Best Tent Camping near Douglas, WY

Let me start by explaining that 3-stars is usually the highest an RV Park will get from me. I am tempted to give it 4, but some pretty great places have a 4 from me (like Yellowstone). I believe that rating everything high, kind of causes the system of starring to lose perspective. 1 Star=Never Again, 3 is average, and 5 Stars=I don’t ever want to leave. As much as I car camp for convenience, I prefer more remote spaces, which is not an RV Park (so there is my bias). 3 is an average rating and this is a really nice spot—but being in the middle of not-much in South Eastern Wyoming, it’s hard to be totally wowed. Additionally, we camped here during the total eclipse of 2017. As a result, the Park was at maximum capacity, and I believe, expanding. The owners are super hospitable. Even with the event in progress, they did choose to charge more to camp rather than overcrowd the campers (much appreciated and very honest). There is an excellent game room. The showers are very clean. There is laundry and a small play area. The RV sites are the typical pull through RV Park sites, and not spacious. The campground, like much of Wyoming is flat, sunny, and with a gravel “yard” that replaced the tall, golden yellow grasses that stretch across these dry plains.

We camped in a tent. The owners had created new tent sites that were directly on the North Platte River. These tent sites, and the staff friendliness are earning the 3 stars. There were trees for shade and a nice breeze coming over the water. There was a good deal more privacy than the RV sites. My understanding was that these were intended to remain as permanent tent sites even after the eclipse. There are no hook-ups at all for the tent sites, and campers cannot back into their camp for convenient grabbing of stuff—a very short walk is required (but far enough to notice the distance). In some ways, this distance from the car, and the line of trees made the campsite feel a little more remote and like resting at an oasis in the desert.

Went back in August of 2020. Road in from Douglas was part of the adventure. Dodged some cows and saw cool rock formations.  Got one of the last spots.  Several ATV's on the road which made walking the dog interesting.  Great little creek running through the campground and nice, friendly people at the other sites.  Left campground by continuing on down the dirt road. Got dodgy in a few places. Would recommend retracing back to Douglas.

Waters Point is a small primitive campground with 12 tent sites, vault toilets and bench and fire pits but there is a fire ban at the moment. Not the prettiest area but not on top of each other.

Very green and well kept spot to camp with clean toilets and hot showers. Happened upon this place when local WY state fair staff told us their overnight camping lot was full, which was great since this one was free! We tent camped so needed ear plugs for the road noise, but worth it for the convenient location. Currently they have some limitations on when you can camp on the grass due to overnight watering, so tent campers beware.

From Douglas to Curtis Gulch campground it took us down some paved roads until all the sudden we were on a 20 plus mile dirt road! It was a bumpy LONG ride... once we got there most of the good spots were taken. There are 4 dispersed areas to camp & further down the road the campsites (only 5 or so) for about $10 each. We went in early June and bugs were real bad. The roads into the sites were super steep as well but we managed in our 21” travel trailer. We were surprised we made it out of there honestly! Also by a creek... if you have 4 wheel drive, some ATVs or other toys & don’t mind the drive, it’s a great place to camp! But wasn’t the case for us lol

Esterbrook Campground is a great place to take the family. It is located about 30 miles from the town of Douglas and thankfully the road to the campground is paved most of that 30 miles and the last part is a gravel road but it is pretty well maintained. You can easily get there in a smaller sedan car. You can call ahead and get a reservation, however we didn't and still was able to get a spot. This campground isn't very busy, so you could always luck out and get a spot without calling ahead of time. The campground was pretty quiet, and we didn't have anyone to our left and right which was nice. Gave us some room! Before hand I did some research and they said they had potable water, however they did not. They had something that looked like it could be a potable water spot, but it was not in working condition. So definitely bring your own water. I would say that this campground isn't well designed, meaning you really are tent camping because they don't have very many amenities- they call it a "primitive campground." They also do not have a dump station. There is some hikes nearby, which we did one morning. Beautiful views from the top. You can also hike a little ways to a river close by where you can fish. I would say if you are looking for a place to get away last minute and you don't care if there is many amenities, then you would like this place.

The campground(CG) was easy to find and check-in was a breeze. We were originally in site 53 right across from the office but that would have been way too small so we were moved to site 43 which is a long FHUs pull-through. The manager spent time chatting with us about the CG and interesting happenings this last season. The utilities were smartly placed in the middle of the site. WiFi was above average. There were a few seasonal residents who were working in the area. We got a solid variety of OTA channels and were able to get our satellite to connect. The trees in the CG are young so provide some shade. Our site didn’t have cable but some do. There are also premium sites down by the North Platte river that runs adjacent to the CG. There are also tent sites by the river. There is a fiber optic cable facility near the CG that runs 24/7 to include weekends, so there is some noise during the night i.e. backup beeping from forklifts. However, our air conditioner and/or sound machine easily drowned out the noise. As this CG is right outside Casper, there are a ton of amenities nearby. There are nice areas to walk our pups by the river. We enjoyed our two nights stay to include doing some fly fishing in the river at the CG and would definitely come back.

Great job city of Douglas! This is a rare gem! Free dump station, water, showers, trees, green grass, river, level for RV parking. It’s by a busyish road, but it was a quiet night! This was perfect for us after coming out of the black hills exploring the national Forrest in our truck camper! Showers in truck campers when dry campy are limited! 😎 I was a bit worried about it being full of vagrants, but it wasn’t! We really appreciate the hospitality and stay for the night. I give this a five star rating for a free place, not resort camping but a beautiful place.. with FREE amenities!

We went on June 16th. The site mentioned that there was potable water and vault toilets, which is true! The water is shut off during the winter, I believe. There is a small community nearby, and my only concern was that the only store in the town closed down, so the closest shop is in Douglas or Glendo.

Each site includes a picnic table, parking spot, and fire pit. The sites are pretty close together, but it wasn't a big deal for us. There is a great trail to Sunset Hill with amazing views and a rock structure where you can overlook the mountains. Esterbrook is beautiful!

Lovely campground beside a large natural arch in rural Wyoming. Not only can you pitch your tent with this impressive geological formation as your view, but the North Platte River runs underneath the arch and right up against the campground. There's a short hiking trail that leaves from the campground and brings you up on top of the arch, giving you a better view of the river, an old power plant, and the surrounding red rock. 

Campground is free but there's a three day limit. Check in with the campground host/park manager at the office across from the campground to check in. Really friendly folks and well-maintained park overall.

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Ranger Review of Larson Park Campground Wyoming.

Larson Park Campground is a city owned campground and is attached to the Guernsey golf course, so if you like to golf this one might just be for you. The campground has 15 sites RV sites with 30/50 power on shared power pedestals. These are back in sites all right next to each other. Their is a nice grassy area for tents. The grassy area as several picnic tables and BBQ grills, but not enough for every camp location. A pavilion has quiet a few picnic tables allowing you to eat get out of the rain, or in the shade on a hot day. The site has a restroom facilities and showers. A small play ground structure is available for the kids. Their are several historical sites in the area, a must see is the Oregon Trail ruts located just a short distance away. Be sure to visit Register Cliff just a few miles away and Fort Laramie is 30 minutes down the highway. The campground has a small store with friendly staff. Water is available, each shared pedestal has a frost-free for water.  Hookup sites are $20, Dry camp $14 and Tents $12.

Ranger Review of Ice Mule Cooler Pro Large (23L)

We used our Ice Mule cooler as our cooler for our trip to Guernsey Wyoming. Placed our snacks and drinks in the cooler with two ice packs at 6am Friday morning. Was amazed that this kept everything cold through Sunday evening. Being able to carry a cooler on you back is a nice feature. We are looking forward to taking this on our canoe trips this summer as this is going to be way easier than lugging a hard sided cooler from our canoe to campsite each day. The pack/cooler is also comfortable to wear making it useful to long day hikes on hot days. It is going to be nice to have a nice cold drink on a hike when it is 90 degrees out.

We stayed at Colter Bay Campground in the tent only section site 134 F. We had a campervan and a tent and had plenty of space. As with many national parks, neighbors are a little close but not terrible. We liked our site location and would come back again. We were across from the bathrooms and the water and had a huge bear box with a picnic table and fire grate. We had some cell service, but not great as expected. Firewood is sold nearby in the general store. Tent only sites were great because there weren’t any generators. All facilities clean and nicely maintained. Definitely would come back.