Furnace Creek, Death Valley National Park, California

I found out about this campground via the NPS Web site, and I tent camped there in March 2004.

This was a great time of year to visit as far as temperatures and crowds go. Be aware that it is almost always windy in Death Valley, a detriment when tent camping and eating outside. I've also camped at Mesquite Springs and Stovepipe Wells.

Pros: It's cheap and plentiful. This may be the only National Park with a campground that boasts 1,000 sites. And that is just one of the campgrounds in the Furnace Creek area.

Cons: All in all Death Valley is not a great camping park in that there's not many features in the campgrounds, which all mostly resemble vast dirt parking lots. We were the only tent in a sea of RVs. Yes, they were multi-use sites. As we ate our eggs, toast and coffee with sand for breakfast in the gale-force winds common to the area surrounded by the lulling sound of generators running and people opening the door only to let the dog out, we got a lot of strange looks.

Nearby attractions: The Furnace Creek area is central to most places of interest in this Delaware-sized park: Dante's Peak, Badwater, Artists Drive, and I highly recommend the 40-mule team drive. There's a good cafe near the showers at Furnace Creek and a gift shop that sells ice cream. Great little museum there too.

Have I mentioned that the wind is a constant part of life in Death Valley? Good advice is to plan on some kind of windscreen for cooking and eating. It can be so strong I had a tent pole snap in two while trying to pitch the tent, which turned my dome into a teepee. You may use all your guylines with rocks for anchors.