Staying At Cottonwood Campground In Theodore Roosevelt National Park

Theodore Roosevelt National Park is a popular national park in North Dakota.

This year we had the opportunity to visit the south unit of the park for a few days and stayed in Cottonwood Campground.

Cottonwood Campground is the South Unit’s only campground located about 5 miles from Medora, ND.

Odd-numbered sites are reservable from May through September while even-numbered sites are on a first-come first-served basis. All campsites are first come, first served the rest of the year.

Reservations can be made at recreation.gov.

One night in a standard campsite is $14 May through September and $7 the rest of the year. There is a group site for $30 a night by reservation only.

There are a total of 76 campsites in the campground.

Each campsite has a picnic table, raised grill, and a cleared, flat area for a tent. There are no firepits and all fires must be contained in the provided grills.

Cottonwood Campground is open year-round and check-out time is noon.

If you have a reservation you can go straight to your site. There is a self-registration kiosk if you are trying to snag a first-come first-served site.

I would come early if you want a first-come first-served site they filled up every night we were there.

There were campground hosts on-site to answer questions. They made multiple trips around the campground during our stay to assist campers and check over everything.

These are non-electric sites. Potable water is available at the front of the campground, but there is no dump station.

Water is only available from May to October 1st and depending on weather conditions may be shut off even during these times.

We had cell service, but unfortunately, I don’t remember if it was with AT&T or Verizon. It worked well enough that we could work online during our stay.

There are a couple of restroom facilities in the campground as well as trashcans to dispose of your trash properly.

Generators hours are from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m..

Campsite occupancy is limited to six people per site and two vehicles.

Pets are allowed as long as they are properly leashed and please pick up after them.

When making reservations be sure to double-check the RV length each site can handle. Most sites can fit big rigs, but some were quite small and meant for tenters only.

Considering it’s a national park campground I felt the sites weren’t as close together as others we have encountered.

Do not be surprised if you look out your window and see a herd of bison or a band of wild horses walking through the campground.

A bison herd showed up the morning we left and we saw a small band of horses by the Little Missouri River behind camp another morning.

Cottonwood Campground is a nice campground and a great place to stay during your visit to Theodore Roosevelt National Park. It’s location makes it easy to hit the hiking trails in the park.

Read all my posts on Theodore Roosevelt National Park here.