You’ve camped in Joshua Tree, but never like this. Inside the desert’s new Airstream oasis

Are you tenting if in case you have a thermostat, a walk-in bathe of your individual and linens appropriate for a four-star resort?

That query might happen as you putter across the grounds of AutoCamp Joshua Tree, a luxurious “camp” with 47 Airstream trailers that began checking in visitors in January however isn’t fairly completed. (The swimming pool is due for completion in late March.)

The situation, about 125 miles east of downtown Los Angeles, is clearly aimed toward {couples} and households with the outside on their thoughts and extra money than time. And it’ll win many over.

It’s already pretty busy, maybe as a result of AutoCamp can draw from earlier visitors at its Yosemite, Russian River and Cape Cod areas. (Others open quickly within the Catskills and close to Zion Nationwide Park.)

In case you’re offended by the concept of paying $300 per evening to sleep in a trailer, even a gleaming, curvaceous one, you’d greatest keep away. (Or head for the Hello Desert Motel or Safari Motor Inn, each close by, very primary, and below $100 nightly.) In case you’ve acquired just a few {dollars} and also you’re drawn to the concept of a desert setting with simplified logistics, creature comforts and family-friendly options, this may very well be your home. I stayed an evening and made these notes:

The situation: AutoCamp’s 47 Airstream trailers and eight rectangular models (the scale and form of prepare vehicles) are unfold out on a largely flat 25-acre property simply north of Freeway 62. Friends examine in on the clubhouse (a.okay.a. foyer), which rises from the sand and sage like a Midcentury Trendy Quonset hut. If Brad Pitt employed Frank Gehry to make a desert bunker from navy surplus materials after which had Design Inside Attain usher in some furnishings, you’d get one thing like this. The property is one mile from the middle of tiny downtown Joshua Tree, six miles from the nationwide park’s west entrance.

AutoCamp Joshua Tree’s Airstream trailers embody a sitting room, toilet and bed room with upscale linens.

(Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Occasions)

The vibe: It’s a shiny consolation bubble in a harsh panorama. The clubhouse features a groovy, ’60s-style, stand-alone fire and a counter for ordering meals, beer and wine. The patio, the place musicians typically play at nightfall, consists of heated concrete furnishings. There’s a communal hearth pit (fed by fuel), and a rack of mountain bikes you possibly can borrow. To cart your baggage to the trailers, the camp offers little pink wagons. Canines are welcome ($75 every, most of two).

Desk attendants have been notably alert, upbeat and useful, they usually keep on obligation all evening. Within the foyer retailer, you’ll discover McConnell’s ice cream at $15 a pint, s’mores kits for $15, additional firewood for $20, a deck of taking part in playing cards for $18.

Moreover particular person picnic tables and hearth rings, AutoCamp Joshua Tree encompasses a gas-fed communal hearth ring, the place visitors mingle.

(Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Occasions)

“The Airstreams are wonderful, however it could be good if there have been some extra actions,” Mina Choe, 35, of San Francisco, instructed me. When she booked, she had anticipated the pool to be open. Arriving, she was affronted by the absence of cornhole. However quickly she was huddled at a picnic desk with associates, stating the colour of the sky and sipping Fireball Cinnamon Whisky.

The models: In case you’re 6 ft tall, you’ll duck a little bit to enter. However the inside felt roomy to me. The 31-foot-long trailers are mainly three-room suites: First you step up right into a kitchenette/sitting-room space with microwave, little fridge, kitchenware and grey futon sofa. (Every unit can deal with as much as two adults and two kids.) To the fitting, you discover a surprisingly spacious toilet (bathe, no tub). To the left, a bed room with built-in nightstands, charging retailers in every single place and a door to permit for household privateness.

AutoCamp Joshua Tree visitors share a toast over Presidents Day weekend.

(Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Occasions)

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Moreover an enormous, agency mattress, the bed room features a skylight, clerestory home windows and a wall-mounted tv (although cable service wasn’t activated but after I visited). Stable Wi-Fi. The white partitions and lots of home windows add to the sense of house inside, and the wall-mounted thermostat makes clear that you simply’re not roughing it. Outdoors, every unit has a small, grey picnic desk, a pair of Adirondack chairs and a fireplace pit, the place many visitors roasted s’mores and a few cooked steaks.

AutoCamp Joshua Tree’s Airstream trailers embody kitchenettes with dishware and, above the sink, thermostats.

(Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Occasions)

The meals: I appreciated the free morning espresso and granola however discovered the ready meals pricy and unremarkable (turkey sandwich and lemonade: $18.59). You’re higher off bringing substances (or shopping for some on the Saturday morning Joshua Tree Farmers Market) and grilling below the celebrities. Or you should buy an AutoCamp barbecue package that includes natural boneless rooster breasts, cauliflower heads or a pair of New York strip steaks ($79-$85).

The worth: The trailers common $300 to $400 on weekends, much less midweek, with charges various by location. (I paid $356.13, after taxes, for a Friday evening on Presidents Day weekend.) The eight rectangular models, comparably priced, are barely roomier than the Airstreams, and 4 are designed to ADA accessibility requirements. To avoid wasting on incidentals, attempt the Greenback Common retailer a block away at Sunburst Road and Freeway 62.

AutoCamp Joshua Tree offers visitors with little pink wagons to assist transport baggage (and typically kids).

(Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Occasions)

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The underside line: On a weekend household or friend-group splurge, I’d do that once more, due to the fashionable, snug trailers and attentive service. However even when cornhole and the bar beckon, no person ought to keep in camp all day — the park’s boulders and Joshua tree panorama demand exploration.

In case you go:
AutoCamp Joshua Tree, 62209 Verbena Street, Joshua Tree, Calif., 92252; (844) 366-9715, autocamp.com