Swarthout Canyon Road | Wild Camping

April 15th, 2023 by cultivatingfireoffical.com

Alight for one night, but nothing too attractive about this location. Most of the parking lot has been dug up and fenced off leaving a small and slanted lot that fills up during the day. The lake is more like an overgrown pond surrounded by monster mosquitoes. Also, rains come through every 15-20 minutes and a lot of shooting down in the valley until past dark. Wouldn’t recommend to a friend…

March 15th, 2023 by kokokenada

Road to access was flooded. Could not access. Decided to stay at the turn around just before the river flooded the road. Bad idea. It seems Route 66 along that stretch is popular for gay men cruising. 2 or 3 cars pulled up as I was trying to sleep and tried to get my attention. There was also lots of train noise. I moved to the nearby Mormon Rocks rest area at 2am. It was a little noisy but it was a rest area opposed to a _____ area.

February 16th, 2023 by oceanemarchand.des

Nice night here. A bit cold and very quiet. We arrived at night because too late to go until Las Vegas from LA. Close to Road 66. Alone but didn't feel unsafe. 1min walk to the small lake but not very interesting and the land around is not very nice. Perfect for a night and probably sunset or sunrise, but not more.

September 22nd, 2022 by aline.toscano.ferreira

Didn’t stay because I didn’t feel safe. There were piles of trash, not a lot of space to set a tent and a guy in a truck kept staring at me. Do not recommend.

July 26th, 2022 by shawn

parking lot for a fishing lake in the middle of the mountain range. Arrived late and set up roof top tent. We enjoy Train noise but will agree there's alot of it. agree there are no signs saying you can't stay and had no knocks or tickets.

trash is very much a problem here.

March 23rd, 2022 by shaunanikles

Positives: beautiful scenery all around, great place to see stars, very flat and lots of room.
Negatives: tons of misquotes, trafficked area, rail road very close by, lots of garbage around.
Would stay again in a pinch.

February 22nd, 2022 by stephanopoly

Stayed here on our way to Vegas from San Diego. We were the only ones here at night. Pretty quiet except for the train horn but it’s not too bad. Far amount of trash and toilet paper around unfortunately but a beautiful spot.

January 28th, 2022 by Jordan

Stopped on a Friday night before a Spartan race. A little bumpy after you pass the train tracks, but any vehicle can make it. There’s a fairly steep hill you can climb past the main dirt parking area if you want to overlook the lake. Several cars began arriving around 6am to watch the sunrise - you can see why in the photo.

October 31st, 2021 by Smokey Da Van

Easy access from the east. Road is 3 miles of washboard from the west but quite passable. Stayed here 2 nights exploring the area. Light traffic in and out, no loud parties, even on the weekend. Train noise isn’t bad at all. Noticed a cop parked next to me briefly last night, but no knock, no trouble at all. Also, lovely sunset.

October 2nd, 2021 by sokol.koda

Would not recommend staying here! Cop came by in the morning to announce no camping and no parking in upper lot. Also lots of coyotes so def not a safe place to bring a dog. “Lake” is a generous word the body of water at this spot.

May 6th, 2021 by surfcolorados

Spent a night here and was relatively quiet. Pulled in around 9pm and left around 6:30am. No one bothered me. You could hear the trains on the tracks but not enough to keep me awake. One car pulled through the lot around 3am but left. It might get more traffic on a weekend night. Parking lot wasn’t as flat as I thought but was able to maneuver for a head uphill sleeping spot.

March 19th, 2021 by kbagri

Big dirt lot with access to the lake. No “no camping” signs. Wasn’t bothered. Near a train and highway but not too bad. Lake is pretty. Couple of other cars were here as well. Nice little stop come from Vegas to LA.