Toadstool Geological Park and Campground — Hotel in Bowen Precinct

We arrived the afternoon of Friday, labor day weekend. Four of the campsites were taken; there were two left. We were lucky enough to nab the one in the middle. It's the biggest, and the only one that will have some sort of shade all day. Many other people arrived hoping to camp. One couple created their own campsite on the side of the road. Another couple drove their camper van onto the grass and parked it. The rangers didn't show up for at least another 28 hours so if the campground is full when you get there, you may be able to get away with staying anyway. Most of the people in the surrounding campsites were deer hunters. They all left the campground between 5:30-6:30am every morning. It was quite disruptive so take ear plugs if you're there during hunting season. Of the two outhouses, the further one was cleaner, however it ran out of toilet paper first. There were 3 trash cans at our site; one for plastic, one for aluminum cans and the third for general garbage. The Rangers changed the ones that were full when they came through Saturday night. There's no water, so plan to bring your own. You can be stop at the Culligan store in Chadron and buy a 5 gallon jug for $10 and fill it for $1.60. We brought a portable faucet that we got off Amazon that charges with USB. Worked great. During the day, this campground is WINDY. One of the nights we stayed, it was beautiful and perfect. The second night felt like a major wind storm. One of our tents came down and half our group had to sleep in their cars. The 1 mile loop through the rock formations is phenomenal. You can spend a lot of time there exploring. Although the sign at the beginning says it's 3.1 miles to the Hudson Meng Bison Bed, this is very wrong. We hiked the trail for 3.1 miles and still were no where near the center. It's a long, dry, dusty, hot hike so take plenty of water and wear a wide...

This campsite was BEAUTIFUL! We had trouble finding the information so here is info on the rental process:

-Sites are reserved on a first come first serve basis, with a trust/envelope system. It is cash only so be sure to bring some. It is $7.50-$15.00 a night depending on your status.

-There is no water on site, only vaulted toilets. I thought the toilets were very clean for what they were though. There is no hand sanitizer or light after dark, so bring both and lots of drinking water. There was also a high fire risk so we couldn’t start a fire which can affect food so plan accordingly.

-There are no trees so it can get very hot, and the plains make it pretty windy. We had cloud cover and nearby rain helped cool things down. However each campsite does have a covered picnic table.

-the park is about a 30 minute road down a gravel road, so it feels pretty remote. It can feel risky making the drive without knowing for sure that a site will be available.

-We were there on a Sunday evening in early May, and 2 of the 6 total tent sites were taken. Plenty of parking for hiking, as well as a few spots for RVs. The camp sites are right off of the parking lot, you are about 50 feet away from the next camping site, so not super secluded but you do have plenty of space. We couldn’t hear them at all everyone pretty much kept to themselves.

The sod house was cool to look at, but the trails were our favorite part. Waking up to the sunrise outside of our tent was wonderful and exploring the...

There's a gravel road for miles towards it... If you're coming from the north, it's a little rougher than coming from the south. Nothing really bad, but there are just some more holes you may want to avoid. Any vehicle can make it here. The park itself is really awesome! There is a lot to explore, but you can decide how long or short you want to make it. It's $3 for day use and $5 to camp.

Edit: I just wanted to address the 1 star review from Amanda Gessner. I'm from NJ, and I think most east coasters that actually like exploring the cool things nature has to offer would not mind driving this road. It's a flat drive, but yes, it is gravel. It's not just dirt though, so your car shouldn't be sliding around or need 4wd like on actual dirt roads. It's really a great location to see. I did have to use Google Maps to get to the last leg of it, but I had AT&T cell service the entire way out there and in the park itself, so that was not a problem. It's a shame they didn't even try doing that if they really drove all the way from PA just to see it. Google Maps gave completely accurate gps directions each...