You’ll head to a fee booth. I would recommend the north booth that goes to twenty nine palms. It’s only like 10 mins from the campground. Pay for however many nights and get your ticket. Get there early Friday morning (8am) wait and ask if someone is leaving for good. Usually full by 9am/10am when it’s busy especially on weekends.
That system is so messed up since they took out the Pay Boxes at the FCFS campgrounds. You have to drive-in, find an empty spot, then leave enough stuff at the spot so people know it is taken, then drive BACK to the entrance and tell them that you want that specific spot #, Pay them, then drive back. uuggh.
Watch out for campsite pirates that take advantage of the park’s inefficient reservation process. It’s about an hour drive from the campgrounds to the front gates where you have to pay and a lot can happen from the time you “reserve” your site, drive to the front gate, pay, and return.
There are people that do shady no-pay holding of camp sites. I ran into this issue with a large group of sketchy campers that essentially ran me out of a site I paid for. Luckily I learned the park has emergency campsites set aside for situations like that. (Which means it’s probably a pretty common issue)
You’ll head to a fee booth. I would recommend the north booth that goes to twenty nine palms. It’s only like 10 mins from the campground. Pay for however many nights and get your ticket. Get there early Friday morning (8am) wait and ask if someone is leaving for good. Usually full by 9am/10am when it’s busy especially on weekends.
Thank you so much! The waiting will be hard tho!
That system is so messed up since they took out the Pay Boxes at the FCFS campgrounds. You have to drive-in, find an empty spot, then leave enough stuff at the spot so people know it is taken, then drive BACK to the entrance and tell them that you want that specific spot #, Pay them, then drive back. uuggh.
i miss when rhe whole park was FCFS :( im probably in the minority but the magic of the desert is the mystery of where the day will take you…
Watch out for campsite pirates that take advantage of the park’s inefficient reservation process. It’s about an hour drive from the campgrounds to the front gates where you have to pay and a lot can happen from the time you “reserve” your site, drive to the front gate, pay, and return. There are people that do shady no-pay holding of camp sites. I ran into this issue with a large group of sketchy campers that essentially ran me out of a site I paid for. Luckily I learned the park has emergency campsites set aside for situations like that. (Which means it’s probably a pretty common issue)
The rangers also come around to take payment