Best Tent Camping near Cowley, WY

What a gem this find was! Free camping with showers and bathrooms as clean as home, close to restaurants and a cute movie theater, and close to the Bighorn Canyon with great wildlife. I took advantage of its location to head towards Cody to visit the Heart Mountain Internment Camp interpretive center as well as to head up Bighorn Canyon to look for wild horses in the Pryor Range. There are about 8 RV pull through sites and about 5 or 6 tent sites, all with picnic tables available(although some tent sites share a table). The tent pads are not really dedicated pads, but they are covered in wood mulch, so they are nice and soft. You do get a little noise and dust from the nearby ballfields, and it was really windy the afternoon I showed up so I was glad I had extra tie downs for my tent. Once the sun set however, the wind died down. While the campground isn’t a destination site, it’s a great stop off while traveling.

My wife and I were able to stay here for 3 nights. The grounds feature vault toilets, campfire rings, food storage lockers, and even a hand pump for water. There is someone who sells firewood at the camp which makes things easy on everyone. The tent site was level and large. There are some good hiking trails but they are open to mountain bikers so heads up! They may get pretty muddy. The kayaking was peaceful. I didn't catch much fishing but that's my fault not the campsites! We were on the Wild Bill Lake.

We came into this campground on a Wednesday and picked the best of three open sites. There were a lot of reserved sites, but they were mostly coming in on Friday.

The site was beautiful and very close to the river (the sound was great). The vault toilets were very clean. The water was available through a easy to use hand pump. The camp hosts had firewood for $5.00 per bundle.

We were tent camping and the site had a large pad, a place for my hammock, a nice wooden picnic table, and a GREAT fire ring. The sites were all very far apart from each other.

Near the base of the Big Horns Mountains, this KOA can make a great stop in between Yellowstone National Park and Mount Rushmore. This is a seasonal campground, opening on the 1st of May. This campground has cabins, full hook-ups(pull-thru, back-in sites) water-electric sites, long-term sites, and tent sites. Amenities include a heated pool, walking path, wi-fi, propane, firewood, pizza, and bathrooms. Campground Rec activities: Fishing, hiking, and golfing. 

Overall, pleasant stay and the campground was clean and well cared for. The only negative thing is the noise of the trains through the night.

It’s hard to believe that a town creates a free campground for anybody to use. This is well laid out with RV and tent sites. Water, restrooms and showers are all available. There is a donation box for people to offer their own fair value price. Perhaps all towns should offer donation based camping. With the effort the town put into this place, it’s a blessing. 

Town is a wonderful place. There are some unique small stores and restaurants. The families sitting in their yard wave as you pass. Right next to the campground is a great park. 

This is a wonderful community offering.

Clean creek side campsite with tent only and RV sites available. Each site has a fire ring, picnic table, utility post and bear-box

This campsite is very flat! There’s no shade, so be prepared to be hot. We stayed two nights. The first night got chilly at night but was perfect. The second night was incredibly windy so we couldn’t have a fire and had to park our truck in front of our tent to block the wind. But we still had a blast. The host was extremely nice and even offered us a place in her tent if the winds became too heavy. We heard coyotes our first night but did not see any wildlife. The campsite is conveniently located next to the horseshoe bend marina, where you can rent kayaks and canoes, and I think they rent boats as well. And a few miles down the road is Devil’s Canyon. Beautiful sunsets and night skies. Highly recommend!

Very clean KOA with a pool for kids. Offers shuttle to nightly rodeo in town. Lots of BIG RVs with pull through spaces. They actually had a pretty good area for tents too.

It’s big open campground but the sites are so large we didn’t mind---plus you get better views of the amazing colors on the cliffs. Pros: central location, near the marina, incredible views from your tent, water, flush toilets, clean, great caretakers, stargazing, large sites. Cons: only some of the sites have shade pavilions.

This is a beautiful campground! The Beartooth highway starts going up to the west right here. You must drive this route but plan lots of time for photos. 

The campground stretches out along the Wyoming creek. Let your eyes go upwards and glimpse the mountains around you. This campground is in the valley. Large sites are well spread out and wander through the wooded area. Drive through and select the one you like and then fill out the form. Vault toilets and garbage bins are spread out too. We found quite a few open sites but many were reserved. If this one fills up there are a few more down the road. 

The trailhead for the Wyoming creek trail is at the start of camp. We saw plenty of cars parked here for day hiking. This is a great place.

Only one spot was suitable for a car camping, the rest were for tents. There is a big waterfall up at the top of the campground, short hike. Spot had a bench, 2 picnic tables and a firepit. The creek was rushing right below the site. 2 bathrooms and trash cans. Only $7/night.

Nice little spot with motel rooms and some tent spots. You're already at the foot hills might as well head up into the beartooths! Is a good place to stay if you dont want to Airbnb or stay at one of the lodges.