. There are a handful of great sites proximate to some caves to explore. We stayed on Monday night (memorial day) and were the only ones for miles around. Access was easy in dry weather with a 4x4, just a few minutes off the highway, but distant enough to not really notice any traffic noise. Middle of the night is dead silent. At&t phone mobile hotspot worked well for remote work in the morning with no issues.

Flat, bumpby roads but not horrible just some areas you should be extra cautious, place for tent camping, and lots of open road to drive back on. Great view of the mountains. Verizon: 50mbps upload and download. AT&T is here but much slower. I worked remotely all week with no issues. If it is raining or has rained that day BE CAREFUL coming in. Everything turns to clay. I lost all traction with my TT and slid everywhere. Really a mess. Everything else is gorgeous! I will definitely come back here.

DO NOT TAKE IMMEDIATELY LEFT BEFORE MILE MARKER 10 IF YOU ARE COMING FROM THE NORTH!!! Maybe in a high center offroad vehicle you can do it but it's not a paved cross over, you have to go past mile marker 10 and loop around at the next cross over Dillahunty Rd AKA County Rd. 424, you will see the blue sign in gold numbers. After you cross over, go till you see sign that says No Camping and take immediate left before it. and follow it down, you will come across a cattle guard that anyone can fit across. Take immediate right afterwards and it's dispersed camping all the way down. Anything over 30' I advise not to go past the sanctioned campground which is to left of the fenced in area.

You can hear highway noise sometimes not too bad, but the caves in the vicinity are fun to explore if you can fit or in shape. Nice solar gain out here during the day and gets warm, but cools off at night. Seems to be spring break so occasional groups of kids come through and gets bit rowdy at night.