Found · unverifiedNY DECFree

Allaben Roadside Campsite [DEC #228940] (Shandaken Wild Forest)

Drive-up · New York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation · NY · 42.10862, -74.34950

We haven't personally camped here. Everything below is pulled from public land data, USGS maps and OpenStreetMap — a real place on New York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation land, but not field-checked by us. Confirm road conditions, current access, stay limits and fire restrictions before you go.

FREE roadside primitive camping at the ALLABEN campsites, along a short state-land access road just off NY Route 28 in the hamlet of Allaben (town of Shandaken), in the Shandaken Wild Forest of New York's CATSKILL Forest Preserve (DEC Region 3, Ulster County). This is a DEC-designated primitive campsite ('Allaben Roadside Campsite [DEC #228940]'), and New York provides it at NO CHARGE: the DEC Shandaken Wild Forest page lists the fee as 'Free' and the unit as open year-round, first-come first-served, and community listings confirm 'nine campsites' here with no fee to stay. This site is a roadside drive-up: turn off NY Route 28 at Allaben (a hamlet in the town of Shandaken) onto the short DEC access road -- community sources say the only marker is a small 'State Land Access' sign -- and the designated sites sit just off that access road (measured a few dozen to a couple hundred feet, 74-174 ft), so you drive right in and park at the site rather than hiking to it. It is one of a cluster of nine designated sites (two of them listed by DEC as accessible); the Esopus Creek -- a noted Catskill trout stream -- runs nearby (about 1253 feet away, across toward Route 28), though these sites are NOT on the water. This is free, first-come Catskill Forest Preserve ROADSIDE camping (the Allaben sites in Shandaken Wild Forest) -- do NOT confuse it with a reservable fee campground; the nearest paid DEC campgrounds (Woodland Valley near Phoenicia, Kenneth L. Wilson near Mt Tremper) are a separate, paid system several miles away. SEASON / ACCESS: DEC lists Shandaken Wild Forest as open YEAR-ROUND and free, but the Allaben access road and sites are unplowed primitive infrastructure -- confirm current road, gate and site status with the DEC Region 3 New Paltz office (845-256-3076) before you go, especially in winter or mud season. RULES: these are designated, first-come first-served free sites -- no reservation and no fee. Look for the round yellow DEC 'Camp Here' marker and camp only at a designated site; standard NY State Land camping rules apply (keep 150 feet from water/trails/roads unless the marked site itself is closer), and a free Forest Ranger permit is required only if you stay more than 3 nights or camp with a group of 10 or more (arrange it through the DEC Region 3 New Paltz Office at (845) 256-3076 (Forest Rangers via 911 or DEC dispatch 1-833-NYS-RANGERS)). DEC lists two of the Allaben sites as accessible; the ATV / MAPPWD (accessible motorized access) permit DEC mentions applies ONLY to Rochester Hollow Road, a separate parcel -- it is NOT needed for these Allaben roadside sites. Every one of these sites sits around 1,050 feet, well below the 3,500-foot line, so the March 21-December 21 Catskill high-elevation camping ban does not apply here; confirm current fire rules on site. These are primitive sites: expect at most a fire ring, picnic table and grill (reported) -- no hookups, no showers and no potable water, so bring water or treat what you take from the creek. Pack out all trash, follow Leave No Trace and the DEC fire rules, and store food from bears (this is black-bear country). Confirm current rules, road status and this site's status on the DEC page (dec.ny.gov/places/shandaken-wild-forest) or with the New Paltz office (845-256-3076) before you go; we have not visited.

USGS topo — contours & terrain

USGS topographic map of Allaben Roadside Campsite [DEC #228940] (Shandaken Wild Forest)

Aerial — USGS / NAIP

Aerial image of Allaben Roadside Campsite [DEC #228940] (Shandaken Wild Forest)

Weather outlook

Loading the latest forecast…

Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 1,047 ft.

Fire & smokeNIFC · AirNow

Checking active fires & air quality…

Active wildfires from NIFC (within ~50 mi); air quality from AirNow. Always confirm current fire restrictions with the managing office before you go.

Everything you need — measured from camp

Straight-line miles · bearings approx · roads run longer

Nearest of each

@Mail2 mi
OOutfitter2 mi
FFuel2 mi
GGrocery2 mi
RxPharmacy2 mi
AAir-up2 mi
+Urgent care2 mi
WWater5 mi
DDump5 mi
MMechanic7 mi
LLaundry7 mi
ShShower9 mi
HHardware10 mi

≤30 mi30–4545+water

The read: water is basically at camp, fuel & food sit about 2 mi out.

Not within 60 mi: Propane. Plan those before you head up.

One dot per need — the nearest of each kind, straight-line from camp. Places from OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors). Open in Google Maps ↗

The site

Access

Drive-up

Land

New York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation

Elevation

1,047 ft

State

Coordinates

42.10862, -74.34950

Cost

Free

Nearby & resupply (OpenStreetMap)

Water featureEsopus Creek (river) · nearby
Nearest townAllaben · ~1.2 mi
Drinking waterDrinking water · ~5.0 mi
FuelCitgo · ~9.5 mi
Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
Dump stationDump station · ~5.0 mi
GroceriesPhoenicia Supermarket · ~2.5 mi
PharmacyNekos Boiceville Pharmacy · ~8.2 mi
Hospital / clinicWindham Medical Care · ~14.4 mi
HardwareVillage Hardware · ~9.9 mi

Nearby restrooms — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)

Highway rest areaUlster Travel Plaza · ~19.0 mi E
Highway rest areaParking/Rest Area · ~19.2 mi E
Highway rest areaParking/Rest Area · ~20.0 mi E
Highway rest areaMalden Travel Plaza · ~20.2 mi E

Open this spot elsewhere

Google satellite →Gaia GPS →CalTopo →Back to the map →

Other camps nearby

If this one is full, gated or washed out.

How we know this

Source

NY Dept. of Environmental Conservation

Confidence

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

How it was placed

NY DEC 'Primitive Campsite' GIS layer (https://gisservices.dec.ny.gov/arcgis/rest/services/dil/dil_land_assets_prm_cmp/MapServer/0), ASSET_UID 228940, NAME verbatim 'Allaben campsite', ASSET='PRIMITIVE TENT SITE', PUBLICUSE='Y', FACILITY='Shandaken Wild Forest', REGION 3 (New Paltz office). DESCRIP/NOTES blank; ACCESSIBLE='N'. Coordinate is DEC's own point geometry (WGS84), pulled 2026-07-24 via the layer's /query endpoint (outSR=4326). FREE confirmed on dec.ny.gov/places/shandaken-wild-forest (Shandaken Wild Forest, read 2026-07-24): Fee='Free', open year-round, APSLMP class WILD FOREST; DEC Region 3 New Paltz 845-256-3076; corroborated free + 'nine campsites' + roadside-off-NY-28 by cnyhiking.com/ShandakenWildForest.htm and freecampsites.net (read 2026-07-24). COUNT DISCLOSURE: GIS tags 9 'Allaben campsite' records for Shandaken Wild Forest, matching the community 'nine campsites' count (cnyhiking / freecampsites.net) exactly; the DEC page phrases Allaben as 'eight designated campsites' plus 'two roadside primitive campsites' (accessible), an apparent 8+2 overlapping to the same nine. All 9 shipped; none padded or trimmed. The separate Rochester Hollow parcel (ATV/MAPPWD access) is NOT in this pull. APSLMP CLASS = WILD FOREST and this is a ROADSIDE DRIVE-UP off the DEC access road that leaves NY Route 28 at Allaben (access character confirmed against cnyhiking / freecampsites.net + OSM road geometry before classing, not assumed). ACCESS-COST CHECK (guardrail 2): no entry/day-use/parking/launch fee stated, NY has no statewide access pass, and there is NO named sub-area access permit for Allaben (the MAPPWD ATV permit DEC mentions is for the separate Rochester Hollow Road parcel only, checked per the Sundown-WF Peekamoose lesson); only the standard FREE Forest-Ranger permit for >3 nights or 10+ groups. ELEVATION 1047 ft (USGS EPQS, 2026-07-24) -- far below the 3,500-ft line, so the Mar 21-Dec 21 Catskill high-elevation camping ban does NOT apply. PAID-NEIGHBOUR GUARD: Woodland Valley / Kenneth L. Wilson fee campgrounds bbox-guarded; this site passes. LIVE-CONDITIONS CHECK (DEC Shandaken Wild Forest page, read 2026-07-24): no closure posted against the Allaben sites. MEASURED GEOMETRY (OpenStreetMap via maps.mail.ru Overpass, 2026-07-24, point-to-vertex on `out geom`): ~99 ft to the DEC access road (way 291847815), ~872 ft to NY Route 28 (way 155801031), ~1253 ft to the Esopus Creek (ways 135509411/834820743 -- nearby trout water but NOT waterfront); access class 'roadside'. No OSM camp_site node at this exact pin -- DEC point geometry is the sole coordinate source, corroborated by the three OSM camp_site nodes nearby in the same Allaben cluster and the documented 'nine campsites' count. Plus DEC State Land Camping Rules (dec.ny.gov/things-to-do/camping/state-land-rules): designated-site + 150-foot rule, free Forest Ranger permit for stays over 3 nights or 10+ people. Ingest 2026-07-24.

Field check

Not verified on the ground. Nobody from here has camped it. It stays at Researched until someone does.

What we don’t know

A land record can put you within a few metres of a spot. It cannot tell you any of this — so check it yourself, and treat anything below as the open question it is.

Road surface & last-mile access
How many rigs actually fit
Cell coverage by carrier
Seasonal & winter access
Current fire restrictions
Whether any water here is drinkable
Shade & wind exposure
Noise and who else shows up

Before you go

Your first dispersed night →Fire rules & restrictions →Getting unstuck →Power off-grid →All field notes →

Been here? Tell us what changed. This page is built from public records, so the fastest way it gets better is somebody who has actually pulled in. Road washed out, site gone, gate locked, or it is exactly as described — all of it useful. Send a report →