Colbert Ferry bicycle-only campground (Natchez Trace Parkway milepost 327.3)

public land records

Likely — The record is good enough to put a pin on, but thin in places. Treat the details as a starting point, not gospel.

NPS Natchez Trace Parkway, the ONLY Parkway campground in Alabama. SOURCES read 2026-08-16: nps.gov/places/colbert-ferry-bicycle-camp-milepost-327-3.htm and nps.gov/natr/colbert-ferry-bicycle-only-campground.htm -- "At milepost 327, the Colbert Ferry site provides a bicycle-only campground with picnic tables, grills, and fire rings. As you enter the Colbert Ferry Site follow the road to the left, past the visitor contact station toward the boat ramp. At the end of the first curve, you will notice a gate with a tent and bicycle symbol. Ride past the gate about 100 feet, to an open area with a small white building visible. Follow the open area to the bicycle-only campground." Amenities NPS lists: Picnic Table, Restroom, Restroom - Accessible. nps.gov/natr/planyourvisit/bicycle-only-campgrounds.htm, read the same day, lists 'Milepost 327 Colbert Ferry Bicycle-only Campground' as one of the Parkway's bicycle-only campgrounds and adds: "Each Parkway campground provides tent sites, picnic tables, and fire grates throughout the year. Water is available throughout the year inside Parkway restrooms; outside water sources may be unavailable during winter months... There are no showers or electricity at any of the campgrounds." BICYCLE-ONLY: not usable by car or RV campers. The OSM record for this site is tagged motor_vehicle=no and caravans=no. FEE CAVEAT: nps.gov/natr/planyourvisit/camping.htm says "The three Parkway campgrounds are free, primitive, and available on a first come, first serve basis" -- that sentence covers Rocky Springs, Jeff Busby and Meriwether Lewis, all in Mississippi or Tennessee, NOT the bicycle-only sites. NPS publishes no charge for the bicycle-only campgrounds and no 'free' sentence about them either, so fee=0 is an inference from the absence of a published fee. CONFIRM WITH THE PARK (662-680-4027) BEFORE PUBLISHING. The same NPS page gives the Parkway stay limit as 14 days per campground per calendar year, and says "The Natchez Trace Parkway does not allow dispersed camping" -- all camping must be in a designated campground. USDA restricts moving firewood across some state lines. COORDINATE CAVEAT: NPS publishes NO coordinate for this camp. The point on this row is OpenStreetMap node/6264725605, named 'Colbert Ferry Bicycle-only Campground milepost 327', operator=National Park Service, tourism=camp_site, tents=yes, motor_vehicle=no, and carrying a website tag pointing at the exact NPS page above -- that URL match is the cross-check. It is NOT an NPS-published coordinate and nobody has stood on it. It sits about 0.8 km SW of the Colbert Ferry boat ramp while the NPS directions place the camp a short ride past a gate near that ramp, so treat the pin as approximate. Nearest town: Gravelly Springs ~4.4 mi -- STRAIGHT-LINE distance to the nearest OpenStreetMap place=city/town/village, NOT a driving distance; in the Mobile-Tensaw Delta and on the Cumberland Plateau the way in is far longer. Ingest 2026-08-16. --- REVIEW 2026-08-20 (nightshift-verified) --- ALL FOUR NPS SOURCES RE-FETCHED TODAY, and one of this row's open questions is now CLOSED. https://www.nps.gov/places/colbert-ferry-bicycle-camp-milepost-327-3.htm and https://www.nps.gov/natr/colbert-ferry-bicycle-only-campground.htm both still carry, word for word, "At milepost 327, the Colbert Ferry site provides a bicycle-only campground with picnic tables, grills, and fire rings." and the same turn-by-turn: "As you enter the Colbert Ferry Site follow the road to the left, past the visitor contact station toward the boat ramp. At the end of the first curve, you will notice a gate with a tent and bicycle symbol. Ride past the gate about 100 feet, to an open area with a small white building visible. Follow the open area to the bicycle-only campground." The amenity list is still Picnic Table, Restroom, Restroom - Accessible. https://www.nps.gov/natr/planyourvisit/bicycle-only-campgrounds.htm still lists 'Milepost 327 Colbert Ferry Bicycle-only Campground' and still says "Water is available throughout the year inside Parkway restrooms; outside water sources may be unavailable during winter months" and "There are no showers or electricity at any of the campgrounds." THE FEE QUESTION IS RESOLVED. This row's note said fee=0 was an inference from the absence of a published fee and told the reviewer to phone the park first. It no longer has to be an inference: https://www.nps.gov/natr/planyourvisit/fees.htm, read today, states "There are no entrance fees to the Natchez Trace Parkway or any of its facilities." and, flatly, "The Natchez Trace Parkway is free and does not charge an entrance fee, or campground fees." That is a first-party NPS sentence covering campground fees Parkway-wide, so fee=0 is now SOURCED, not guessed. https://www.nps.gov/natr/planyourvisit/camping.htm was also re-read and still gives the maximum stay as 14 days per campground per calendar year and still says "The Natchez Trace Parkway does not allow dispersed camping." COORDINATE RE-CHECKED: OSM node 6264725605 was pulled fresh from https://api.openstreetmap.org/api/0.6/node/6264725605.json -- still version 3, last edited 2025-09-05, still at 34.8334505 / -87.9505166, still tagged tourism=camp_site, tents=yes, motor_vehicle=no, caravans=no, operator=National Park Service, and still carrying a website tag pointing at the exact NPS page above. Nothing has drifted. THE PIN CAVEAT STANDS UNCHANGED: NPS publishes no coordinate for this camp, so this is a mapper's placement, not the agency's, and it should be treated as approximate within the Colbert Ferry site; follow the NPS directions above from milepost 327.3 rather than the pin. BICYCLE-ONLY: still not usable by car or RV. VERDICT: HOLDS UP -> approved, with the fee now resting on a published NPS sentence.

US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center station locator, snapshot 2026-09-16. Straight-line miles to the nearest public, open, unrestricted station; restricted and planned units are shown but never counted.

On the agency's books. The land manager inventoried this site, so its existence is not in question — current conditions are. Nobody from here has camped it recently.