Coosa WMA primitive campsite 1 (Coosa WMA hiking trail)

public land records

Researched — The record is detailed and internally consistent, and the coordinates land where the managing agency says this site is.

Alabama Forever Wild Land Trust / ADCNR, Coosa WMA. SOURCE: alabamaforeverwild.com/coosa-wma read 2026-08-16, Camping section, verbatim: "Two primitive campsites are available on a first-come, first-served basis. There is no fee for using these sites. Coordinates for the camping areas are as follows: 32.87428 / -86.38505 and 32.89260 / -86.41637." LATITUDE AND LONGITUDE ON THIS ROW ARE ADCNR'S OWN PUBLISHED CAMPSITE COORDINATES -- not a geocode, not OSM, not our estimate. The same page says the campsites serve an 11-mile hiking trail with parking at both ends (parking coordinates ADCNR publishes: 32.89441 / -86.41782 and 32.89441 / -86.34226), so treat this as a walk-in trail campsite, not a drive-up pad. The tract is the Coosa WMA: Cahaba, Columbiana, Hancock Phase II and Weogufka tracts, 11,350 acres of mountain longleaf in Coosa County, and holds one of the last red-cockaded woodpecker populations outside a National Forest. NO WATER IS CLAIMED -- ADCNR lists none, and Hatchet and Weogufka creeks are NOT a stated potable source. STATEWIDE WMA CAMPING RULE, quoted verbatim from an ADCNR/Forever Wild permit map PDF (Forever Wild Land Trust, Sipsey River Complex South Zone permit map, downloaded from alabamaforeverwild.com and read 2026-08-16): "To camp except in designated areas. Campers using generators must camp in an area designated for generator use. Individuals or groups may camp for a period not to exceed nine (9) days in any thirty (30) day period. Campfires must be extinguished before departing. No warming fires shall be permitted away from camping area." Those clauses sit in the list of PROHIBITED acts, so read them as: camping is legal ONLY in designated areas, and the ceiling is 9 days in any 30. The same document also bans open alcoholic beverages outside a designated camping area, and bans hunting or discharging a firearm/bow within 150 yards of any designated camping area. PERMIT NOTE: ADCNR requires a hunting licence, a WMA licence and a free area map/permit of HUNTERS on these areas. None of the pages read this fire imposes a licence or permit on someone who is only camping, and ADCNR publishes NO per-night camping fee for these sites. Hunting seasons do run here -- check outdooralabama.com for current season dates and wear hunter orange in season. Nearest town: Rockford ~9.7 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) --- SOURCE RE-FETCHED TODAY: https://alabamaforeverwild.com/coosa-wma. The Camping section still reads, word for word, "Two primitive campsites are available on a first-come, first-served basis. There is no fee for using these sites." and still publishes the same two coordinate pairs -- 32.87428 / -86.38505 and 32.89260 / -86.41637. The Hiking section still says the 11-mile trail "has parking at both ends of the trail and two primitive campsites for people to stay overnight", and the Hunting section still puts the licence / WMA-licence / permit requirement on HUNTERS only, not on campers. No fee is published anywhere on the page. PRIMARY SOURCE RE-FETCHED TODAY: ADCNR's public ArcGIS 'Camping' layer, https://conservationgis.alabama.gov/adcnrweb/rest/services/Activities/MapServer/0 -- still live, still returns exactly 13 points statewide, with the same five named Bartram points and the same eight unnamed ones recorded at discovery. This row carries the SOUTHERN of ADCNR's two published pairs, digit for digit. Nothing has changed and nothing is inferred: the agency publishes the site, publishes that it is free, publishes that it is first-come, and publishes this exact coordinate. Still no water claimed, and Hatchet and Weogufka creeks are still not a stated potable source. It is still a walk-in trail campsite, not a drive-up pad. VERDICT: HOLDS UP -> approved.

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.