Try these fall and winter national park camping destinations

If you are not quite ready to call an end to your camping season or are looking longingly at becoming a snowbird, consider these national parks and monuments that are too hot for summer camping but are popular with off-season campers and snowbirds for the fall and winter seasons.

Here’s a sampling of several parks where the late fall and winter is prime time for outdoor activity, according to National Parks Traveler.

Joshua Tree National Park in California has nine campgrounds, and several which are closed during the period of low summer visitation reopen on October 1.

The park website has details about each campground, including the number of sites, elevation, and perhaps most important in a desert park, locations where water is available. You’ll also find information about which campgrounds accept advance reservations and which are first-come, first-served.

Lake Mead National Recreation Area, on the Arizona-Nevada border south of Las Vegas, includes two large lakes and seven developed campgrounds: five on Lake Mead and two on Lake Mohave.

Although campgrounds in the park are open all year, the climate is much more pleasant in the fall and spring. NPS campgrounds offer restrooms, running water, dump stations, grills, picnic tables and shade. RVs, trailers and tents are welcome. Concessionaire-operated campgrounds with recreational vehicle hookups are also available within the park.

Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument is located in southern Arizona, right on the border with Mexico. The Twin Peaks Campground has 208 sites and can accommodate RVs up to 40 feet in length. It’s a clean, comfortable campground, with water spigots every few campsites. There are solar showers in the restrooms, but be cautious, as the water can get searing hot on hot days.

Big Bend National Park in Texas offers three developed campgrounds that vary widely in suitability for various types of vehicles, and in elevation and climate.

There are many more parks and you can find them here.

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