The Art of Sleeping on Dirt FALL 2026 Campout: Round Valley

The Art of Sleeping on Dirt: Round Valley Campout 2026 Fall Edition

Come join us for a night under the stars up the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway for the Art of Sleeping on Dirt (Backpacking 101): Round Valley Campout 2026! The best way to experience the first state wilderness in California is to wake up in it; come learn through hands-on instruction and camp with the park in the park!

From Long Valley (8500ft), we will hike out to Round Valley ~3 miles, gaining approx. 600ft of elevation. Once in Round Valley, we will set up camp for the night. We are hoping to facilitate a space for learning without pressures to hike fast, far, or quite frankly, to do much anything at all!

The next morning, we'll hike back out to the Mountain Station in Long Valley.

No peak bagging, no crazy wild itineraries, no particular time needed to be somewhere - just fellowship, learning, and hopefully an extremely peaceful week. I hope to make copious amounts of Cafe de la olla (to share!), sketch, and listen to the sounds of earth.

-Please ensure you have all items on packing list before coming (see class packet distributed at seminar)

-Attendees are responsible for their own tramfare/transportation. If you can use some assistance with tramfare, please inquire (completely confidential. We got you).

-Attendees must agree to Code of Conduct and Release of Liability

-We are meeting at the ground floor of the Mountain Station at 0900. Please arrive on time.

For safety purposes, this event requires attendance of one of the in-person classes offered 6/7, 6/21, 6/29, or 7/12 (2025), 5/9, 6/5, 6/13, 10/17, or 10/18 (2026) or previous.

All are welcome in Public Lands - this a safe, judgement-free, accessible space for folks to learn the basics of camping in the backcountry. In order to lower the accessibility barrier of financial burden, registration fees are donation-based. If you would like to support this and other educational programming in the park, we humbly and greatly appreciate what you can contribute. Thepark's official co-op partner, Mt. San Jacinto Natural History Association, helps support educational programming in the park through funding for in-person field trips as well as a variety of State Park functions/ equipment purchases (new radios, rescue baskets, patient litters etc).

Please see link below to donate. Please leave a comment in your donation and label it as "Art of Sleeping on Dirt Fall 2026"

https://www.msjnha.org/donate

-For PS Tram tickets please see link below:

https://pstramway.com/tickets/

Please note: tickets are still available as same-day walk-ins even if the time is greyed-out. Just show up and send it!!