Milky Way core season is here and Joshua Tree is already packed

Drove out to Joshua Tree last weekend for the first real core visibility window of the year. Got there around 10pm, and there were already a dozen headlamps wandering around Skull Rock. Someone had a full ring light going for portraits. In April.

I get it, the park is beautiful at night and more people want to see the sky. But the light pollution from other photographers is becoming a genuine problem out there. Two years ago I could set up at a pulloff along Park Boulevard and have clean darkness in every direction. Now I'm driving deeper into the backcountry roads just to avoid stray white light on the horizon.

For anyone else shooting the desert skies this spring and summer, are you still going to Joshua Tree or have you shifted to other spots? I've been spending more time toward Anza Borrego but even that's getting busier. Wondering if anyone has found a reliable dark site that isn't turning into a parking lot on new moon weekends.