Culp Valley Campground

Nearly on top of the mountains just before Borrego Springs. Great hiking trails with amazing views of the desert below looking east. The gravel road in from the highway is not long and in good shape. But the roads inside the campground are in rough shape with deep ruts and washes from heavy rain. OK for vans or trucks with short rvs. Our trailer is 22’ and I wouldn’t do any longer. If either of the first 2 sites on the west are available, take one, there can be some tight turns in further with deep ruts and some sand. Slow single bar cell service.

I wanted a free campground near Anza-Borrego Desert State Park with a bathroom. This place had everything I was looking for and more. The boulders made for great views, and the sunrise in the morning was amazing! There were plenty of open sites when I arrived, only a few other vans/RVs around and not close enough to me to be heard. I stayed at a site off to the left. The bathroom was a bit of a long walk (or a short drive) from my site, but it was clean and well maintained. I did spot a young coyote walking through my site during the day, so be aware. No cell reception for me with Spectrum or Verizon. Overall I would stay here again, and I plan to.

We camped here a couple nights in mid November. Got lucky, no wind and mild temps. Unfortunately this seems to be very popular as the entire campground got mobbed on Friday night and we had very loud partying going on until 2 am or so.

You can hear traffic on the grade tha goes past the campground.

Bring ear plugs if you’re a light sleeper.

Tent-camped here for 1 night before an early morning hike in Anza Borrego. Got in about 9:15pm on a Friday night in October and it was filling up but still some spots available. Sites are designated by fire rings which are a bit hard to see at night. Pretty well sheltered from road noise. We could hear the people in adjacent sites but it was a pretty respectful crowd. Also got to hear coyotes howling nearby! Pretty cool experience.

We stayed at a site closest to the road but surrounded by hills that completely cut out road noise. It was pretty windy if you were too far in the wide open. We had our RV and friends were staying in tents. Reception was pretty much nonexistent within the camp area but it you got within 100 feet of the road or climbed some rocks your reception would kick in. Drive from the road to the camp was easy but you have to scout ahead for traffic ability if you're driving a larger rig. I made it in with a 30' class C.
Beautiful desert scenery. I would definitely come again.

Fire pits, stunning views, relative privacy behind giant boulders, clean out toilets and excellent hiking trails nearby makes this my favorite place to tent camp in Anza-Borrego.

I highly recommend arriving in the day time to be able to get a good look at all the different sites. Many of them are surrounded on three sides by large boulders that make it even harder to find them when it's dark out. It makes for a secluded-feeling camping experience even though you're just an hour and a half from downtown San Diego.

The dirt roads to get to the site were well maintained even with some erosion in some of the areas furthest away from the entrance. I have a 4wd vehicle and but think that a regular sedan with a careful driver behind the wheel could easily get around without an issue. I don't think this would be a great spot for larger RVs based on the narrow roads.

This campground gets 5 stars for beauty, 5 stars for few other campers, 2 stars for accessibility,

My husband, dog, and stayed here 1 night before we could access our campsite in the main park campground. The road into the Culp Valley campground was bumpy and rough. I would not attempt this during the rain or if I had a large rig or big trailer. However, our 25ft Winnebago View had no problems. There were several tent campers and a few class B rvs.

I did not check out the vault toilet. There is no water. There were a few scattered metal fire rings in the area. Several hiking trails are accessible from the campground. It was very windy at night but we had no trouble with our rv. We had occasional minimal cell coverage.

However, next we will camp here for a longer period of time. It's worth it. You can always go into the main campground or into Borrego Springs if you need other amenities.

Culp Valley is a beautiful bowl-shaped place in the mountains, at about 3,200 feet. The highway up from Borrego Springs (S22) is steep and twisty. Or, if you're coming from the west, Culp Valley is just down from the summit a mile or so. The unpaved track into Culp Valley is narrow and lumpy, with several washouts. Larger vehicles or ones with low ground clearance will not be happy. There are several wide spots, slots and such to camp in, not what you'd typically call campsites. Most are small and better suited for tent camping. None are level. There are no tables or fire rings. And fires must be within metal containers, like barbecue grills. There is no water. The vault toilet is clean.

Large rock formations shield most of Culp Valley from the light traffic noise on the highway. They also provide climbing opportunities, with fantastic views of the flatlands below, all the way to the Salton Sea. The elevation means it's cooler than the flats of Anzo-Borrego Desert. That can be great, depending on the time of year. I was there the first week of March, and it was very chilly at night.