Tumey Hills

This place and Panoche Hills are pretty much the only free camping available in the central valley, and to see them you understand why they're free. Awful, awful road in. Not long, but thoroughly rutted and washboard. Once you reach the main area where the vault toilet and picnic table are you'll find several spots up against the hills, but these are for using the hills as a backstop for shooting, not for camping. The road seems to continue beyond this area but there's a trench that makes it impassible for anything 2wd, maybe even some 4wd.

Due to a relatively dry winter, the hills were already brown in early March. So it's ugly, inaccessible, and nowhere near any viable alternatives. Throw in the shooting that's bound to scare the crap out of any pets, and the bullet shells everywhere, this ranks as the worst BLM location I've seen to date. For the record, I didn't bother to check out Panoche Hills because the higher elevation would have made things slightly chillier, but I'm confident it's similar.

This place is used for target shooting in the day, but at night all the shooters leave and the place was totally empty! Great for peace and stargazing!
I only give it 3 stars because the road is in bad shape but just go slow the last 3 miles and you'll be fine. Plus there is spent shells everywhere.
If you stop here for the night, after entering, you'll reach a day use area. Stay left of that and go as far as you can, there will be a couple of pretty level spots. I made it. But I do not recommend any larger rigs. And this site is closed April thru October. And if has been raining or is going to, the roads will probably be a mess.Good hiking available. And herds of sheep might even visit you.