Cottonwood Campground — Theodore Roosevelt National Park

Beautiful, quiet campground right on a river. First come first serve, grills, has water spickets and bathrooms. Located right off on the main park road, and an easy drive to other overlooks and hikes.

Choose your tent only walk in site carefully. Most (esp those next to river) have no shade. This means it’s hot in the sun and exposed in thunderstorms. Most sites are on top of each other with nothing to block sounds or sites.

Bathrooms are a distance off from walk in sites. You must use (as of late July 2023) the bath near the amphitheater. The facilities next to walk-in camp are just a pad at the moment with no signs of construction happening anytime soon.

Trail to sites is narrow and uneven and prone to flooding with rain.

Someone noted this earlier that it is close to the road and if you are in a walk in site you can hear I-94 and the main park road. Yes, you can hear the main park road easily and when the breeze dies down you can here the interstate. Bring earplugs and your fine.

No campfire pits.

What a great spot! We came on a cooler day. The camp host suggested spot 52 and we couldn't be happy...you can walk right to the river, it's private. We raced to get here this am as we were told it fills up fast, but at 9am we still had plenty of spots to pick from. Everyone favors the south side campground and park, but we really enjoyed both of them! We saw a ton of buffalo on the north side and we have already spotted buffalo, seen prairie dogs and wild horses from the road. Great overlooks!

We have cell service at our spot. Not a ton of bars but can text etc and again bathrooms are super clean, no showers.

Spot wasn't overly level so we used our blocks and we got perfectly level after that. Highly recommend this campground!

We had what we (and the camp host) considers the best site in the whole campground! The views are incredible! We saw the wild horses from camp every single day. No bison, but saw plenty in the park. . This campground has very limited services. There is a water filling station across from the camp host and also several other water filling sites throughout the campground. There is no dump station for RV’s so we pod $5 to use the one at Medora Campground in town. There is a newer bathroom facility in the middle of the campground with several trails that lead to it, but I just can’t believe that they didn’t include a shower! So many people tent camping that I was extremely surprised by this. . Tip: use Google maps to “drive thru” this campground to see what your site looks like ahead of time if it is important to you.

Cottonwood is located inside the NP, so an extra admission fee of $30 is required. The sites are fairly wooded, but some are very small and oddly placed. The bathroom is a brand new building with flush toilets, it’s just too bad they did not add showers. Water spigots are plenty throughout the park, there is an RV fill-up, but there is no dump station. We didn’t see any wildlife in the campground, but it was plenty in the park. (Saw more in the 3 hour drive than our 3 days in Yellowstone!) We would hope to come back and spend one more day touring the north unit of the park. No AT&T service in the campground.

This was a last minute stop and I’m so glad I stopped here! The sites are well maintained. The bathrooms are so clean and seem new. The hikes in the area are great. The baby buffaloes are so darn cute!

This is a great spot if you’re looking to stay in the park. It’s the only in-park campground. Convenient and just past the Medora entrance station.

There are no services however and this is almost borderline boondocking here. But it’s right off the river and pets are allowed. Bison walk through the campground often.

Herds of buffalo walking through the campground greeted us in the evening. Plenty of spots available, even though the sign said Campsite Full. 14 bucks a night for well hidden sites with water, a grill and picnic table at each. Coyotes howled throughout the night, so bring some earplugs. Very beautiful as the morning sign rose above the canyon walls

If you visit Theodore Roosevelt, you likely want to see the bison the park is famous for, and if you stay at Cottonwood, you likely will. We did--up close. One passed within about 10 feet of our campervan (which we'd jumped into with our dog, as the bison started to approach). What a thrill. We wondered if it was the same bison we'd seen grazing about 50 yards away the day before and the same one who'd left muddy hoofprints all over the campground. 

We didn't love the campground itself as much as the other reviewers did. The sites are decently spaced, and many of them are at least partly shaded. The bathhouse near our site was newish with flush toilets (which my spouse always loves). 

So why not five stars? The camp host committed one of my pet peeves, which is not enforcing the generator quiet hours (8 pm to 8 am here). A camper near us was using his generator till at least 10:30 (when I finally managed to fall asleep; he might've been using it even later). Too, the campground was buggy--as buggy as I've experienced in the West (which I usually find to be much less buggy than my homelands in the muggy, wet East).

This place is wild. We had a herd of wild horses run through our campground and a local bison slept next to someone’s tent. They do have a restroom and water, no other amenities. Great for tent or truck camping.

Very nice modern bathroom very clean. Your in a large valley surrounded by the beautifully colorful hills.

I camped in one of the walk in sites along the river. Excellent camping! Bison and wild horses were often seen across the river or near or even in the campground itself. Free concerts from the coyotes each night. Each site has a table and a fire ring. It was early in the season, so water was only available at the visitor center and the restrooms near the walk in sites were being rebuilt.

Great national park. As advertised. Busy even in late September Friendly ranger on duty.

This was our final stop on a trip where we visited 9 national parks and stayed at campgrounds in many of them. This was by far our favorite due to the wildlife and views. We were right along the river with a butte, where we saw multiple elk. We also heard elk bugling and coyotes yipping and howling throughout the night, which we thought was awesome! The only downfall was no showers but we were only there for a short stay so it didn’t ultimately matter for us.

We came in after dark but luckily found a spot even though the sign said it was full. Unbelievably busy for a Sunday night in September. Nice facility’s and eight in Teddy Roosevelt National park. Friendly helpful host. Would be helpful if they changed their cancellation policy as the host said seniors reserve camping spots and don’t bother to cancel if they change their minds as it costs more to cancel than to just leave their reservation in place. This makes for unused campsites.

Great place to camp in the park. It was close to several trails for us to explore. The even numbers are first come and the odd are reservable. Overall quiet except the running of a couple generators

Located just off the scenic drive and river. Spots are mostly shaded and first come first serve( except for some that can be reserved at recreation.gov). Bathrooms are spotless and sites are very nice. Ranger programs are held at the amphitheater and you can experience bison in the campground Couple things to know: No showers Host is seasonal No hookups 76 spots total

Site was clean and well maintained. Campground offered pull through, pull off and back in Sites.

Bathrooms were very clean and well maintained.

Wildlife is everywhere. We were fortune to witness Bison walking through our site in the very early hours of the morning. Wild horses also visited the campground at some point.

Rangers we not only friendly but very knowledgeable. They were great with kids in ever setting taking time to educate them with facts about the park and wildlife.

We arrived before 3pm and were able to secure a first come first serve campsite.

Not only being in the heart of Theodore Roosevelt National Park, the town of Medora is a very family friendly place to explore.

I stayed three nights and explored the south unit of the park and the small town of Medora. The campground is well maintained. I saw bison, prairie dogs, and wild horses. I would not recommend the site I was in only because the light from the bathroom shone right over it ! Site 48. Otherwise a good campground. There is water available.

It is quiet, shady, the restrooms are clean. Bison and wild horses roam through the park.

We stayed at Cottonwood for two nights and loved it. We were ultimately headed to MT, so two nights here tent camping for us was perfect. Overall, the grounds are pretty quiet and very clean with plenty of water and flush toilets. There are no showers here which didn’t bother us one bit. Campfires were allowed in the grill pits but no big fires on the ground due to dry conditions. By far the best part of our site (17) was that we had bison walk behind our site once in the morning and then again at dinner time. They were no bother to us one bit, but it was such a cool experience to watch them walk right on by our tent. I highly recommend a campsite on the outer edge of the grounds for this reason.

Campground was nice for a “rustic” tent site. They had flush toilets that were well maintained. We got to the park around 2pm on a Thursday in July and there were at least 20 FCFS sites left! We had a great view of the River and beautiful sunsets!

Pulled in and took the last available site. Past trips it was FCFS, but apparently it's a reservation now. Decent site though. Restrooms clean.

Beautiful spot on Little Missouri River. Medora is cool little town and Maah Daah Hey trail is epic single track for bikes. Unfortunately no off-road biking in National Park so use Sully Creek State Park trailhead. Bison regularly pass through campground on way to river.

Camped late April for 5 days, so it was offseason one pit toilet open one water spigot open in the campground.  There are two loops, the south look which is tenting and smaller sized trailer sites but it was not yet open while we were there,  The North Loop is mainly pull through sites and can handle larger sized RV's.  This is dry camping, there are no hookups.  You can experience some nice hiking and opportunities for wildlife viewing.  Buffalo were common visitors while having coffee in the morning.   Elk, deer, wild horses were common as well as hawks and prairie dogs.  Currently Western North Dakota is experiencing a drought, and being early in the season for the campground, it was dry and dusty but did not prevent us from hiking and exploring the park.  There is a convenience store in Medora ND right outside the park entrance that you can purchase basics but there was no grocery store.  Part of the scenic loop drive is closed due to road erosion but you can still travel most of it though its an out and back with turnarounds for larger vehicles. We would defiantly camp there again, but if you need the luxuries of an RV "park", you will not find that here.  The campground is well maintained and clean.

The campsites are perfectly fine. The park is stunning. 

Leave no trace.

We have stayed at the Cottonwood campground in the T.R. National Park a number of times & have loved it each time!! We’ve tented &, more recently, stayed in a RV - both types of stays were great!! Love the scenic drive loop because of the gorgeous views & you are guaranteed to see some wildlife - buffalo, wild horses, elk, prairie dogs, deer!! Great scenic stops along the drive in the Park. Wind Canyon was a favorite stop. We also went horse back riding (in the Park) one year that we visited. We had buffalo walk through the campsite when we were in the tent! Although there’s no designated swim beach, we were able to walk down to the river to cool off (muddy though). Great views, wild life, history, & scenery - definitely worth a trip!!

As the only campground in TRNP South, it’s the place to be when visiting this section of the park. Most of the best sites are reservable so jump on those if you can, otherwise there are plenty of good non reservable sites as well (evens I believe). I was fortunate enough to stumble across a couple leaving a non reservable site by the river around 10am and snagged that spot (52?). Great spot with plenty of necessary shade and a great view of sunset falling behind the hills.

There isn’t much to do right from the campsite but you’re a short drive from most of the parks highlights (scenic drive, hiking from the Valley Lodge). Be sure to take a drive at sunset one night. The view from the short Wind Canyon trail is stunning at this hour and you may run into some Bison leaving the river along the way.

Will use this platform to also note that TRNP is one of my favorite hidden gem NP’s around. Didn’t know a thing about it ‘til I got there and absolutely loved it. The more prairie-like section of the “badlands.”

Two loops; the north loop is open year-round. The south loop is open mid-May through September. There are also walk-in sites and a group site, off the south loop. The campground fills up almost every day in the summer, even during the week. Odd-numbered sites are reservable while even number sites are first-come, first-served. We were not able to get into the site we had reserved (a nice pull-through with views of the bluffs and the river) because the people staying there the night before were having difficulty with their RV and not able to move it. We had been re-assigned to Site 38, a much larger site, but among the trees with no view. We were bummed but had no choice as the campground was full. We thought we might try to move the next day, but it turns out friends were able to join us, so our large site ended up being to our advantage. The pull-through in Site 38 was so large that it could have easily accommodated three large Class A motorhomes with room to spare! Large picnic table that was pushed up against the trees; we discovered the next afternoon that it was to take advantage of as much shade as possible. No fire ring; campfires are permitted in charcoal bbq grates or fully contained fire pans. Wood was not available to purchase at the campground; you must go to Medora(about five miles away) to purchase or you can collect dead and down firewood. Bathroom was clean enough with flush toilets but NO SOAP! No showers but we didn’t expect them in a National Park campground. Several very short trails in the park but the most popular Petrified Forest Trail is accessible from outside the park. Saw bison, prairie dogs, pronghorn antelope, wild horses.

Camping inside National Parks is always a treat. Cottonwood Campground makes exploring Theodore Roosevelt NP very accessible. The site is close to the river and you can easily walk to it from the campground. Very peaceful and secluded, it makes you feel like you are really in the wild. We saw bison and wild horses across the river from the campground. Some sites don’t have a lot of shade so get there early if you want a site with trees.