Cottonwood Campground

The outside loops, (where we were) of the campground are just little pull-outs, not really room for trailers or RV's. The National Parks should not be renting these out the way they do. You can barely get around the loop as some RV's have their slides out. The rigs are just too big for the spaces here. Never seen anything like it. I'd recommend staying at one of the other campgrounds in the park if you're in a Rv. We are in a 15ft trailer and even that was a tight fit.
Inside sites are a better fit because they are short back-ins...
But all the sites are very close to each other.

While the campsite itself was lovely (we were on the outer ring and facing away from the other sites), the area for the RV was so narrow that we couldn't put our slide our without running the risk of someone hitting it. The campground itself is basically two narrow loops with narrow parking spots parallel to the road. Some of them were a bit wider (the folks in site B27 had a long bus and they managed to put their slide out, but had emergency cones strategically placed beneath it). And our site was so uneven we didn't want to put out our slide anyway! We had originally booked the site for 4 nights, but left after one. We found a much better FCFS site in Belle Campground.

I realize that most of the National Park campgrounds were developed before the influx of RVs and trailers. But you would think that they could have improved them sometime in the last 50 years.

Cottonwood campground in Joshua Tree National Park is a very peaceful and spacious place to camp. The campground has paved drives and paved campsite pads with plenty of privacy. Each site has a table and fire ring, however there is little shade due to the desert landscape. Water and trash containers were near our campsite as well as the very clean and modern restrooms. Overall this was a pleasant camping experience and we would definitely return again.

Convenient place to overnight as you exit after a visit to the park. Sites are narrow. Bathrooms have flush toilets but no showers. Has dumpsites. It worked well for us to stay at Jumbo Rocks for to explore the main park attractions then stay our last night at Cottonwood. It gave us a full day in the park and a head start to get on the road again the next morning.
No cell coverage.

I had the impression this campground was designed before slideouts became a thing. The back-in spots are very short. The "pull through" sites are just a bump out on the main road. Our site did come with a warning that you may not be able to use your slides. That was true for many of the pull-throughs. I checked Google maps before booking and was fairly confident we would fit. We did by getting as close to the rocks as possible. Even so, we pulled out slide in when away from camp to reduce the chances of being side-swiped. One camper, with automatic stairs, wea given permission to pull in counter to the one-way signs to keep their slide safely away from the narrow road.

Once in our site, we found our front yard very spacious and it offered a lot of privacy.

We were across the road from the camp host and overheard many of the shenanigans she had to put up with. One camper wanted to be closer to his buddies and their community kitchen, so he took a spot that hadn't been occupied yet. Then when they victims found their spot occupied the guy kept telling the host he'd "work it out with them". A jeep with a tent top camper asked if they could pull in with our neighbors and then wanted to park on the sidewalk to the bath house - I think they were directed to the BLM land 6 miles away. In another example of bad behavior, a camper with no reservation pulled into a site that hadn't been occupied yet. When the registered campers arrived they contacted the host and she promptly set them up in an emergency spot and then had a discussion with the intruders. She handled all these situations professionally and should be commended. She also made sure that quiet hours were maintained.

Enough on the rudeness of others. We found ourselves happy to be on the quiet side of the park on this crowded weekend. We did a nice hike to Mastodon Peak. We found the facility well maintained. There were some water spigots around the camp, but you need to stop by the dump station just outside the campground to fill your RV. We couldn't get Verizon, even with a WeBoost Drive.

The positives: The site wasn't bad, and the bathrooms, while small and minimally-outfitted, were at least clean.

The negatives: This campground is in, by far, the most boring part of the park. It's not a terrible backup, if everything else is taken, but if you can stay at ANY of the other campgrounds in the park, do that, instead.

There is NO cell service, and NO wifi.

We had been boondocking for a while, so the amenities of this campground fit our specific needs. Having the dump station and potable water was a huge plus. There are several dumpsters and an area for recycling. Flush toilets and sinks in the bathroom. The sites and facilities are well maintained and clean. Great sunsets. We really enjoyed the view and privacy of site B29. The parking was cramped for our 34 ft Class A and fairly unlevel; our site was basically parallel parking directly off the main path, but we made it work. Class B or C most likely not have any issues. Just like everywhere inside Joshua Tree, there is no cell service. In addition to the site fee, you’ll pay a $30 park entry fee at the visitors center; we recommend getting the yearly interagency pass for $80. With that, you’ll get free entry into all national and some state parks. Even though the parking was cramped, we’d stay here again.

Beautiful mountain view and desert plants. Cactus were just beginning to bud. Camping spots are a little tight for larger RV's. There was a bit of city glow from Palm Springs so stargazing wasn't as good as we'd hoped. Had great hikes on the many paths. Drove through Joshua Tree National forest, through Cholla and Ocotilla gardens. Saw Skull rock and the fabulous gigantic rock formations. Had a bit of a time getting our 36 ft RV situated so we could extend our slides, and had to park our toad at the bathhouse (only a short distance away), but overall a great two day stay.

This is a reservation only campground, and we lucked out to come across a family who was leaving early and vacating their spot, so we took over their reservation. Flush toilets are very clean - we saw someone clean them daily. There is a large table, fire pit with grill and large pad for parking at our site. I noticed some sites did not have a pad, and cars parked on the street. There were many water spigots through the campground. Our site was right next to the bathroom, which was not an issue for us, but might bother others. No lights (including bathrooms) or electricity in the campground, which made stargazing wonderful! This campground is located in the most southern part of the park - 90% of the activities and exhibits were in the northern part. Keep in mind it’s about a 40 minute drive to these locations, which worked out nice, because that meant there were fewer people in our area.