JTree Camping: Hidden Valley, Belle, White Tank

Current Joshua Tree National Park First Come First Serve Campground Registration Process

Currently Hidden Valley, Belle and White Tank Campgrounds are available to “First come – First served” camping.   

Registration procedures as of the date of this posting (2/22/23) are that visitors must: 

1. locate an empty campsite. 
2.  occupy the site (erect a tent, or leave personal items to show site occupancy)  
3. Proceed as soon as possible to an entrance station to complete registration and pay. 

*If arriving after entrance stations close payment may be delayed until the following morning 

** Fee collection rangers may circle the campgrounds as a convenience to visitors but should not be relied upon as a primary means for site registration 

Partial Summary of Campground Regulations  

-Vacate the campsite or re-register for the campsite by noon 

-Occupancy limits are as follows for each campsite: 

• 2 Vehicles 
• 3 Tents 
• 6 People 

-Store food in a hard sided container or vehicle 

-Total 14-day camping limit from October 1st to May 31st  

-Saving campsites for individuals who are not present is prohibited 

-Leaving a campsite unattended for more than 24 hours is prohibited 

Violating any of the above regulations could result in issuance of a federal violation notice and carry a maximum $5,000 fine and 6 months in prison.

Enjoy your stay!

See y’all in prison. Anyone got 6k I can borrow?

Cron wrote:

See y’all in prison. Anyone got 6k I can borrow?

What was wrong with the old system ?  Payment at the campsite in the fee tube was convenient for all. 

The fuck? Drive all the way to the campsite, put your tent up and then drive all the way back to the entrance to pay even though you know damn well no one will be there to collect payment since most people arrive on Friday night after work? So then I wake up in the morning to drive to the exit and try to WALK up to the booth while everyone is already queued up in their cars? Should I cut in line to pay or maybe you’d like me to drive out and drive back in again to pay??? Dumbest idea I’ve heard for a long time. Seriously a dumb dumb dumb plan. You guys are all rangers and none of you could find anything that would go wrong with this system? Dumb.
Also, you really think that somebody poaching a campsite is somehow worth $5000? I’d love to figure out how you guys came up with that number. A bunch of selfish greedy pricks.

Entrance station certainly means the entrance kiosk to the campground, not the park entrance?? No different than the past, except the silly threat of fines or jail time.

Entrance station unfortunately means the park entrance. Had to do it last time I was there. Pretty annoying.

Johnny Victor wrote:

What was wrong with the old system ?  Payment at the campsite in the fee tube was convenient for all. 

People were stealing cash from the metal fee tubes

Matthew T wrote:

Entrance station unfortunately means the park entrance. Had to do it last time I was there. Pretty annoying.

Wow. On the already crowded road and all the traffic. Just wow!  What a crazy decision.

Z Olson wrote:

People were stealing cash from the metal fee tubes

Seems like there could be a way to update the payment collection method to be more anti theft and not require campers to return to the park entrances.

Jason Kim wrote:

Wow. On the already crowded road and all the traffic. Just wow!  What a crazy decision.

I was just going to mention this, traffic is already at urban levels. Now every morning there will be a another caravan of cars streaming back and forth to and from those campgrounds to the entrance, this plan does not seem very well thought out.

Holy smokes, that's the best plan you guys could come up with? The decision makers clearly lack critical thinking skills.

The FAQ on the NPS website says it's the ranger's job to come by and let you pay and campers don't have to go out of their way.

How do I pay for a first-come, first-served campsite?

A ranger comes around to first-come, first-served campgrounds multiple times a day to register campers and take payment. You can also pay at an entrance station after you’ve moved into a site. We only accept debit and credit card payments for campsites. You do not need to seek out a ranger to pay. It is our job to charge you for the campsite.

source

Ethan H wrote:

The FAQ on the NPS website says it's the ranger's job to come by and let you pay and campers don't have to go out of their way.

source

This doesn't really help if you show up late, I doubt rangers will come around after 4 or 5pm. Also not good if you arrive early in the morning and want to go do something other than sit at your campsite and wait to pay the ranger who may or may not come by at an unspecified time.

Sam Cieply wrote:

This doesn't really help if you show up late, I doubt rangers will come around after 4 or 5pm. Also not good if you arrive early in the morning and want to go do something other than sit at your campsite and wait to pay the ranger who may or may not come by at an unspecified time.

Thinking about this… what are they going to do? So you drop your stuff/set up camp and then go climb for the day. If you miss the ranger, so be it. They can’t ticket a person who isn’t there, and if they explicitly state that it’s their job to come and collect the fee, it’s on them. If it turns out they never show up, pay the fee on your way out of the park when you leave, and if that happens to be at night, it’s their damn fault for enacting such a dumb policy.

Jason Kim wrote:

Thinking about this… what are they going to do? So you drop your stuff/set up camp and then go climb for the day. If you miss the ranger, so be it. They can’t ticket a person who isn’t there, and if they explicitly state that it’s their job to come and collect the fee, it’s on them. If it turns out they never show up, pay the fee on your way out of the park when you leave, and if that happens to be at night, it’s their damn fault for enacting such a dumb policy.

I talked to a park employee about this recently, they told me that a lot of people end up not paying for camp sites as a result of this bonkers system.

Johnny Victor wrote:

What was wrong with the old system ?  Payment at the campsite in the fee tube was convenient for all. 

A few years ago I was told that the envelopes weren't opened in the park, but were mailed off and processed centrally. This meant rangers didn't verify you paid the correct amount, which some people learned to take advantage of.

While I find this plan egregious, and frankly unprofessional, receiving the threat of jail time highlighted in italics is a nice flourish that is very much appreciated.

Ok, so to go from the west entrance to HV campground to snag a spot (good luck!), back to the entrance station to pay (assuming you don’t need to queue up behind a line of cars), then get back to HV takes an estimated 51 minutes. 

Will I get banned if I use the R word?

as much as i want to pummel the genius that came up with this idea, i imagine it is the result of a colossal amount of dipshit behavior...