Live Simple Live Free: Free camping on the Natchez Trace Pkwy

The Natchez Trace Pkwy is a National Park road that parallels the old Natchez Trace trail from Natchez, Mississippi to Nashville Tennessee. It is 444 miles long and you can walk along parts of the original trail. No commercial vehicles are allowed and the max speed limit is 50mph making it a really nice drive or ride on your bicycle. Along the way, you will find 3 free campgrounds on the Trace and many national forest spots close enough to camp.

American Indians first used the trail but in the 1800s over 10000 Kaintucks used it to walk or ride back home. The Kaintucks were farmers and traders from the ohio river valley that took flat boats full of goods down the river to markets in Natchez and New Orleans. After they sold their goods, it took over a month to walk back to the Ohio River Valley down the Natchez Trace. Highway men knew this along with the fact that you had just sold goods for cash money. So, inns popped up to provide safety for the travelers.

There is a lot of history along the Natchez Trace Pkwy plus some rather nice free camping spots. While they don't offer electricity, dump stations or showers, the do have restrooms, water, fire grates, and picnic tables. I love to visit the Trace on my vagabonding trail but it can get crowded at times.

This is the first camping spot on the southern end of the Natchez Trace Pkwy near Natchez. Rocky Springs was an old town that attracted settlers in the late 1700s. The church and cemetery are still there. There are 22 campsites at this location along with restrooms and water. Self guided hiking trails to the original spring and part of the original trace provide for hiking along with a trip to nearby Owen Creek. Twenty five miles up the road is the Vicksburg National Military Park. 

The campground is named after Thomas Jefferson Busby who introduced the bill in the US Congress that authorized a survey of the Trace before it became the Natchez Trace Pkwy. You will find 18 spaces there along with the Little Mountain Trail and overlook. The campground is 60 miles from Tupelo Mississippi where Elvis Presley was born. Tombigbee National Forest is close by.

This campsite is on the Tennessee section of the Natchez Trace Pkwy. It contains the grave site and monument of Meriwether Lewis of Lewis and Clark fame. Here Lewis died of gunshot wounds while staying at the Grinder Inn. There are 32 campsites that have picnic tables, tent pads, restrooms, and fire grates. Several hiking trails are in the campground including more of the original Natchez Trace for hiking.

If you are planning on riding your bicycle along the Natchez Trace Pkwy, the park has special primitive sites for bicyclists. These campgrounds provide picnic tables, water, tent pads, fire grates, and a pit toilet. Here is the list:

1. Kosciusko, at milepost 159
2. Witch Dance, at milepost 234
3. Natchez Trace Parkway Visitor Center, at milepost 266
4. Colbert Ferry, at milepost 327
5. Tennessee Highway 50, at milepost 408

Go check out the trace and do some camping or become a vagabond like me. All it takes is a good used RV and you can be on the road soon. One of my goals in life is to take a canoe trip down the Mississippi and then travel back along the National Trace Pkwy. What have you always wanted to do outdoors?