Sandya N.
Yelp
Texas Spring campgrounds is a good spot to use as a home base when exploring the awesomeness of Death Valley. It was our first choice for unreserved camping when visiting the park earlier this month at what was perhaps the busiest time of the year due to the much hyped "superbloom".
Some basic info for you: Texas Spring is only open October 15 - April 15th, and it has 106 sites. The campground sits at sea level and no advance reservations are available. This is in contrast to the nearby Furnace Creek campgrounds (196 feet below sea level) which is the only site to take reservations at Death Valley; however, those sites seem to book up months in advance. Texas Spring offers potable water, tables, fire rings, and flush toilets.
We called and talked to an NPS ranger before coming to try to figure out how the whole "first come, first served" thing worked and what time would be best to show up to try for a campsite here. The ranger told us the earlier, the better and that around 10-11am would probably be a good time (check-out is at noon). Well, we rolled up on a Friday at 11am, and the whole campground was full for Friday night.
Perhaps we're newbies to this whole thing, but it was confusing as to how one claimed a site. The camp host told us that if a spot was empty, we could claim it. That's sort of true. The way to do it is to look for the little slip of paper attached to the site number and see what the check-out date is. If there's no slip (and no sign of stuff in the site), the site is probably open -- I say probably because it seemed like some tags were missing from some spots. It looks like the camp hosts come around and write the check-out date on the tags in large print so it's more visible when driving through the loops trying to claim a highly coveted spot. We were SOL for Friday and had to huff it to the crappy Sunset Campground down the road for the night.
When we awoke on Saturday morning, we jumped in our car (me still in my PJs) and started hunting for a spot. It was about 8am, and we just happened to see a couple who looked like they were in the process of departing their site. We waited for a minute or two before asking and lucked out. They were indeed departing -- score! As soon as they cleared out of the spot, we pounced. Seriously, this whole process was akin to snagging a table or place to sit at a super crowded bar. We immediately threw down some stuff on the table and one of us sat there while the other purchased the tag for the night. While setting up our spot, several different cars came by to ask if we were leaving while other vehicles circled the loops looking for an empty site. It was about 9am at this point. Like I said, these spots aren't easy to come by on a busy weekend.
The good:
- Each campsite has it's own picnic table and fire pit with a built-in grate for cooking.
- There are a few trees for wind protection and a sliver of shade.
- The lower loop ("A") is tents only. The upper loop allows RVs but no generators.
- The views are great and you really are in the middle of everything in the park.
- Bathrooms are close by and mostly clean. The ladies' room even had soap at the sinks. (But no lights -- don't forget your headlamps.) Flush toilets are an added, less-smelly bonus.
- The huge outdoor sinks are awesome for washing dishes!
The meh:
- Sites are pretty darn close to one another. We had a large group of loud and pretty obnoxious twenty-somethings next to us, and we could hear every word they said even though our tent was about as far from them as possible. This also meant that every single "totally", "yeah", and other inane chatter was audible the entire time we were eating dinner at our table.
- The ground is hard and rocky. Make sure you have heavy duty stakes meant for this terrain. (Tip: the Furnace Creek general store sells stakes that look like big nails for $1.50 each.) We first tried using our heavy duty stakes along with a rubber mallet. The mallet starting breaking apart from the impact. When my husband switched to a rock to pound the stakes into the ground, it ended up chewing up the stake rather than pounding it further into the ground!
- It's super windy. Because this campground is on a hill, wind whips through from seemingly every direction. This makes it hard to have a fire for cooking and it makes it even more difficult to sleep in a tent. Our night there had 50mph winds and it felt like we were in a hurricane. We ended up sleeping in our car instead.
- No showers. The common mention of showers at Furnace Creek Inn is a total joke. You basically pay to access the pool, and the bathrooms there have two crappy shower stalls in each gender's bathroom. Privacy is provided by a thin shower curtain which blows open with the slightest breeze. At least the water was warm.
If you're a semi-experienced camper used to roughing it a bit, you'll enjoy your experience here. Death Valley is an amazing place worth visiting!