Sawtooth Canyon Campground

Stayed one night here. Got there around 1pm on a Saturday and most of the 17 sites were taken (only 2 left). The largest group site was taken by Boy Scouts, and I would think that would be pretty normal for such type groups as it would support larger communal type campers. It is a very peaceful campground and only about 1 mile off the main highway. Cell (Verizon) service was good all day and dropped to no service at dusk until next morning, not sure why.

Hard to believe that this campground is free. We pulled in on Sunday and there were only 3 open sites. Lots of campers come here for rock climbing.

Each site had a picnic table with a patio and shade shelter. There is also a nice masonry BBQ and fire pit.

The campground is down a 1 mile gravel road. Part of it is washboard and a few ruts.

We had no problem fiting our 30' airstream into a spot. Would not recommend anything too much longer.

No water, no dump and no trash. There is a pit toilet.

This is a 14 day BLM camping area, a favorite of rock climbers. There's some good hiking and great views of Lucerne valley and Stoddard Valley on CA 247. I had Verizon 2 Bar LTE but no digital TV reception at my sight. Easy access. I stopped in the first large area and walked around for a compatible site for my rig. Weekends can be busy here. I stayed 6 days and enjoyed it immensely.
See my Video at: https://youtu.be/Lu-c-Zbs7CI

This place is amazing. My first boondocking experience in my new 2017 Forest River 2400S MBS RV. I came down highway 247. When the GPS (Google Maps) says to turn...TURN! :) Or you will miss it. The road looks a bit sketchy. I was like..hmmm what am I getting my self into. The first mile is a country road that is rough but nothing to bad. BUT! then out of nowhere you have white gravel road. Welcome to Sawtooth. It's amazing. I think there are 14 or 16 sites. Each with a cement padded picnic table, fire pit, and charcoal grill. Super clean. Restrooms for campers but no hookups at all.

Great hiking and climbing. Lots of rock climbers on the weekend. But hardly anyone during the week in the months of January and February when I was there. I went twice. Each time spending a week at a time. My dogs loved climbing and hiking. The views are amazing.

I have unlimited T-mobile phone,text,data and unlimited hotspot on my Samsung Galaxy Edge 7. To obtain service I would have to place the phone on the metal part of the window and if lucky I would get one bar of 3G service. If I climbed one of the rocks I would get at time 1 bar of LTE. However, when it was cloudy NO SERVICE at all. Even if I climbed the highest rock. That said I purchased a Weboost 4G-X OTR Antenna. With the antenna I would get 1 bar of LTE in the rig with 8mbs download and 2.5mbps upload.

Do be aware, we read the other reviews that had mobile service and it depends on what site you park in. Also AT&T and Verizon were both on what we only know to call a circle of signal. To us, that means we have signal in and out. Site 5 had zero AT&T signal. We didn't check our T-Mobile. We just assumed there was no signal for that.

It's so quiet here that your ears ring and it was mostly clean. Someone left quite a mess of their food at a site near ours. But otherwise it was clean. The pit toilet by our site was clean and we saw the ranger come by. They are looking for a volunteer Campground host. Maybe that's the job for you?

There was a solid hike right outside our door. 2,500 steps according to my iwatch. Fantastic view from the top.

We arrived in the dark of the night on a new moon and had no problems finding a site. There's also a large pull out next to the turn in off the road. If you needed to arrive at night in your 40 foot class A, you could stay there until morning.

This BLM campground is ringed with stunning jagged hills, hence the name "Sawtooth". You can hike to the top or do some climbing if that's your preference. We talked to some folks who were hiking up to meditate. Just a quiet spot with something other than a flat desert horizon.

Others have commented on the rude host. Well we were there in mid Nov 2016, there was no camp host but there was a sign advertising for a camp-host position.

Not sure I would stay here in Summer but it is great during cooler months.

We camped at Sawtooth Canyon Campground while en route from the pacific northwest to Mesa Arizona. After several nights at crowded and expensive RV parks we wanted to save some money and have a few nights of privacy and quiet. We found both at Sawtooth Canyon campground.

The campground is about a mile off of the highway and the access road is - as others have described - a bit washboarded. But by driving slowly it's quite doable for any rig. We arrived on a Monday night. There were about 4 other campers and no camp host. We picked our site for maximum privacy and settled in.

The area is between the Mojave National Preserve and Joshua Tree National Park. The canyon is surrounded with rocks that reminded us of Joshua Tree. If you like desert and unusual rock formations then this is a great place to stop.

Our site didn't have great Verizon cell reception. We had mostly Extended or 1-2 bars 3G service although there were areas at the north end of the campground where a 4G signal was available.

Our only complaint was that one of the vault toilets had been trashed the previous weekend but a BLM employee showed up Tuesday morning and cleaned it up. It may be a bit wilder in the campground on weekends than it was during the week. Overall we enjoyed our stay at Sawtooth Canyon and will definitely stay there again when we're in the area

Here's what you get - private sites, most with a unique setting amongst the various rock formations, and each site has a covered picnic table, a fire pit, and a waist high BBQ with a low grill. (You don't need a while bag of charcoal). The sites vary in that some are level and some, not so much, but all are clean and many have fresh crushed gravel.

Its quiet, scenic, and has all amenities a free campground can offer. I actually stayed in three different sites. When at # 6 & # 13, I had to drive down the road to get a cell signal, but #3 which faces Highway 247, the signal was actually very strong.

The road in is not clearly marked, you have to be alert. Its a washboard, but less than a mile, and once you get to the campground the roads are very good.