Best Dispersed Camping in North Dakota

We dispersed camped for 1 night while walking along the North Country trail. It is a quiet and safe, we parked at the trail head and intended to hike to mirror lake but didn't make it in that far and found a nice place to stop along the way.

There are cows around the prairie which leads to cattle gates along the trail, just a quick flip up of the gate and you are on your way! I recommend selecting an area where the cows are not currently in. Also, note since there area cows and these are equestrian trails keep your eyes open for any droppings along the trail :)

Overall, lovely and cost effective option for a hike and camp.

Pullouts along a dirt road provide good camping spots! Able to find a free spot on a friday night around 4 but there were definitely other people filling in.

As a tenter or suv camper I drove to the top of the grasslands boondocking area to find others doing the same thing. Even without an actual "spot" I was able to get a nice place on the bluff to spread out, not close to other dudes. Obviously no services here but just piss into the wind. Ominous heavy fog in the morning with low visibilty but a cool spot for sure. Drive, dont roll, down the hill. No need for bug spray but maybe a pair of binoculars to check out the ladies. Big sky, wild horses, and yummy grasshoppers. No west bound access when leaving so take Buffalo Gap Rd or backtrack to Medora. Such a nice town to chill during the hot days, especially at the historic park with covered tables.

We had an amazing spot on top of hill. Could see for miles. Saw nice mule deer buck. Lots of camping spots. Empty during the day gets close to full an hour or so before dark. 10 min from National park entrance. No water or dump. Can be very windy. Very close to petrified forest.

Beautiful secluded campsite. Just a few designated spots, but we saw people pulled over anywhere along the gravel road. Heard wolves in the night and saw the Milky Way. Some road noise from the interstate, but not too bad.

8-10 semi-secluded spots, beautiful area - let's keep it that way. The guidelines are in the description.

easily accessible, multiple spots to choose from that are dispersed about half a mile from each other. far enough from the interstate to not see it, but close enough to still hear it. also had full bars with verizon. insanely windy but beautiful!!

This park had a surprising amount of space and amenities for a county park.  I *think* there were around 40 campsites.  Don't miss the back, more private section.  We camped overnight here while en-route to Theodore Roosevelt N.P. from Minneapolis airport.  It is on the Shyanne River National Scenic Byway.  It has everything you need, with the addition of some nice day trip amenities like soccer fields, a children's playground, and half-court basketball.  There are 2 day-use group shelters.  An individual camp site was $20 - non electric.

There is potable water but no flush toilets (only pit toilets) and no showers.

most amazing campsite. arrived around 4pm and secured a spot with views of the whole valley. windy at times but was able to move the car in front of the tent!

Road was closed to the actual marked area. There was another campsite right before the road with a fire pit if you follow the directions.(recommend heading across to Scoria pit instead.)

There was a large beautiful herd of feral horses bedding down with their little ones here in the evening though!

Best part is it’s free, there isn’t much traffic, plenty of room. Pets allowed. Someone might be here to greet you, but probably not.

Pulled up to the first campsite which was very easy to get to. Very peaceful. Around 9:30pm another camper pulled up next to me which seems like bad camping etiquette but maybe this is considered overflow since there’s enough space for two. I ended up moving to a different spot. Tried to make my way down to the petrified forest hike which is five miles down the dirt road but the last half mile was too washed out for my van to make it. Visited early June.

After the first cattle guard, it’s the first right! The coordinates might not be correct. If you cross a second cattle guard, you went too far.

This was absolutely stunning. If you get to the top of the road and it is blocked, you can move the fencing and go beyond. Several people were. If you have a 4x4 you can get up to the last spot before the fence on the right!

There is one spectacular site at the end of the road and up a hill that overlooks the whole area. I wish I had gotten the opportunity to stay there. My site was simply okay. However, this campground was super easy to get to. The road in was fairly flat, and basically right off the highway. You can have the option of lots of privacy as well. Most of the sites are quite a distance away from each other.

This is a terrific spot for any size rig. Ample room to turn around and well-maintained gravel roads to get to the site. It can be extremely windy though, so beware (60 mph gusts when we visited).

If you are attending the Medora Musical, this is perfect! It is not far off the highway, so it is quick to get set up and then get going for your next day. When I got here around noon, it was just me. Two other people set up through the day. There was plenty of room and it was still very peaceful. I would definitely camp here again!

I was confused on where this was because the GPS coordinates were wrong on another app. These are the coordinates for an amazing tent spot: (46.9411728, -103.5856874) Do not go past the second cattle guards! If you have, you’ve gone to far!

Also, just enough people here to make me comfortable, but not enough to make it crowed at all!

Just a dirt road with ample pullouts for camping/RVs. 2wd/low clearance is no problem on the dirt road. It's a right turn after the first cattle guard, previous reviewers were saying they had trouble finding the spot, I'd recommend Gaia gps or something similar.

Let me tell you, these stars were INCREDIBLE. We were fortunate to be there on a clear night (September 3) and the Milky Way was painted out for us. This is a very popular spot and it's no mystery why considering how pretty it is and how close it is to Teddy Roosevelt. We pulled into this site after dark , which did present various difficulties including a mama cow bluff charging our van (didn't know it was a bluff at the time), not knowing exactly which road to take as there are a couple to choose from when you get there, and not knowing exactly where to park because it was so dark and we couldn't see the terrain. We used the lights of the other vans, RVs, and tents as guides. Even with these difficulties, we felt safe and fortunate to be there.

This is a great place for camping outside Theodore Roosevelt NP. Once you turn right off of River Rd and go up the first hill there is another road to your left with a large cul-de-sac for camping. If you keep going there are 4-5 other pull offs for camping with larger rigs on the right. There are a few smaller spots up the big hill but it isn't suggested for larger rigs, there's no room to turnaround