Hankinson Hills Campground
- Right now
- Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
- A night
- $10From, per site
- Sites
- 15All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 15 notices
In the agency’s own words
The Hankinson Hills Campground is located within the Hankinson Hills Recreation Area as part of the 2,833 acres of designated public lands managed by the US Forest Service - Sheyenne National Grassland. The campground provides a semi-primitive recreation opportunity for most camping types and equestrian use. The 2,833 acres of public lands surrounding the campground is managed for multiple use to include cattle grazing, wildlife, recreation, and prescribed fire activities. Explore this area of the Sheyenne National Grassland for hiking, biking, equestrian use, hunting, and wildlife viewing. Keep reading
Recreation
Recreation opportunities include hiking, biking, equestrian use, wildlife viewing, and hunting. Non-motorized activities are allowed on the 8-mile gravel surface Hankinson Hills Trail. Access the trail by three trailheads and the campground. Motor vehicle use is allowed on a network of designated forest roads. All hunting activities follow North Dakota Game and Fish regulations.
Facilities
The campground provides a semi-primitive camping opportunity with fifteen (15) designated campsites separated into two loops. Sites 1-9 are designated as non-equestrian and 10-15 are designated equestrian sites. Three vault toilets and two potable water hand-pumps are available. A covered day-use pavilion with four picnic tables is in the non-equestrian loop. Each loop has a community fire ring surrounded by four benches for group use. There are no electric or water hookups at any location. There is no RV dump station or manure pit available. All activities follow a pack-in pack-out policy.
Natural Features
The geology of the Hankinson Hills Recreation Area is characterized by shifting sand dunes and sandsheets. The sand was deposited in an underflow fan in early stages of former glacial Lake Agassiz. As the water of the great glacial lake receded, the sand was exposed to the air. As a result, low-relief dunes up to 30 feet high formed stabilized by vegetation. Today, native and non-native grasses cover the landscape with pockets of Bur Oak and Aspen stands.
Nearby Attractions
The small town of Hankinson, ND is located about seven miles southeast of the campground. The town provides dining, shopping, and fuel. Nearby Lake Elsie is a spring fed lake with a sandy public beach, restrooms, and boat dock. The Dakota Magic Casino and Dakota Winds Golf Course are located nineteen miles south of the campground.
What the agency tells you
CAMPERS WITHOUT HORSES—Please select a campsite in the Non-Equestrian Loop (campsites #1 to #9). If all such sites are occupied when you arrive, you may select an unoccupied site in the Equestrian Loop. CAMPERS WITH HORSES—Please select a campsite in the Equestrian Loop (campsites #10 to #15). Do not tie horses to trees, fences, or sign posts—Instead use highlines, hobbles, or electric fence. All feed and straw used on the Sheyenne National Grassland must be certified weed seed-free. Pack out all manure and all leftover feed and straw. Leave your campsite clean for the next campers.
Day use visitors may use restroom, water, and picnic shelter facilities (no fee required). - DAY USE VISITORS WITH HORSES—Please use any of the three Hankinson Hills Trailhead parking areas as there is no day use area for horses in the campground. - DAY USE VISITORS WITHOUT HORSES—Please use the day use parking area in the Non-Equestrian Loop of the campground or any of the three Hankinson Hills Trailhead parking areas. - If you wish to occupy a campsite for day use, you must pay the camping fee.
Campsite must be occupied the first night and may not be left unattended for more than 24 hours.
Everything else this campground posts · 12
Check-in and Check-out times are both 2:00 P.M.
Park vehicles and trailers on developed parking pads only—Do not park on grass or road shoulders.
Operate motor vehicles only to enter or leave the campground.
PACK IT IN, PACK IT OUT—Please take care to ensure no trash is left behind.
Certified heated treated firewood, in-state firewood, or collecting firewood from dead-and-down trees is required for use in the campground. - Out of state firewood is prohibited.
Fires are allowed only in fire rings provided by the Forest Service at each campsite. - Never leave your fire unattended—Always make sure the fire is dead-out and cold when you leave.
Fireworks are always prohibited on the Sheyenne National Grassland.
Carry water to your campsite—Do not bathe, clean, or wash items at the hand-pump.
Pets in the campground must be on a leash or caged.
Quiet hours are from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m.
Shooting is prohibited in or within 150 yards of any campground, trailhead, or occupied area.
Motor vehicle use on the Sheyenne National Grassland is restricted to designated roads. - Obtain a copy of the most current Motor Vehicle Use Map for more information.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 15 · 6 equestrian
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 60 ft
- Accessible sites
- 6
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- 11 of 15 sites
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…are designated equestrian sites. Three vault toilets and two potable water hand-pumps are available. A…”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…sites. Three vault toilets and two potable water hand-pumps are available. A covered day-use…”
- Dump station
- Yes
- Stay limit
- 28 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, Beach
- Archery
- Backpacking
- Biking
- Birding
- Hiking
- Horse Camping
- Horseback riding
- Hunting
- Mountain biking
- Wildlife viewing
- Night sky · 7th darkest of 27 in ND
- Bortle 3
Nothing on the booking system for the next 30 nightsread 15:46 UTC
Every site here is reservable, and the record lists none held back for anyone who drives up.
Every one of the next thirty nights is in recreation.gov’s record and not one site is being offered on any of them. That’s a campground closed or not yet released for booking, not a sold-out one.
Watch for a cancellation
Full? Watch it.
One email when a night opens, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We read recreation.gov once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time a site in your window is free for the nights you asked for.
Scanners that check every few minutes exist, and most of them charge. This one is free, it reads the same calendar, and it won’t always be first.
We make nothing when you book. The link goes straight to the government.
Every line of the receipt · 23
What you actually pay
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rate for this season, $10 a night, plus one $8 recreation.gov reservation fee for the booking. A weekend here means Friday and Saturday night, booked once. Optional charges (an extra vehicle, a second tent, a dump-station fee) are listed separately and aren’t in this total.
Who keeps the booking fee
The agency’s own policy text says the reservation fee and the cancellation processing fee are “retained by the reservation service contractor”, and that a campground concessionaire will decline to refund them because “they did not receive these fees”. Recreation.gov is run under contract by Booz Allen Hamilton. What share of your booking fee the contractor keeps isn’t published in any federal dataset we can read, so we print no number for it. Our reporting on the contract →
How we know this receipt · 5
recreation.gov availability, read 15:46 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
16 records
All 16 records
The price is derived by CAMPANAC, not published per site: the per-night rate this campground publishes for each site’s own site type. 15 of the 16 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| Equestrian | 10 | equestrian nonelectric | 40 ft | $10 | |
| Equestrian | 11 | equestrian nonelectric | 40 ft | yes | $10 |
| Equestrian | 12 | equestrian nonelectric | 30 ft | yes | $10 |
| Equestrian | 13 | equestrian nonelectric | 60 ft | yes | $10 |
| Equestrian | 14 | equestrian nonelectric | 60 ft | yes | $10 |
| Equestrian | 15 | equestrian nonelectric | 40 ft | yes | $10 |
| Non-Equestrian | 01 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | $10 | |
| Non-Equestrian | 02 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | $10 | |
| Non-Equestrian | 03 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | $10 | |
| Non-Equestrian | 04 | rv nonelectric | 60 ft | $10 | |
| Non-Equestrian | 05 | rv nonelectric | 60 ft | $10 | |
| Non-Equestrian | 06 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | $10 | |
| Non-Equestrian | 07 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | yes | $10 |
| Non-Equestrian | 08 | standard nonelectric | 60 ft | $10 | |
| Non-Equestrian | 09 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | $10 | |
| Non-Equestrian | Picnic shelter | day use |
The agency files 1 more record here that isn’t a site for the night. It files it as day use. It’s in the table above, marked for what it is, and it isn’t counted as a site.
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Jorgen's Hollow CampgroundSheyenne National Grassland · 30 mi
Mel Rieman Rec82 mi
Eggerts Landing84 mi
West Ashtabula Crossing84 mi
East Ashtabula Crossing87 miFrom Fargo, ND
- South on I-29 for forty-seven miles.
- Take exit 15 for Co Rd 16 toward Great Bend/Mantador for 0.3 miles
- Turn right onto Co Rd 16/87th St SE for 5.4 miles
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Mantador, ND
Typical weather
Typical October night 36°F, day 57°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 2°F, below freezing. Bring a bag rated colder than that, and expect ice in the water bottle.
Daily high and lowDays with 0.10 in or more
A normal is the 1991-2020 average for the month, not a forecast: about half of all Julys are colder than the July line. The seven-day forecast above answers the other question.
The land, and who answers for it
who answers for it
Who answers for this land
Hankinson Hills Campground is in North Dakota’s at-large congressional district. Its representative, Julie Fedorchak (R), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: F. See every public-lands vote →