Mojave National Preserve-Hole in the Wall Campground

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Oscar Mike

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We are going down/over to the Preserve and staying at the aforementioned campground. Does anyone have any experience at this campground? I know it is basically primitive, vault toilets, no dump station, water is available. Anything to do in the area; besides read a good book, hike, and/or enjoy a bottle or two of wine.



 
Oscar Mike said:
We are going down/over to the Preserve and staying at the aforementioned campground. Does anyone have any experience at this campground? I know it is basically primitive, vault toilets, no dump station, water is available. Anything to do in the area; besides read a good book, hike, and/or enjoy a bottle or two of wine.
I was just reading about this area and it says there is a dump station. It also appears to be near some old mines and several dirt roads to explore along with some sand dunes and lots of scenery. I have never been out there but it looks interesting. Not sure how my RV will fit in or what to expect so hopefully you will post up what you find. Good luck and enjoy.
 
Howdy John and Susan,

Oscar Mike said:
We are going down/over to the Preserve and staying at the aforementioned campground. Does anyone have any experience at this campground?

We've been there a few times, the last about 2 years ago, and we really liked it.

I know it is basically primitive, vault toilets, no dump station, water is available.

There's a dump station near the entrance, free for campers. There's a few water fawcets around too, although not at every site. There's also trashcans around. At each campsite there's a shaded picnic table and iron fire ring/grill. 

Anything to do in the area; besides  hike

Lots of great hikes around. We recommend the Barber Peak loop trail, it starts right at the end of the campground and goes around the area, ~3-4 miles IIRC. You can leave right before the end of it and then (if you are reasonably mobile) do the Banshee Canyon Rings trail, it goes into a nice but short slot canyon, which you will exit by climbing through some iron rings spiked into the wall at the end (not as hard as it sounds, about 10-12 feet hight and the rings are well spaced for going up using hands and feet).

We have put up an album of that hike when we did it in 2010, see it here; the last pic is of the Banshee Canyn Rings climb (again, it's easier than it seems in the picture).

You will then exit near the Ranger Station/Visitor Center (one of the two for the entire Mojave Preserve, the other being in Kelso), which is nicely stocked and worth a stop just to peruse the many books on the area they have at the bookshop. Right to the sides of the RSVC you can treat yourself to the very interesting, wind-sculpted rock formations that give the area its name.

On your way to the campground, you can do the very short, self-guided Nature Trail (get the leaflet in the box at the entrance) , where you will be presented some of the most common species of flora in the region.

There are lots of longer hikes too, one we didn't do would go all the way to Midhills Campground, and it's 7 miles one way, again IIRC. And there are many intermediary hikes too, both on marked trails and on hike-it-yourself ones: it's open desert, so within reason (and respecting the leave-no-traces policy)  you can go anywhere and do anything.

read a good book, and/or enjoy a bottle or two of wine.

You can do that too, the campground is very quiet and we had a great time there just relaxing on the outside.

Hope that helps; If you go and take some pics, please post them somewhere and let us know, we love the area and regrettably haven't been able to go back lately... :-/

Cheers,
--
  Vall And Mo.
 
Hi 530ktm,

530ktm said:
I was just reading about this area and it says there is a dump station. It also appears to be near some old mines and several dirt roads to explore along with some sand dunes and lots of scenery.
Dirt roads, check. I don't know any mines around that particular campground, but surely given the story of the region, it's bound to have some. OTOH, the nearest dunes would be in the Kelso Dunes area, which is some 60 miles and 1-1/2 hour distant, but very doable as a day trip.

I have never been out there but it looks interesting. Not sure how my RV will fit in or what to expect so hopefully you will post up what you find. Good luck and enjoy.

You should, it's a very nice campground and a good base to further explore the region. Don't know your RV size, but we had no problem with the 27ft class C we were renting at the time, and we saw some pretty hefty 5thWheels camped there too (I estimate in the 35-38ft range). But if you want to be sure, call the visitor center, they will let you know for sure.

Cheers,
--
  Vall & Mo.
 
Mojave National Preserve is a nice place to dry camp, there are no hook ups, but the campsite (Hole-in-the-Wall) is very nicely maintained. Ranger Jeff and his wife (Camp Hosts) are doing a fine job. It is a well traveled campsite and backroads area. I knew that when street sign posts began showing up in the middle of the desert. I thoroughly enjoyed my visit and I will return. 
 

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Hi John & Susan,

Glad to hear you went there and liked it, and thanks for the pictures! Three things:

1) I don't remember any street sign posts on the backroads, except a few along Black Canyon Rd. Oh my... next thing you know, they will be erecting curbs and sidewalks, just like they did on Joshua Tree NP... I think this kind of thing really detracts from the desert experience :-/

2) I don't remember any campground hosts on Hole-In-The-Wall; nice to hear there's a couple tending the place now. Can you tell us how much you paid in campsite fees per night? I remember it was like $12 when we were there, perhaps they hiked it up now it has campground hosts...

3) Is this Bert Smith's rock house on picture #3? We've planned to go there on our last visits but never got down to it. You explored farther than us! ;-) Did you hike the Rock Springs loop trail that's supposed to start right behind the house?

Cheers,
--
  Vall & Mo.
 
VallAndMo said:
Hi John & Susan,

Glad to hear you went there and liked it, and thanks for the pictures! Three things:

1) I don't remember any street sign posts on the backroads, except a few along Black Canyon Rd. Oh my... next thing you know, they will be erecting curbs and sidewalks, just like they did on Joshua Tree NP... I think this kind of thing really detracts from the desert experience :-/

2) I don't remember any campground hosts on Hole-In-The-Wall; nice to hear there's a couple tending the place now. Can you tell us how much you paid in campsite fees per night? I remember it was like $12 when we were there, perhaps they hiked it up now it has campground hosts...

3) Is this Bert Smith's rock house on picture #3? We've planned to go there on our last visits but never got down to it. You explored farther than us! ;-) Did you hike the Rock Springs loop trail that's supposed to start right behind the house?

Cheers,
--
  Vall & Mo.

Campsites are still $12.00/night, we didn't do Rock springs Trail, it was getting late in the day and we had gone a long way from camp...or so we had thought. In reality we found Cedar Canyon Road, a graded dirt road that intersected Black Canyon Road and we were only 20 miles from camp.
 
Hi John & Susan,

Oscar Mike said:
Campsites are still $12.00/night, we didn't do Rock springs Trail, it was getting late in the day and we had gone a long way from camp...or so we had thought. In reality we found Cedar Canyon Road, a graded dirt road that intersected Black Canyon Road and we were only 20 miles from camp.

Glad to hear the price is the same, and that they apparently fixed Cedar Canyon Rd (it was a washboarded mess when we went through it in 2010 coming from Kelso to Hole-in-the-Wall, and the motorhome rattled so much we thought things would come apart -- even being much longer distance, it would have been preferable to go all the way South to I40 and then back North to the campground).

Cheers,
--
  Vall & Mo.
 
Howdy YellowSubmarine,

YellowSubmarine said:
We are going to stay here next September!

Lucky you! We're officially envious!  ;-)

Seriously, if you like deserts and quiet places and vast expanses, we know of no better place than the Mojave NP; you are going to love it. If you need any tips on the place, or if we can help in any way, just let us know.

PS: please take pictures and please post them! :) It will be at least two years until we're able to go there again, and it would be great if we could go vicariously through our forum fellows' pictures...

Cheers,
--
  Vall & Mo.


 
I will definitely post pics!!!  Thank you.

When you went, were there other people there too?  I'm so worried that we are going to be all alone in the middle of no where all alone-lol.
 
Hi Yellow Submarine,

YellowSubmarine said:
I will definitely post pics!!!  Thank you.

No, thank *you*. We're definitely looking forward to those pics :)

YellowSubmarine said:
When you went, were there other people there too?  I'm so worried that we are going to be all alone in the middle of no where all alone-lol.

Well, the Mojave *Desert* isn't exactly a place to go looking for company :) But, seriously, both times we were there, there were quite a few other campers... the campground was about 20-30% full at the very least.

And if you yearn for further contact with fellow humans, the Ranger Station right besides the campground has a good bookshop, and the rangers on duty (when not busy) were quite instructive to talk to. Also consider Kelso Depot (where there's a small museum, including another bookshop and a smallish library upstairs) and Kelso Dunes (there's usually quite a few people ascending the dunes trail).

If you need more info, all you have to do is ask! ;-)

Cheers,
--
  Vall & Mo.
 
Howdy Lhemmerich,

Lhemmerich said:
How large are the sites..can a 40 ft have room?

The times I camped there, we were with a smallish Class C rental (23-27' long). But I remember some larger 5th Wheels were also camped there, certainly in the 32-36' range at least.

I just checked the campground on Google Satellite view and, using the map's scale ruler at the bottom-right corner at the screen, it seems many of the sites are 50' and even longer.

But if you want to be real sure, call them and ask: (760) 252-6104

Cheers,
--
  Vall.
 

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