Best For
Tent campers and short-vehicle travelers who want the park's most intimate first-come, first-served option — White Tank's 25-foot vehicle limit effectively filters out RVs and large trailers.
15
Sites
No
Hookups
Vault
Toilets
White Tank is Joshua Tree's smallest first-come, first-served campground at just 15 sites, with a strict 25-foot vehicle limit that makes it functionally a tent-and-small-vehicle-only space. No water is available, so everything must be packed in. There is no rating data or reservation history in our analytics since it operates outside the Recreation.gov system. The small size and no-reservation format means that on peak weekends it can fill entirely by mid-morning — but it also sees genuine vacancy on weekday nights even in October and November when the reservation campgrounds are completely locked up. It is best treated as a backup with upside: if it's available when you arrive, it offers a quieter, less crowded alternative to the bigger campgrounds nearby.
Content from Joshua Tree National Park park guide
October through April is the core visitor season at Joshua Tree, with November representing the single most competitive booking month in the park — 17.7% of November reservations are made 6+ months in advance across 8,472 total bookings. March and April see the highest raw reservation volume (11,352 and 10,250 respectively), driven by spring wildflowers and ideal 70–90°F daytime temperatures. August is the easiest month to find a site with 40.8% of bookings made last-minute, but summer temperatures regularly exceed 100°F in the lower elevations.
Joshua Tree has two main entrances — the West Entrance near Joshua Tree town and the North Entrance near Twentynine Palms — plus the South Entrance at Cottonwood off Interstate 10, which accesses only the southern campgrounds. There is no park shuttle; a private vehicle is required to move between campgrounds, trailheads, and visitor centers. Note that Belle, Hidden Valley, and White Tank campgrounds are first-come, first-served and must be paid for at an entrance station within one hour of occupying a site.
The park entrance fee is $35 per vehicle, valid for 7 days. Nightly camping fees vary by campground and are charged separately through Recreation.gov for reservation campgrounds, or paid at entrance stations for first-come, first-served sites. The America the Beautiful Annual Pass ($80) covers the $35 entrance fee but does not reduce nightly camping fees — it is still worth the investment for anyone visiting multiple federal lands in the same year.
The maximum stay at every campground is 14 days within any 28-day period. Pets are permitted in campgrounds and on paved roads but are not allowed on trails or in the backcountry. No water is available at Belle, Hidden Valley, or White Tank campgrounds, and water is limited even at campgrounds that do have it — bring at least one gallon per person per day. Cell service is unreliable throughout most of the park; download the NPS app and offline maps before arrival. The nearest full-service town is Twentynine Palms, which has grocery stores, gas, and medical facilities.
Address
Riverside County, California
Coordinates
33.9857, -116.0167
Joshua Tree National Park
Joshua Tree National Park
Joshua Tree National Park
Joshua Tree National Park
Joshua Tree National Park
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