Campground Review: Buffalo Bill State Park, North Shore, Cody Wyoming

The view from our site. #10

Why we chose here? We wanted to visit the town of Cody and rather than stay in one of the town's RV parks, we wanted a little more space and the chance to get out our kayaks and camp lakeside.

Location: The park is about 9 miles west of Cody on the main highway that leads to Yellowstone. The reservoir is a large expanse of water set in a scenic rural just a few miles west of the Buffalo Bill Dam.


Sites: The North Shore campground has 39 sites, the majority are pull throughs.  One loop (7 sites) has water and electric hook-ups and is reservable. The other two loops are dry sites and are first come first serve (my favorite type of site!). The campground is graded toward the water which makes a few of the sites at the sides a little uneven.  The sites are very roomy and many of the sites are right on the water.  We could launch our kayaks directly from our site.  Each site has a picnic table and fire ring.

Facilities: Vault toilets. No showers (there are showers at the North Fork Campground that you can use) a dump station.

Groceries: Cody has an Albertsons and a small health foods store.

Reservations: Yes for some of the sites, the majority of sites are FCFS

Cell Coverage / WiFi: Verizon and AT&T signal were both good here.  No boosting required.

Price Paid: $17 for non Wyoming residents.  Hook up sites are $5 extra.

Date of visit: July 2015

Other: We found the weather at this time to be very unpredictable.  Storms rolled in within minutes. We got caught in a vicious hail storm that damages our awning, minutes after sitting out enjoying the sunshine.  The turbulent weather would be pretty troubling if you were out on the water. We stayed close to shore and kept an eye on the sky all the time we were kayaking.

We drove through the North Fork campground and also found it to be very pleasant.  It is more of a meadow setting with large lawns in the center which may be more suitable for families who have kids that want to run around.  The water views are not as great here though.

Would we come here again? Yes. It was a great place to kayak, and close to the cute, if touristy town of Cody.

You can read our blog post describing our stay in this area here.

Link to campground website.