American Adventurer
Found · unverifiedMunicipalFree

Bowbells City Park Campground (Bowbells)

Drive-up · public land · ND · 48.80164, -102.24457
We haven't personally camped here. Everything below is pulled from public land data, USGS maps and OpenStreetMap — a real place on public land, but not field-checked by us. Confirm road conditions, current access, stay limits and fire restrictions before you go.

Bowbells is the Burke County seat up near the Canadian line, and the state tourism office lists its city park campground as free-will donation for overnight stays, with three RV hook-ups for water and sewer, an RV dump station, and outside bathrooms with showers at the town pool. It is described as an overnight stop rather than a place to settle in. One honest caveat you should weigh: this 'free-will donation' wording comes from the state tourism listing, not from the City of Bowbells itself, and we have seen a state tourism office in a neighbouring state describe a $20-a-night city park as free. Call (701) 377-2608 and confirm before you count on it being free. The mapped location is an unnamed campsite polygon in OpenStreetMap right by the town centre on Main Street, which matches the listed address, but it is not signed as such in the map data. The deal these towns offer is simple: camp free, and they hope you buy fuel, groceries or dinner in town. Town rules change often and we have not visited -- confirm with the city first.

USGS topo — contours & terrain
USGS topographic map of Bowbells City Park Campground (Bowbells)
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Aerial image of Bowbells City Park Campground (Bowbells)
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Weather outlook
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 1,958 ft.
Fire & smokeNIFC · AirNow
Checking active fires & air quality…
Active wildfires from NIFC (within ~50 mi); air quality from AirNow. Always confirm current fire restrictions with the managing office before you go.

Everything you need

Services & drive-time data covers the public-lands states we've mapped so far — not this camp's region yet. Open in Google Maps ↗

The site

Access
Drive-up
Land
public land
Elevation
1,958 ft
State
ND
Coordinates
48.80164, -102.24457
Cost
Free

Nearby & resupply (OpenStreetMap)

  • Water featureWater · nearby
  • Nearest townBowbells · ~0.1 mi
  • Drinking waternone within 10 mi
  • Fuelnone within 30 mi
  • Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
  • Dump stationnone within 31 mi
  • GroceriesCo-op · ~29.6 mi
  • Hospital / clinicTrinity Kenmare Community Hospital · ~11.4 mi
  • Mapping is thin out hereAn empty row means nothing is mapped within that radius — not that nothing exists. Small stores, seasonal resorts and single fuel pumps out here often never make it onto the map. Treat these as unconfirmed and ask locally.

Nearby restrooms — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)

Open this spot elsewhere

Google satellite →Gaia GPS →CalTopo →Back to the map →

How we know this

Source
municipal park records
Confidence
Likely — The record is good enough to put a pin on, but thin in places. Treat the details as a starting point, not gospel.
How it was placed
FREE-WILL DONATION per ndtourism.com (Bowbells City Park Campground): '3 RV hook-ups for water and sewer', 'New pool with outside bathrooms with showers', 'RV dump station', the RV park 'is for overnights and is free-will donation'. Main Street, Bowbells ND 58721, (701) 377-2608. Confidence 'med': this is the STATE TOURISM listing, and NE Lesson 2 showed state tourism calling a $20/night city park 'free' -- the City of Bowbells has no campground page of its own to check it against, so this is unconfirmed by the town. Coordinates: OSM way/956068317, a tourism=camp_site polygon 0.12 mi from the verified Bowbells town centre (the OSM object carries no name tag). Verified 2026-07-20.
Field check
Not verified on the ground. Nobody from here has camped it. It stays at Likely until someone does.

What we don’t know

A land record can put you within a few metres of a spot. It cannot tell you any of this — so check it yourself, and treat anything below as the open question it is.

Before you go

Your first dispersed night →Fire rules & restrictions →Getting unstuck →Power off-grid →All field notes →
Been here? Tell us what changed. This page is built from public records, so the fastest way it gets better is somebody who has actually pulled in. Road washed out, site gone, gate locked, or it is exactly as described — all of it useful. Send a report →