Review Detail

It is difficult to review this campground without comparing it to Agave Gulch FamCamp at Davis-Monthan in Tucson, AZ. Both are located in a southwest desert setting but the similarities end there. Start with the check-in and registration process. At Agave Gulch, a modern registration office is located at the campground with ample parking for large RVs and is staffed by two camp hosts that provide information about the campground and the local area. They provide brochures, newsletters, pamphlets, and maps and are ready and willing to answer your questions. At Twentynine Palms, registration is done at the desk of the Temporary Lodging facility about 3/4 of a mile from the campground. No RV parking is available. You must use the parking lot of the commissary or the Home Store several hundred yards away. Campground management is a collateral duty for the folks at the registration desk – they are lucky if they can keep track of which sites are occupied and which sites are vacant. Access to the campground is about 1/2 mile off the main road down a dusty gravel road. Or you can try to find your way through the housing area. Campsites are on dirt – not gravel. Thankfully, it doesn’t rain much here or the site would be a muddy mess. But the wind blows a lot and the dust flies. Like an increasing number of military campgrounds, this one has a large population of active duty personnel using it as temporary housing and the campground has the appearance of a trailer park and not a pretty one either. There are no facilities in the campground. The laundromat is 2.5 miles away. There is no bathhouse, no picnic table, no fire rings – this used to be a mobile home park before it was converted to a campground. Other than being near the north entrance to Joshua Tree National Park, there is nothing nearby to attract visitors. One the positive side, most sites have cable TV. Large level sites. Paved interior roads. Most sites have a concrete parking pad, a carport, and a storage shed left over from the days as a mobile home park. The place seems to be popular with the snowbirds. If you have ever been to Agave Gulch, the comparison with this place is like night and day.