Vacation Planner

Hidden Shores

This is a classy place to park your RV if you are bringing a boat to wakeboard/water ski or otherwise enjoy the Colorado River. In the summer, it is so hot that you have to be in the water or in your air-conditioned RV. In the winter, this is a popular "snowbird" retreat. They have permanent vacation home sites here as well. The resort amenities include restaurant, activities, free golf course, an equestsrian center and more. Price: $54 to $74 per night.

Hidden Shores

Squaw Lake

The Squaw Lake campground has no hookups, but you can launch your boat here and there is usually RV space available. We don't use the lake, but launch onto the Colorado River and tie the boat up on the beach overnight. You aren't supposed to run your generator past 10 p.m. but in the hot summer, when it drops into the 90's after midnight, the camp host might not mention it. There are flush toilets, showers, picnic tables, barbecue pits and a dump station. This site is just upstream from the Imperial Dam and just across the water from Hidden Shores, so you can take a quick boat ride over there for fuel, groceries, cell phone coverage, etc. The wild burros will beg for food and wake you up at night. Boating/waterskiing/wakeboarding/ tubing on the Colorado River is fun when you stay wet and moving at high speed, but the extreme heat can be unpleasant and dangerous when you are anywhere except a speeding boat or cool RV. After the summer, when the outside temperature is more tolerable, the river water becomes too cold for water sports. Cost: $15 per vehicle per night, or $75 for an annual pass that lets you into this and several other Bureau of Land Management-managed areas.

Squaw Lake

Death Valley

Please note: Our rental RV's are not permitted in Death Valley in the summer! Anyway, Death Valley is no fun in the summer, but in the winter you can explore abandoned mines, ghost towns, hike, drive off-road, look at wildflowers, hunt for minerals, etc. You can camp in an RV at several of the park campgrounds, but hookups are available only at Stovepipe Wells RV Park. The cost at Stovepipe Wells (open October through April ) is $12 per night. Make reservations at www.recreation.gov. Privately-owned Panamint Springs RV resort also has full hookups ($20 to $30 per night). Call them at (775) 482-7680 because their web site is not good and the online reservations don't work. In the northern area of the park, camp at Mesquite Springs. There are no hookups and the sites are gravel and not very level. But it's cheap - $12 per night - and you can visit Scotty's Castle (a sort of desert Hearst Castle) and the Ubehebe volcanic crater. Mesquite Springs is open all year. For a list of interesting trails to explore with your off-road vehicles, visit www.go-california.com/Death-Valley-National-Park/Offroad.

Death Valley

Anza Borrego Desert

This is one of the few parks in California with open camping (just find a flat area of sand that you like and camp there). This is great if you are there to ride your off-road vehicles, but if you came to tour the visitor's center and explore the natural history of the area, you might want a regular RV site. There are 12 campgrounds in the park, 2 of which have RV hookups (Borrego Palm Canyon and Tamarisk Grove). Cost: $20 to $29 per night. A couple of nearby private RV resorts have great amenities (golf, swimming, hookups), but cost a lot more. Try The Springs at Borrego (www.springsatborrego.com) or Palm Canyon Resort (www.palmcanyonresort.com).

Anza Borrego