Coleman Lake Campground

Camped at Coleman Lake 5/12/23 to 5/16/23. Great campground in remote location in the Talladega Forest. Camped in site #32, $10 with senior pass. Nice clean site provides water/electric, level asphalt drive and pad, pebbled area around pad and wooden pedestal picnic table, 2 tall lantern posts and firepit. Shower rooms are large and provide a bench, hooks and plenty of hot water. There is an additional overflow campground just down the road where we camped in 2019 - no amenities in overflow but vault toilets were clean and sites were roomy, $4 with sr pass in 2019. There is a well-maintained easy 1.8-mile hiking trail that circles Coleman Lake with great views of the lake and small waterfalls along with many benches along the way to rest. Perfect weather/no bugs at this time of the year. The campground was a good base camp to travel to Little River National Preserve and Cherokee Rock Village.

Beautiful remote campground in a natural setting with water and electricity at sites. The pluses: relatively private, level sites with shade, fire rings, tables, and lantern posts; heated/air-conditioned bath houses with hot water; hosts keep campground clean; good well-marked hiking trails, and access to pleasant small lake.
The big negative is that Forest Service Rangers do not enforce 14-day limit nor make sure everyone pays the nominal fee. There were many squatters. Friendly hosts were not able to enforce.
No cell reception; need to go several miles from camp to get 1 bar LTE on Verizon. Other carriers don’t appear to be any better.
The charm is that camp is remote, stock up before; it’s 20 miles to a grocery store. Good paved roads.

This is my 67th review for Campendium, but the first time I reviewed a place no one had ever reviewed before. I feel a bit like Indiana Jones, because this is a special place deserving of your attention. Since it has never been reviewed I’ll go into detail.

First of all, the campground is not that easy to find because there are no campground signs or signs with pictures of trailers indicating a campground lies ahead until you get to the campground.

Just keep following signs for Coleman Lake.

Once you get there the charge is $16/night unless you have a special pass like a senior pass, in which case it is $10 per night. It is self-pay at the entrance. Bring a pen and cash or a check. There is no manned entry point.

The sites are beautiful and considerately spaced in the Talladega Forest. They are paved and three I checked were level. Each site has a picnic table and fire ring, along with water and electric. There is ample tree separation between sites. We had a pull through, but most sites were back in.

There is an unusually beautiful dump station, surrounded by woods.

The two bathrooms - one per loop- are either new or have been recently refurbished. There is level, paved excess parking in several spots. No laundry facilities.

There is an easy, fabulous loop hiking trail around Coleman Lake, which you can access on foot from the campground, at a total distance of about 3 1/2 miles. It was wonderful and included a foot bridge over the lake and several benches.

The only negative was that the circuit breaker at the pedestal tripped off every night we were there. It was cold so we were only running a 1500 amp space heater on low, but the campground was full, so perhaps that explains it as others may have been doing likewise.

I called several times to try to make reservations at this park, but it is a first come, first served park. I was told not to worry and that there would be available sites, but the first night I was there we got one of the last three sites, and by 8 pm every site was taken. I think there are approximately 39 sites.

We did see someone driving an official truck doing several loops during the day. Garbage cans were plentiful and were serviced every day.

The bathrooms were clean. The maximum stay is 14 days. There are a couple of small towns each about 30 minutes away. You’d be well advised to stock up on food before arrival. This is a remote location.

There was no ATT cell connectivity and there certainly isn’t any Wi-Fi.

Please make time to visit the historic wooden Shoal Creek Baptist Church in the woods nearby. You will have driven by the marked turnoff for the church on the way in, but don’t take a rig down that road. See the nearby cemetery with a CSA soldier’s grave.

This was an absolutely delightful, beautiful park and deserves a five star rating notwithstanding my electrical issue.