Bison cut across the Cottonwood loop at dusk between cottonwoods on the Little Missouri, the buttes behind them banded ochre and gray. You sleep at Cottonwood in the South Unit, or you go north to Juniper in the North Unit, still on the same river. In the morning the South Unit scenic loop is the drive, prairie dog towns on the flats and bison standing in the road.
You stop at Painted Canyon before Medora, a drop of striped rock, and walk out to the rim. The Maah Daah Hey Trail runs the broken country between the units for hiking, bikes, and horses, and bikes are not allowed inside the park boundaries, so you ride to the line and walk from there. Rough Rider State Park near Medora, the park that used to be Sully Creek, has a rebuilt campground on the Little Missouri at the southern access of that trail.
As of September 2026, Cottonwood and Juniper both book only on recreation.gov, and Cottonwood fills to capacity daily from mid-May through mid-September. Book that pad before you book the van. Cottonwood's back-in sites run 20 to 40 feet, and if you need more sleeping space or a longer rig, browse RVs for rent in North Dakota.
Neither campground has hookups. Use the private Medora Campground on the Little Missouri for full hookups.
The Medora Musical at Burning Hills Amphitheatre is the summer evening in town, and it does not attach an overnight. The shows land in the same months Cottonwood is already full.
Off I-94 between Gladstone and Regent, the Enchanted Highway's scrap-metal sculptures stand in open prairie. There is no camping on the route.
Far west on Lake Sakakawea, Fort Union Trading Post stands at the Missouri-Yellowstone confluence, a fur-trade palisade on the big water, and the overnight is Lewis and Clark State Park on an upper bay. Williston is the town on that shore.
Devils Lake and Grahams Island State Park
You fish walleye, pike, and perch from Grahams Island State Park, sleeping in the trees on the Devils Lake shore. The boat ramp is the morning, and six lakeside cabins stand on a hill above the water.
Premium sites have electric, water, and sewer, and modern sites keep electric and water. Book Grahams Island 95 days ahead on reservendparks.com. North Dakota state parks take a vehicle permit, sold as a daily or annual pass.
The Turtle Mountains and the International Peace Garden
Aspen and oak pile up around Lake Metigoshe, a wooded rise out of the prairie. You camp in the woods at Lake Metigoshe State Park, electric-and-water sites plus primitive loops, and cabins that close when winter comes.
The International Peace Garden puts formal beds on the line from North Dakota into Manitoba. You can walk the garden without a border crossing, and the garden's own campground is a different operator from the state park next door. It charges its own admission, not a North Dakota state park permit. If you are already on that line, Manitoba campervan rentals cover the Canadian side.
Pembina Gorge State Park
The Pembina River has cut a wooded gorge into the prairie near Walhalla. You can kayak under the Brickmine Bridge, and trails climb the hillside for hiking, mountain bikes, OHVs, and horses.
Pembina Gorge State Park opened a campground in 2026, with electric and water at every site and sewer at some of them, plus more than 16 miles of trail.
Sleep on the Missouri at Fort Abraham Lincoln and Cross Ranch, and at the Garrison Dam end of Lake Sakakawea, from Bismarck. Run the Sheyenne from Fargo. Minot, Dickinson, Watford City, and Jamestown are towns between these trips. From Medora, people keep driving to the Black Hills or west to Billings.