Indian Cove Group
2Heads up2 fires, nearest 32 mi
We don’t think it should be. Every campground should hold some sites for whoever drives up.Tell your representative →
- Right now
- Taking bookingsSites offered on 28 of the next 30 nights read 14:12 UTC
- A night
- $40From, per site
- Sites
- 13All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 9 notices
In the agency’s own words
Download the NPS app prior to visiting the park – trail maps and more! Indian Cove Campground lies amid the huge, steep rock formations for which Joshua Tree National Park is known. Because of its proximity to many rock climbing routes, it is a popular camping location for climbers. Indian Cove Group is one of three group campgrounds in the park that can be reserved 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 70-90 degrees during the day and drop to a 40-60 degree range at night. Summer is the park's off-season due to the uncomfortably-high desert heat. Indian Cove is at an elevation of 3,200 feet. Keep reading
Recreation
Rock climbers flock to Indian Cove Campground for the variety of routes and warmer temperatures that can be found in the interior of the park. Several hiking trails also leave from the campground. There is a short interpretive nature trail and plenty of rocks for the non-climber to explore within the facility. Clear desert skies are perfect for star-gazing and night photography.
Facilities
This facility has 13 tent-only group sites ( link to individual sites ). There are no hookups or drinking water in the campground, however water and an emergency phone are available two miles away at the ranger station. The town of Twentynine Palms is less than 10 miles away and provides basic amenities. The maximum number of people and vehicles per site varies. See Site Details for specifics.
Natural Features
Campsites are nestled on a flat, sandy surface between large boulders that tower in unique shapes over the campground and rise up from the otherwise uniform desert landscape. The rocks were formed by volcanic activity millions of years ago and have been exposed and shaped by wind and water over time. They brighten with soft pastel hues during the morning and evening sunlight and glow with campfire light by night. Visitors may want to keep their eyes out for typical desert inhabitants such as lizards, rattlesnakes, scorpions, ravens, squirrels 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.
Charges & Cancellations
Individual Site: A $10.00 service fee will apply if you change your reservation. Cancellations more than 48 hours in advance of arrival date incur a $10 cancellation fee. Within 48 hours of arrival, a $10 cancellation fee and the first night's fee are charged. Group Site: Customers who cancel a group overnight reservation less than 14 days before the arrival date will pay a $10.00 service fee AND forfeit the first night's use fee. 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. No-shows are assessed $20.00 service fee and forfeit the first night’s recreation fee for a campsite. *Note: the entire reservation will be cancelled for no-shows.
What the agency tells you
Download the NPS app prior to visiting the park – trail maps and more!
Reservations are required year round and can be made the same day or up to 6 months in advance.
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. No-shows are assessed $20.00 service fee and forfeit the first night’s recreation fee for a campsite. *Note: the entire reservation will be cancelled for no-shows.
Everything else this campground posts · 6
There is no overflow parking, and the number of vehicles allowed in each campsite varies. See Site Details for specific information.
There is no entrance fee at Indian Cove, but a separate $30 entrance fee is required in the main part of the park. Passes can be purchased ahead of time
There are no electric, water or sewer hook-ups available at individual campsites; nor is a dump station located nearby. Potable water is available at the Ranger Station, about 2 miles from the campground.
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.
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
- 13 · 13 group
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 24 ft
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
Facilities
- Stay limit
- 30 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- Amphitheater
- Evening Programs
- Hiking
- Ranger Station
- Climbing
- Night sky · 1018th darkest of 1,201 in CA
- Bortle 4
Full this Saturdayread 14:12 UTC
How full the weekend is nationally.
OpenBookedClosed
Every one of the 8 sites on offer is taken this Saturday. 8 are free on Wed, Oct 21. read 14:12 UTC Why the weekend fills and the week doesn’t
Watch for a cancellation
Watch this campground
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 · 16
What you actually pay
Derived by CAMPANAC: the lowest per-night amount the agency’s fee record states ($40), 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.
“Individual Site: A $10.00 service fee will apply if you change your reservation. Cancellations more than 48 hours in advance of arrival date incur a $10 cancellation fee.” · this campground’s own no-show terms
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 · 6
recreation.gov availability, read 14:12 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
13 sites
All 13 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. 13 of the 13 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| Group Area | G01 | group standard nonelectric | 24 ft | $55 |
| Group Area | G02 | group standard nonelectric | 24 ft | $55 |
| Group Area | G03 | group standard nonelectric | 24 ft | $55 |
| Group Area | G04 | group standard nonelectric | 24 ft | $55 |
| Group Area | G05 | group standard nonelectric | 24 ft | $55 |
| Group Area | G06 | group standard nonelectric | 24 ft | $55 |
| Group Area | G07 | group standard nonelectric | 24 ft | $55 |
| Group Area | G08 | group standard nonelectric | 24 ft | $55 |
| Group Area | G09 | group standard nonelectric | 24 ft | $55 |
| Group Area | G10 | group standard nonelectric | 24 ft | $55 |
| Group Area | G11 | group standard nonelectric | 24 ft | $55 |
| Group Area | G12 | group standard nonelectric | 24 ft | $55 |
| Group Area | G13 | group standard nonelectric | 24 ft | $55 |
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Indian Cove CampgroundJoshua Tree National Park · 1.9 mi
Hidden Valley CampgroundJoshua Tree National Park · 5.2 mi
Sheep Pass GroupJoshua Tree National Park · 6.9 mi
Ryan CampgroundJoshua Tree National Park · 7.6 mi
Jumbo Rocks CampgroundJoshua Tree National Park · 8.8 mi
Belle CampgroundJoshua Tree National Park · 10 miTake Interstate 10 to State Highway 62. Go past the West Entrance at Park Boulevard and continue east another 9.3 miles. Turn south on Indian Cove Road. Follow the road into the campground. If coming from the east, follow Highway 62 approximately seven miles west of the city of Twentynine Palms and turn south onto Indian Cove Road.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Twentynine Palms, CA
Typical weather
Typical October night 52°F, day 82°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical December night 36°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 · a letter you can send
What threatens this place
You’re camping on ground somebody wants. We track the threats and the comment deadlines.
Who answers for this land
Indian Cove Group 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 →
Who can change it · 3
Two offices, two different asks. The draft to the agency asks it to set aside a published share of the sites here for whoever drives up. The draft to Congress asks why that share is zero and presses for a published minimum at the campgrounds it funds.
- The member who votes the moneyJay ObernolteU.S. Representative · California’s 23rd district
- Your senator, on the same appropriationAdam B. SchiffU.S. Senator · California
- Your senator, on the same appropriationAlex PadillaU.S. Senator · California
Read the draft, or change the wording
For the camper who turned up, or tried to book, and couldn’t get in. Every draft is written from this campground’s own record (its agency, its unit, its site count and its own weekend) and the buttons above copy whichever wording is selected here.
Asks them to put the question to the agency in writing, and to press for a published minimum share of walk-up sites across the campgrounds they fund.
Subject Walk-up camping at Indian Cove Group, Joshua Tree National Park, California
Dear Jay Obernolte, I’m a constituent in California’s 23rd district. I tried to camp at Indian Cove Group, Joshua Tree National Park, California, and couldn’t. All 13 sites at Indian Cove Group are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 8 sites recreation.gov was offering there were already booked. 1,623 of the 7,647 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Indian Cove Group keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Indian Cove Group. I’m asking you to put it to the National Park Service in writing: why is the share of first-come sites there zero, and what would a published minimum share cost? Please press for that minimum at the federal campgrounds you fund. The people who open these campgrounds, collect the fees and keep the water running are seasonal positions. At GS-5, base pay plus the government's own 36.25% benefit factor, one costs about $47,414 a year. One percent of the $13.3 billion the USS Gerald R. Ford cost to procure would pay for about 2,800 of them for a year. Both figures are the government's own (a Congressional Research Service report and an OPM pay table), and I’m glad to send them. Sent about Indian Cove Group (Joshua Tree National Park, California) via campanac.com
Asks them to put the question to the agency in writing, and to press for a published minimum share of walk-up sites across the campgrounds they fund.
Subject Walk-up camping at Indian Cove Group, Joshua Tree National Park, California
Dear Adam B. Schiff, I’m a constituent in California. I tried to camp at Indian Cove Group, Joshua Tree National Park, California, and couldn’t. All 13 sites at Indian Cove Group are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 8 sites recreation.gov was offering there were already booked. 1,623 of the 7,647 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Indian Cove Group keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Indian Cove Group. I’m asking you to put it to the National Park Service in writing: why is the share of first-come sites there zero, and what would a published minimum share cost? Please press for that minimum at the federal campgrounds you fund. The people who open these campgrounds, collect the fees and keep the water running are seasonal positions. At GS-5, base pay plus the government's own 36.25% benefit factor, one costs about $47,414 a year. One percent of the $13.3 billion the USS Gerald R. Ford cost to procure would pay for about 2,800 of them for a year. Both figures are the government's own (a Congressional Research Service report and an OPM pay table), and I’m glad to send them. Sent about Indian Cove Group (Joshua Tree National Park, California) via campanac.com
Asks them to put the question to the agency in writing, and to press for a published minimum share of walk-up sites across the campgrounds they fund.
Subject Walk-up camping at Indian Cove Group, Joshua Tree National Park, California
Dear Alex Padilla, I’m a constituent in California. I tried to camp at Indian Cove Group, Joshua Tree National Park, California, and couldn’t. All 13 sites at Indian Cove Group are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, all 8 sites recreation.gov was offering there were already booked. 1,623 of the 7,647 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Indian Cove Group keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Indian Cove Group. I’m asking you to put it to the National Park Service in writing: why is the share of first-come sites there zero, and what would a published minimum share cost? Please press for that minimum at the federal campgrounds you fund. The people who open these campgrounds, collect the fees and keep the water running are seasonal positions. At GS-5, base pay plus the government's own 36.25% benefit factor, one costs about $47,414 a year. One percent of the $13.3 billion the USS Gerald R. Ford cost to procure would pay for about 2,800 of them for a year. Both figures are the government's own (a Congressional Research Service report and an OPM pay table), and I’m glad to send them. Sent about Indian Cove Group (Joshua Tree National Park, California) via campanac.com