Black Rock Equestrian Campground
5Heads up5 fires, nearest 20 mi
- Right now
- Taking bookingsSites offered on 30 of the next 30 nights read 16:43 UTC
- A night
- $35From, per site
- Sites
- 211 on recreation.gov
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 12 notices
In the agency’s own words
Download the NPS app prior to visiting the park – trail maps and more! Black Rock Horse Campground is strictly for campers planning to bring horses or mules . It lies among one of the thickest Joshua tree forests in Joshua Tree National Park. Its location on the park's northern perimeter makes it a popular rest stop for horseback riders . Reservations are required for Black Rock year-round. To get the most out of your visit Plan Like a Park Ranger Travelers who enjoy warm, dry winters flock to Joshua Tree from October through May, when temperatures hover between 70 to 90 degrees during the day and drop anywhere between 40 to 60 degrees at night. Summer is the park's off-season due to uncomfortably high desert heat. Black Rock is at an elevation of 4,000 feet and has a mix of both sun and shade. Keep reading
Recreation
Equestrians will enjoy the variety of trails around Black Rock for day rides, including some with spectacular views of the low desert and high peaks around Palm Springs.
Facilities
The facility is convenient for RV camping, complete with flush toilets and a dump station. There are no hookups. Black Rock is one of two campgrounds in the national park that provides drinking water. Showers, laundry and other amenities are available in the town of Yucca Valley five miles away.
Natural Features
The unique shape of Joshua trees and the huge rocks that surround them draw tourists and scientists alike to the national park. Within the Black Rock facility, the surrounding trees form silhouettes against the landscape during sunrise and sunset and display bunches of blooming white flowers in early spring. Campers staying at Black Rock may have the chance to view the elusive desert tortoise, found only in the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico. Visitors may also want to keep their eyes out for more typical desert inhabitants such as lizards, rattlesnakes, scorpions, coyotes, ravens and desert tarantulas during the cooler months of the year. Bobcats and mountain lions do live in the park, however they are rarely seen near humans. Birders may also be pleasantly surprised at the variety of species found around the campground. Contact Info This location is staffed. Please call (760) 367-3001 to speak with local staff.
What the agency tells you
Download the NPS app prior to visiting the park – trail maps and more!
Visitors MUST have horses to camp at this facility; if you arrive without horses your reservation will be forfeited and you will not receive a refund.
Reservations are required year round and can be made the same day or up to 6 months in advance.
Everything else this campground posts · 9
No-Shows Overnight Facilities: A no-show customer is one who does not arrive at a campground and does not cancel the reservation by check-out (noon) time on the day after the scheduled arrival date. Staff will hold a campsite until check-out time (noon) on the day following the arrival date. A $20.00 service fee and the first night’s recreation fee will be deducted from any refund for unused nights. *Note: the entire reservation will be cancelled for no-shows.
This campground has shared hitching posts, fire pits, picnic tables, a water faucet and dumpster. There are 4 - 12x12 stalls available on a first-come, first-served basis. Please continue to be prepared with your own portable corrals or trailer-tie. Restrooms and dump station are available in the adjacent family campground.
For specific campground questions call 760-367-3001. For additional park information visit www.nps.gov/jotr.
Access into the main portion of the park is via the California Riding and Hiking Trail. Access by vehicle requires a park entrance fee of $30 in addition to the camping fee. Passes can be purchased ahead of time here
Generator use is permitted only from 7–9 am, noon–2 pm, and 5–7 pm.
Pets are not allowed on trails but are welcome in the campground, on any dirt road or within 100 feet of any road. Pets must be on a leash no more than 6 feet long at all times. Pets may not be left unattended or tied to an object; leaving pets in unattended vehicles is strongly discouraged – especially on warm days.
Don’t Move Firewood: Prevent the spread of tree-killing pests by obtaining firewood near the park and burning it on-site, and do not use park vegetation, living or dead, for fuel.
All organized events require a special use permit and must be held in designated areas; contact the Special Park Use Coordinator, jotr_permit_office@nps.gov.
FIRE BAN fire restriction are currently in effect that prohibit charcoal fires, wood-burning fires, and charcoal grills. NO Fires! Only gas or propane stoves are permitted. Starting June 1st, ending October 1st of every year.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 21 · 21 equestrian
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 35 ft
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
Facilities
- Toilets
- Flush Toilets
- FLUSH TOILETS on 1 of 21 campsite records
- Drinking water
- Yes
- DRINKING WATER on 1 of 21 campsite records
- Dump station
- Yes
- Stay limit
- 30 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- Hiking
- Ranger programs
- Visitor center
- Wildlife viewing
- Night sky · 1078th darkest of 1,201 in CA
- Bortle 4
2 of 2 site-nights open this Friday and Saturdayread 16:43 UTC
recreation.gov lists 1 of the 21 campsites the agency files here. The rest aren’t on its booking system, so a reservation won’t get you one.
OpenBooked
Watch for a cancellation
Full? Watch it.
One email when a night opens, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We read recreation.gov once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time a site in your window is free for the nights you asked for.
Scanners that check every few minutes exist, and most of them charge. This one is free, it reads the same calendar, and it won’t always be first.
We make nothing when you book. The link goes straight to the government.
Every line of the receipt · 12
What you actually pay
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rate for this season, $35 a night, plus one $8 recreation.gov reservation fee for the booking. A weekend here means Friday and Saturday night, booked once. Optional charges (an extra vehicle, a second tent, a dump-station fee) are listed separately and aren’t in this total.
Who keeps the booking fee
The agency’s own policy text says the reservation fee and the cancellation processing fee are “retained by the reservation service contractor”, and that a campground concessionaire will decline to refund them because “they did not receive these fees”. Recreation.gov is run under contract by Booz Allen Hamilton. What share of your booking fee the contractor keeps isn’t published in any federal dataset we can read, so we print no number for it. Our reporting on the contract →
How we know this receipt · 5
recreation.gov availability, read 16:43 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
21 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 20 mapped sitesAll 21 sites
The price is derived by CAMPANAC, not published per site: the per-night rate this campground publishes for each site’s own site type. 21 of the 21 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| Horse Sites | Equestrian NonElectric | equestrian nonelectric | 35 ft | $35 | ||
| Horse Sites | H01 | equestrian nonelectric | 20 ft | 3.2 mi | $35 | |
| Horse Sites | H02 | equestrian nonelectric | 26 ft | 3.2 mi | $35 | |
| Horse Sites | H03 | equestrian nonelectric | 21 ft | 3.2 mi | $35 | |
| Horse Sites | H04 | equestrian nonelectric | 23 ft | 3.2 mi | $35 | |
| Horse Sites | H05 | equestrian nonelectric | 21 ft | 3.2 mi | $35 | |
| Horse Sites | H06 | equestrian nonelectric | 23 ft | 3.2 mi | $35 | |
| Horse Sites | H07 | equestrian nonelectric | 23 ft | 3.2 mi | $35 | |
| Horse Sites | H08 | equestrian nonelectric | 23 ft | 3.3 mi | $35 | |
| Horse Sites | H09 | equestrian nonelectric | 21 ft | 3.3 mi | $35 | |
| Horse Sites | H10 | equestrian nonelectric | 23 ft | 3.3 mi | $35 | |
| Horse Sites | H11 | equestrian nonelectric | 20 ft | 3.2 mi | $35 | |
| Horse Sites | H12 | equestrian nonelectric | 24 ft | 3.2 mi | $35 | |
| Horse Sites | H13 | equestrian nonelectric | 21 ft | 3.2 mi | $35 | |
| Horse Sites | H14 | equestrian nonelectric | 23 ft | 3.2 mi | $35 | |
| Horse Sites | H15 | equestrian nonelectric | 21 ft | 3.2 mi | $35 | |
| Horse Sites | H16 | equestrian nonelectric | 24 ft | 3.2 mi | $35 | |
| Horse Sites | H17 | equestrian nonelectric | 23 ft | 3.2 mi | $35 | |
| Horse Sites | H18 | equestrian nonelectric | 22 ft | 3.2 mi | $35 | |
| Horse Sites | H19 | equestrian nonelectric | 21 ft | 3.2 mi | $35 | |
| Horse Sites | H20 | equestrian nonelectric | 22 ft | 3.3 mi | $35 |
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Black Rock CampgroundJoshua Tree National Park · 0.0 mi
Indian Cove GroupJoshua Tree National Park · 13 mi
Hidden Valley CampgroundJoshua Tree National Park · 14 miMission Creek PreserveSand To Snow National Monument · 14 mi
Indian Cove CampgroundJoshua Tree National Park · 14 mi
Ryan CampgroundJoshua Tree National Park · 15 miTake Interstate 10 to Route 62 into the town of Yucca Valley. Turn south on Joshua Lane and follow signs to campground, about five miles from the turn.
If coming south on Highway 247, go straight across Highway 62 and continue onto Joshua Lane. There will be no sign for the park as you cross Route 62.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Yucca Valley, CA
Typical weather
Typical October night 50°F, day 80°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical December night 34°F. Bring the bag rated for it.
Daily high and lowDays with 0.10 in or more
A normal is the 1991-2020 average for the month, not a forecast: about half of all Julys are colder than the July line. The seven-day forecast above answers the other question.
The land, and who answers for it
what threatens it · who answers for it
What threatens this place
You’re camping on ground somebody wants. We track the threats and the comment deadlines.
Who answers for this land
Black Rock Equestrian Campground is in California’s 23rd congressional district. Its representative, Jay Obernolte (R), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: F. See every public-lands vote →