We went to Dog Canyon Campground to camp from May 18th to 21st. In short, it’s an excellent campground, both clean and well maintained while also being quite remote. It is nestled between mountains, with far taller mountains to the east than to the west, so you’ll get direct sunlight (in May) from about 9am until 8pm. Expect the temperatures to drop significantly at night. For us it was 54 degrees by early morning, and then it would get well over 70 once the sun came out, and maybe up to 80 in the afternoon. Most of the campsites have shade, but it does vary from site to site.

The bathrooms were clean, with almost no bugs or spiders. There is a dish cleaning area behind the bathrooms that was also pretty clean and without bugs or spiders. You’ll find flies at the campsites, and a selection of beetles, maybe some ants, but delightfully no mosquitoes. I had only one run-in with a single biting fly during our stay.

The sites are a short (and I mean SHORT) walk from the parking. Something to think about is that if you need to inflate an air mattress using electricity from your car, you won’t be able to do that inside your tent unless you have a hundred ft long cord and are staying at one of the sites closest to the parking. We inflated two twin sized mattresses in the parking lot and then walked them down to our tent. I think each campsite has a nice, sturdy aluminum picnic table next to it. There is also a handicap accessible campsite here as well. The wind in the camp is peculiar with long periods of no wind punctuated by sudden gusts. It’s a good idea to use the guy wires on your tent just in case of suddenly high winds.

Dog Canyon is remote, and there are no services on the way. Once you get out of Carlsbad, it is about an hour and forty five minutes drive to the campsite over (thankfully) paved roads. The last mile or two is gravel. I used up about a 1/4 tank of gas to get there (one way). Keep an eye out for cows, as they will likely be on the road.

The first night we spent at the campsite was beautifully quiet with only a few other people. The second and third nights were unfortunately filled with the sound of little children arguing and whining, and the cries of an infant. For some reason, some fellow campers had decided to go here with 4 or 5 little kids and an infant. I would never blame children for being children. It’s unavoidable, but the adults should have known better. If you have small children (of the age that need constant attention/distraction and cannot satisfy themselves with the simple joys of nature/camping) you should not camp here. It is entirely inappropriate, and changes the character of the campsite significantly for those who came to Dog Canyon for solitude and enjoyment of nature.