Wildrose Campground

Stayed a couple nights at the end of March. The campground is free of charge whereas others within the park are not. It's a little far out of the way from many points of interest in the park; the road to get there is narrow and windy and doesn't have guard rails along ledges (not advised for trailers or large RV's). Water was available when we were there and the pit toilets didn't smell bad compared to others I've experienced (a small scented candle in a corner away from the toilet wards off smells nicely).
Wild mules wander around the area which were fun to see. There are some neat walk-in sites on the hill side, but most sites are scattered around a parking lot type area. Most sites had campfire rings, tables and an adjacent parking spot.

I arrived at Death Valley National Park late in the evening. We're talking 9pm full on, pitch dark late. Oh, and I didn't have a campsite reservation. Nada. If a free campsite didn't materialize, I was sleeping in the desert with the chuckwallas and tarantulas.

Emigrant campsite looked to be full, so Wildrose Campground was my last chance for a place to camp. I took a deep breath and turned left down Emigrant Canyon Road. Note that this road is prohibited to vehicles longer than 25 feet, which rules out large RVs. It's a narrow, winding 21-mile (thankfully paved road!) trip to Wildrose Campground. At night, mice and other small rodents scamper across the road at regular intervals.

The campground is quite large (23 sites) and can accommodate both tents and small RVs/van campers. Thankfully, there were numerous open campsites. Each site had a picnic table and parking area. Wildrose also has pit toilets and several water spigots. It's remote and surrounded by hills.

It's wonderfully quiet at night, too, until you hear a loud "HEE HAW!" just outside your tent. Wild burros roam the area and take delight in startling you awake. However, don't look for them in the morning - evidently they're shy about photo ops.

In all, Wildrose was a fun adventure and a surprisingly nice campsite. I would definitely return!

Great place with all you need: water, restrooms, picnic area, camprings. Quiet place.
Just at the entrance of Death Valley. Very good access even for compact cars.

This campground is near the Trona enterance but it's a trek from the rest of the park. In comparison to Emigrant, Stovepipe Wells, and Texas Springs campgrounds it was by far the best. All the campgrounds near visitor centers were like parking lots with no privacy. Emigrant seemed okay but doesn't have fire rings.

If you are coming from Stovepipe Wells the signs say it's 18 miles to Wildrose but it's actually around the 20 mile marker. We made the mistake of turning around too soon thinking we missed it.

There are 2 roads up to the campsite. Emigrant rd had a 25 ft max with tow restriction. The road is really easy until right before the campground and then it gets very twisty and tight. No problem with our 16ft Bambi. The Wildrose Rd is shorter but half unpaved. Took it down with no problem. Very few people at the campsite and plenty of space between sites. Except for the LOUD talker we had near us one night it was almost like we were there alone. Dropped the Bambi and continued up the road to view the other 2 campsites, Thorndike and Mahogany Flats, and to see the Charcoal Kilns. Definitely recommend 4wheel drive to reach Mahogany Flats, we had to rescue a Honda Civic that got stuck. Loved our stay!

Let me get the only drawback out of the way first, and it should be obvious: no shade. That said, at this altitude on the day I stayed it was more than 30 degrees cooler than Death Valley floor, and 20 degrees cooler than the surrounding Panamint valley. Pit toilets. Running water. Burros on this surrounding hills offer entertainment (they stayed out of the campground while I was there), and so did the coyotes after the moon rose. Gusty wind meant proper tent staking a must. Will absolutely go back, though maybe not at the end of June again...

Another review mentions the two different access roads. Took Wildrose Road in and it wasn't bad. Didn't want to face some of the ruts leaving the next morning in the dark, so took the much longer Emigrant Road out -- the benefit there was watching the sun start to come up as I headed out.

Careful: Death Valley is addictive!

A perfect place to camp in Death Valley. High enough for not being too warm. Gorgeous night sky and lots of space.

One of my favorite places I've camped. The road is rough getting up there, but our honda pilot and pop up camper made it without a problem. If you have anything larger than a 15 ft trailer, this is not the place for you, as spots are small. The campsite is close to some great hiking peaks and really well maintained. Pit toilets that were some of the cleanest I've experienced, and a water fill up. No signal almost any where in the park so prepare for that. There were maybe 15 other small groups at the same campground but everyone was extremely friendly. Lots of seasoned hikers choose this location, so we were able to get great hiking advice. beautiful sunset and stars too. DEFINITELY stay here.

I prefer to camp outside of official campgrounds, but this was a great spot to camp in order to hike Wildrose Peak. I was able to find a spot no problem on a Friday afternoon. Great dark skies. Spots seemed to be nice and flat but are on the smaller side if you have a big trailer or lots of tents it probably isn’t the best spot. Worked fine for me in a small suv.

This was the perfect spot for my family. We got into Death Valley pretty late and just wanted to park and sleep. We noticed other campers in tents, and by the time we woke up, they were all gone, probably trekking up to Telescope Peak.
You’re in a valley, but you can still see the mountains. There was a bathroom that was clean, water, trash cans, and each site has a picnic table. It wasn’t hard to find, and it’s close to some great trails. It got pretty windy on our drive up, but it wasn’t too bad once we settled in.
While we were making breakfast, two National Park trucks came through to check water, bathrooms and trash which was nice.