Saddleback Butte State Park is one of the hidden gems of desert camping. It is a twenty minute drive from Palmdale, Lancaster, and Quartz Hill and has a fantastic view of those cities at night. They form a half moon of glittering lights in the distant Antelope Valley below. The campsite fee is paid in a drop box by the main entrance and the Sheriff stops by every morning to check on things. Every time that I have been there we have seen no more than four other campers in a huge park. It is absolutely ideal for a quick getaway from Los Angeles or Orange County. It is also a perfect place to take friends from out of town that have never seen the dessert. This is campsite 38. You can book a campsite on Reserve America but that is almost never necessary here. It is pretty important to plan ahead for beach camping though. It is one of my favorite campsites in the whole park because of the stunning view. Every campsite has a wood sun shade and a picnic table and campfire circle, grill, and trash can. I strongly recommend that you bring a rake to pull the somewhat pokey grass out of the way before putting a tent down. This is not always a problem. Little mice tend to run through the campsite at night and there are a lot of ants but few other bugs.
