Rockhouse

A great place to Boon-dock just outside of Borrego Springs. Plenty of open space to camp. Depending on just where you find cell service could be spotty. You can take on water and dump at another State Park across town. We really enjoyed this area and will certainly be back.

We've stayed near Borrego Springs before but this year was our first at Rockhouse. Great views of the surrounding hills, excellent hiking (we have two medium sized dogs so this is important), just a short drive to the restaurants and shops of Borrego Springs, and plenty of room for any sized rig. The Verizon signal is good if you stay out from behind the hills to the west and closer to the highway.

We arrived at Rockhouse Canyon Road and noted some huge changes to this popular boondocking area in the Anza Borrego Desert (though we were already aware of these changes). The State of California acquired this area from BLM and their regulations now keep all campers from experiencing true dispersed camping. The bulk of the area beyond Rockhouse Canyon Road is now off limits, eliminating miles of open range. Signs are posted preventing everyone from straying 100 yards from the road and it is enforced. We saw park rangers and the Highway Patrol drive up and down the road checking for any violators.

With these new rules in effect, the boondocking areas available are dramatically less than a year ago, going from miles of open land to but a few acres. There are over 500 miles of dirt roads in the Anza Borrego Desert. We walked miles of these roads near our site and found old campsites over three miles away up near the base of the mountains. Many had elaborate rock driveways, planters and art designs…the personal signature of a previous camper. Rockhouse Canyon Road in Anza Borrego can no longer offer prime boondocking, especially during any popular travel times. I would redefine this area as a primitive state campground, without the individual sites. And based on what we saw out there during our walks, in days of past, we could have had a mile of privacy in any direction.

However...the beauty of this desert truly does soften any distasteful distractions. You can still walk for miles and be totally alone the entire way. The desolation of the desert is enchanting, the never ending earth tone colors can be hypnotic and the solitude so soothing. The serenading of the coyotes before dawn let you know they still celebrate each new day and as the sun sets, spectacular sunsets bid your day farewell only to be blanketed by the stars of Cassiopeia...all bringing awareness of our tiny presence in this universe. And once the weekend arrived, almost all of the Rockhouse gang began leaving for home, making our evening campfire one of the last to burn bright in this desert paradise.

Still a wonderful dry camping area to experience the Anza Borrego Desert and the closer you are to the main road, the better your cellular reception...i.e. 1 bar to 3 bars.

Camping still exists at the Clark Dry Lake location listed on Campendium, but the State Park has made the camping area a lot smaller than it used to be, so this year we chose to camp at Rockhouse since we were expecting to be joined by 30+ rigs.

The permitter of the camping area is now ringed by signs that say "foot traffic only, no vehicles" so it is pretty clear where you can and can't camp.

As for cell service, when we first arrived we had about 3 Mbps down, but once more rigs joined us, it became nonexistent. The closer you camp to S22, the better your cellular reception.

Overall, it's a great free spot to camp while visiting Borrego Springs.

Great place with weak wifi....

Found out about a gathering of fellow full-timers here over the new year and decided to try to squeeze out of our introvert shells and give some socializing a try. We're so glad we did.

We had a great time, but you're here to hear about the campsite...

Flat, open, easy to access and quite popular. Easy trails surround you, a small town (with some restaurants, a thrift shop, grocery and hardware store) is nearby.

Only downsides to the spot were that the Internet was really spotty and it is a bit close to the road for us, making it a bit noisier than our usual boondocking choices. Especially when it was more crowded.

But definitely a prime choice for a stop on the way west toward the coast or south toward Yuma. Plus we met some great people there and that will always make this place special :)

We decided to stay at Rockhouse Rd. during our first trip to Borrego Springs, although we were worried about the recent comments about the available space being greatly reduced when California took over the land. We were pleasantly surprised to find plenty of space here, very little highway noise, and decent Verizon LTE and AT&T 4G signals (though the data performance on both was fairly slow). I've uploaded a "drone's eye" view of the area which makes it easy to see where the new camping area starts and ends. We had a heck of a wind (and dust) storm our second night, shaking the RV around quite a bit, but we (and everyone else) weathered the wind storm. It's an eight mile easy drive to the center of Borrego Springs. We'll definitely camp here in the future if/when we return to Borrego Springs.

We spent 10 days here over the New Year's holiday. Even with a little rain and wind it will still an awesome place to stay. Close to Borrego Springs if you need supplies but far enough away to experience a little desert solitude. We enjoyed great hiking in the area and exploring off road in our Jeep.

Rockhouse has a lot to offer. It's technically part of the state park but it feels like BLM. There is plenty of space to park and call your own.

Enter the area off of Rockhouse road. The first section is paved then rocky/dirt hard pack. We had no trouble navigating our tow vehicle and 30' trailer.

Lots to do in the area. Be sure to hike the hills to the west to see the rock art. In town there are two grocery stores. Start with the small co-op on first (by the bank) then you can try the larger market. Sticker shock at the larger market. We also enjoyed the metal sculptures all around.

There is lots of hiking and biking opportunities all around.

There is no water, dump or trash. There is a FREE dump at the Arco station about 17 miles east. The state park visitor center had water.

Cell and internet were painfully slow. ATT and Verizon with a booster was still like watching paint dry.

We stay here at least one night every time we go through Borrego Springs, it is possibly one of ugliest pieces of land in the park, however it is safe, you have lots of room and the hikes in the hills are great and the sunsets wonderful. Some people seem to stay for extended periods, to each his own but for my sense of desert there has to at least be some vegetation around you, there are plenty of other wonderful spots in the Anza Borrego Desert. Stop in and try it for yourself, do a hike and sit and watch the sun go down, then you decide.