Cottonwood Campground

If you are visiting the park, this is where you want to stay to save yourself some drive time and lines to enter the park. It's a better campground than in the north unit and has sites that will fit any size RV. If your rig is longer than about 20 feet and you don't have reservations, you will want to arrive in the morning during the summer. I would suggest 9am. Drive through the campground and find a vacant first-come site. If you are lucky, you may have some shade. If you just need a smaller space, the "tenting" loop seemed to have availability until late afternoon on a weekday. If you get here too late to get a spot, check out the listing for the Scoria Pit for a nearby quick overnight boondock. There is a water fill station at the entrance but there is not a dump station here. There are commercial dump stations in Medora, a dump station at the north unit of TRNP, or if headed west on I-94 there is a free dump station at the Cenex in Miles City.

Very nice campground within the National Park. Dry camping with potable water at entrance/exit of campground. No on-site dump station. They do have bathrooms and water spigots located within the campground. Booked through Recreation.gov (even sites are currently FCFS/odd sites are reservations). The road throughout the campground is paved, sites are gravel. There are some low hanging trees. We stayed in site 27 which is listed as a pull through. We have a 37 foot class A that was too large to make the turn into the spot. Easy enough to back in. Plenty of room to park in front or behind the RV. Biggest plus of the site was the trees that provided afternoon to the motorhome. We happened to be there when in was 90+ degrees. Biggest con is its located next to a dumpster and recycling bins. There were lots of flies, mosquitoes and other bugs. Definitely recommend a screen room if staying here. Verizon signal worked most of the time, definitely not reliable.

This campground is perfect in every way. There’s strong enough Verizon signal to work virtually, it’s well spaced out, there are vault toilets, a water point and the hosts keep it clean and organized. Sewer dump can be found next door in the state park or private camps in Medora. Best part is the nature, Bison and Deer are frequent visitors so are wild horses. Snakes frequent but between bulls and rattlers they never paid us any attention. It was shocking how beautiful and meticulous Medora’s township is. Out of the 27 NP we’ve been to this is our favorite by a long shot. We stayed here with our 33’ TT and there’s plenty of big rig sites. 3 smalls kids and a dog. Just make a RIGHT at the Y in the campground since the back ins are mostly tent camping and you’ll find a spot suitable for any size rig.

Nice campground but larger pull through sites have a bend which makes it harder for larger rigs. We have a 43 ft fifth wheel and had a difficult time in one of their largest sites. They are tight if you have slide outs. Sites are secluded and spaced out. If you have a smaller rig you will love it. High season $14.00 a night and off season $7.00. No hook ups. Water available and no dump.

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.