Best Tent Camping near Dickinson, ND
Tent camping options around Dickinson, North Dakota include several established and primitive sites spread across the surrounding grasslands and badlands terrain. BLM Schnell Recreation Area near Richardton offers tent sites with basic amenities, while Burning Coal Vein Campground near Amidon provides a more remote tent camping experience in the Little Missouri National Grassland. Both locations accommodate tent campers year-round with varying levels of facilities and natural settings.
Most tent sites in the Dickinson area feature basic amenities with picnic tables and fire rings, though facilities vary significantly between locations. Schnell Recreation Area provides drinking water and vault toilets, but recent reviews indicate maintenance issues with trails and facilities. Burning Coal Vein Campground offers more reliable facilities with drinking water from a manual pump, vault toilets, and well-spaced campsites for $10 per night, payable by cash in an envelope system. Many of these primitive tent campgrounds require visitors to pack in their own water, as pumps may be unreliable or produce discolored water that campers prefer not to drink.
The tent camping experience near Dickinson offers remarkable prairie landscapes and badlands views with varying degrees of privacy. Tent sites at Burning Coal Vein are particularly well-regarded for their spacing and location in a protected valley with good shade. These primitive campgrounds connect to hiking trails including the Maah Da Hey Trail and routes to scenic buttes and overlooks. West River Road dispersed camping areas provide more isolated tent camping options but may require high-clearance vehicles and careful navigation. A visitor commented that "the sites are in a protected shallow valley with good shade and are fairly private, with great access to the Columnar Junipers hike and bluffs for beautiful overlooks of this part of the Little Missouri National Grassland."
