Buffalo Bill State Park — Attraction in Cody

This is a beautiful place to camp outside of Yellowstone, I would give it 5 stars for that alone. However, this is the first place I've EVER been charged for day use on top of my camping fees. They also charge additional for your tow vehicle (my truck that pulls my camper) and another $25/night if you have an additional vehicle. All vehicles are charged both a day use AND a camping fee. Not to mention the additional vehicle fees are very expensive and NOT LISTED anywhere. When I made my reservation it stated additional vehicle fees must be paid onsite, cannot be included in reservation, it does not tell you what the fee will be. SO my campsite with NO electric, water or sewer was $15/night (normal fee as I would expect at any state park) then they charged me $30 for a permit for my truck which pulls my camper for the 3 night stay. On top of that they charged me $25 PER NIGHT for my Jeep as an additional vehicle which sat parked on my campsite. They do not tell you the additional vehicle fee until you are onsite and have no other option but to pay it. I have NEVER been charged more than $5/night for the additional vehicle fee and we have traveled fulltime all over the country for 2 years straight. My camping charges were $83 for 3 nights including my truck and camper which is reasonable. What is not reasonable is an ADDITIONAL $75 for 3 nights to park my jeep ON MY SITE. Why is my Jeep being charged both a day use fee and a camping fee? Ridiculous. I would advise others to call and confirm the fees prior to booking this state park as an additional $75 is not in my budget for a 3 night stay and I was not happy to lose that money unexpectedly. I would have booked a site with full hookups inside of the national park for the same price I ended up paying here for no services...

"Words of wisdom" from Ranger Dan (I now see on Google that he is the superintendent of Buffalo Bill State Park- yikes!) upon us saying we tented here because other parks we passed were hard-sided campers only: "Ya well when it's that time of month for women, it attracts grizzlies." "There are showers over there, women usually appreciate that."

Well Ranger Dan, I am glad you are such an expert on women especially as a representative in the "state of equality"... However I would suggest you try to use some of that brain power to learn about grizzlies. According to the National Park Services website: "There is no evidence that bears are overly attracted to menstrual odors more than any other odor and there is no statistical evidence that known bear attacks have been related to menstruation."

Although I found these comments a bit amusing (though wildly inappropriate), I think many women would be offended by them. My boyfriend (who likes showers more than I do FYI) also found them inappropriate. Our interactions with Ranger Dan were unpleasant, and we didn't love him hovering over our fly-less tent at 7:20 a.m. to collect fees. Yes we were camped in a reservation-only site (guilty) but arrived at 10:30 p.m. with tons of other open sites. Marking reserved sites as reserved is a common practice in parks and would be a good thing to have here.

The camping fees aren't accurate as they tack on other fees, so our $18 site came to $32 ($41 CAD), which is a lot to camp in a field.

Aside, the scenery was lovely, the moon was incredible, and the showers were big. Just make sure to insert all your coins at once!*

*(otherwise you won't be able to finish washing your bleeding V and will probably get...

You're paying high rates for location only when it comes to this place.

Pros: Proximity to Yellowstone, proximity to a gorgeous lake, scenery, hiking trails, etc. I acknowledge that this is a tourist driven area, and they can charge what they want.

Cons: This place is the epitome of nickel and diming its guests at any opportunity they can get. The advertised price per night is not accurate to what you actually pay by the time all their booking, convenience, and credit card fees apply which we found misleading. This was one of the most expensive campgrounds we've stayed at when we essentially just bought a concrete pad to park our rig at with a plug for electric hookup. We ended up booking an electric only site (no water) due to limited availability, which usually isn't a problem - except this place charges a dollar for THREE MINUTES of shower time. It's generally our experience that when you book a site at a campground, you're also paying for access to their facilities (restrooms, showers, laundry, etc). Not the case here - I just know they'd charge per flush from the toilets if they could. Side note: mosquitoes were terrible and swarming in high volumes where we were, which we didn't experience in any of the surrounding areas we hiked around in. Just be prepared with spray and nets if you decide...