Cottonwood Campground

We had a nice campsite on the river, even saw a horse on the shore one evening. The site was spacious with room for a screen house next to the gravel pad. This was the non-electric section and was quiet, non-crowded, and suited us very well with plenty of room for our teardrop camper. Flush toilets and running water but no showers. We showered at the nearby state park. Would definitely stay here again.

I can see how many reviewers say nice things. First, my experience - I reserved way in advance and am fairly careful about picking a site. I pulled into site #3 - wait! This is muddy pull-off right on the main entry road, called a "Parallel" site. And site #4 is in the same spot. There is no way this should have been rated as appropriate for a Class C with 1 slide. The picnic table and fire ring are down a 25" path essentially sharing an area with site #4. At least adjacent sites #1 and #2 are back-in. The other side of the road is fully paved (and level) parking for sites 43 & 44. This is the main road for both loops so everyone entering the campground has to drive right past you. Next, while sitting there with tears welling up I noticed SWARMS of flies, yellow jackets and wasps feasting on the carcasses of all the insects smashed on the front of the camper. I don't review campgrounds based on bugs BUT I hate wasps. Next, there was a serviceable source for drinking water fills across from registration but no dump station. After going to Medora Campground and paying $5 I went to Buffalo Gap where there was a nicer dump station. And the more remote North Unit has a dump station. Next, aside from a barely noticeable sign, posted on the "host's" residence, no one said anything about a substantial portion of the Scenic Loop being closed - seems like they could mention something when you pay the $30 entry fee. The "host" did nothing but drive around twice a day to update the incredibly cryptic board with available sites outside the registration area (a private residence). And there were instructions about "even" and "odd" numbered sites which didn't make sense. Overall the campground, while clean was just shabby and didn't appear to be tended to. The aforementioned campgrounds were much nicer. However, I relocated to a back-in site in the south loop (sites 45 - 76) and took several walks through the North Loop (sites 5 - 39) where nearly all the sites were pull-through and quite nice (lots of big rigs). The back of the south loop had an extensive tenting only area (sites 55-66). Sites 49 & 52 had very nice vistas of the river and bluffs beyond. Sites 70, 72, 74 and 76 had nice views of the grassland and bluffs to the east (and good for access to the southern sky). Many back-in sites were short and not level (gravel and mud). Being right on the interstate is probably the main reason so many people review this campground and enjoy it while passing through the Badlands. It just seems that for the price, to dry camp, it could be a lot nicer. Buffalo Gap was beautiful, hint hint.

Probably for us one of the most unheralded National Parks we've come across. Stunning views, abundant wildlife, and totally inexpensive! Overnighted when on the road and would certainly stay here again! Took a drive through the park, and it's beautiful no matter which direction you're looking. Sites can be a little snug, but are well spaced and certainly doable. Probably not however big rig friendly for most sites. The reason we own a smaller RV so we can go places like this!

Arrived w/o reservation about 11 am. There were a few spaces left. Lots of overnighters here it seems so arrive early and you should be good. Even numbered sites are first come odd are reservable on res.gov but need 4 day leeway. Site 20 was big enough for our 30 foot Airstream and level no blocks needed. Lots of brush and trees so we were totally hidden from the road and neighbors, that is except for the herd of bison that slept in field behind us and wandered the campground for a few days. With WeBoost we had plenty cell service and we were able to stream movies. No hookups and no dump station. No showers. Pit toilets clean. Citronella candle kept bugs away nicely. Night skies are beautiful. Medora is a bustling little tourist town. Dickinson with anything you could need is 35 miles away.

I made reservations ahead of time as I was staying over the Memorial Day holiday weekend and am used to national parks filling to capacity in the summer months. Turns out reservations weren't really necessary - camp was only about half full. The camp was very clean and well kept. No fire rings at the sites, only raised charcoal grill boxes and tables. The flush bathrooms were fairly clean if a little outdated. I reserved site 53 as it was next to the walk-in tents sites and the river and I figured it would be the quietest most private corner of the campground. There was a little noise from the interstate which is only about 1 mile away but it wasn't too disrupting.
The biggest complaint I have about the camp was the bugs. Between the mosquitoes and wood ticks everywhere it was hard to relax. I had two ticks crawling on me within 15 minutes of stepping out of the car and spent the rest of my outdoor time covered up head to toe in bug repellant clothing and doused myself in bug spray just for good measure.

We stayed here from 5-11 Sept 18. We are not good at getting reservations ahead because we want to stay at places we like longer so we are not schedule keepers. Half of the sites at cottonwood campground are not reservable and while we were there if you arrived by 1pm you could get a site. We saw lots of animals including a bull buffalo that decided to graze 10 feet from our trailer door. We also visited the north unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park which was nice but we liked Cottonwood Campground in the South Unit more. The north unit was worth the drive which was 1 hour each way for day excursion. We also hiked the trail to the petrified trees on the west side of the south unit.(we drove to the parking area near the petrified tree loop) The hike to the trees and back without doing the whole loop was about 1.5 miles. There was a 25 mile driving loop around the south unit to see and hike different areas. We also saw Elk, wild horses, mule deer with large antlers, and lots of Buffalo. There were other animals and we heard coyotes howl across the river from the campground. There were also talks each evening in the camp area on different subjects, which we enjoyed. The town of Medora is nice but it starts closing down after Labor Day. We left a few days after the last ice cream store closed. Dickinson is about 30 miles away and has Wal-Mart and other large stores.