American Adventurer
Found · unverifiedNY DECFree

Auger Falls Campsite (Siamese Ponds Wilderness)

Drive-up · New York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation · NY · 43.47116, -74.25058
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 primitive camping in the 114,010-acre Siamese Ponds Wilderness, part of New York's Adirondack Forest Preserve, in the east-central Adirondacks between Indian Lake and North Creek -- Towns of Johnsburg and Thurman in Warren County and Towns of Indian Lake, Lake Pleasant and Wells in Hamilton County (DEC Region 5), reached from NY 8, NY 30 and the Thirteenth Lake / Old Farm Clearing roads off NY 28. DEC-designated primitive tent site ('Auger Falls Campsite'). New York provides these designated primitive tent sites at NO CHARGE (the DEC unit page lists the fee as 'Free'); sites are first-come and cannot be reserved. This one is EASY TO REACH by wilderness standards -- it sits about 0.14 mile (758 feet) in a straight line from the Auger Falls trailhead parking area off NY 30/8, a DEC-published parking area, so it is a short walk in rather than a long backcountry hike; you still park at the lot and walk, and Forest Preserve rules bar camping within 150 feet of the road. NOTE ON WHICH UNIT THIS IS IN: DEC's page warns that numerous designated tent sites along both sides of NY 8 between the NY 30 junction and Bakers Mills are "technically in the Wilcox Lake Wild Forest" rather than the Wilderness. DEC's own mapping files this site under Siamese Ponds Wilderness. Either way it is free New York Forest Preserve land with the same camping rules, but confirm the unit and the site's current designation with DEC. PERMITS: a free New York State Forest Ranger permit is required for any stay of more than three nights at one spot, or for a group of ten or more (the DEC unit page sets no stricter local threshold, so the statewide rule governs). Arrange any permit in advance through the DEC Region 5 Warrensburg Office at 518-623-1200 (Mon-Fri, 8:30 to 4:45). Camp only at the marked site (look for the yellow 'Camp Here' disc) -- elsewhere on the Forest Preserve, camping is prohibited within 150 feet of any road, trail, spring, stream, pond or other water. These are primitive sites: typically just a fire ring, no hookups and no potable water, and designated TENT sites are for tents only. Pack out all trash, follow Leave No Trace and the DEC fire rules, and store food away from black bears. The unit is open year-round, but winter access is on ski or snowshoe and several stream crossings here have no bridge -- confirm current conditions, closures and this site's access with the DEC unit page (dec.ny.gov/places/siamese-ponds-wilderness) or the Warrensburg office before you go; we have not visited.

USGS topo — contours & terrain
USGS topographic map of Auger Falls Campsite (Siamese Ponds Wilderness)
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Aerial image of Auger Falls Campsite (Siamese Ponds Wilderness)
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Weather outlook
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 1,386 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

15 MI30 MI60 MIYOUR CAMPN ↑Water · 7 miWDump · 8 miDSpeculator Gas Station · Fuel · 6 miFSpeculator Gas Staion · Grocery · 6 miGWalgreens · Pharmacy · 17 miRxAllen & Palmer True Value · Hardware · 17 miHMain Street Auto · Mechanic · 18 miMLaundromat · Laundry · 6 miLShower · 8 miShAir-up · 29 miAInfirmary · Urgent care · 5 mi+Jim's Bait Shop · Outfitter · 26 miOSpeculator Post Office · Mail · 6 mi@
Straight-line miles · bearings approx · roads run longer
Nearest of each
  • +Urgent care5 mi
  • LLaundry6 mi
  • FFuel6 mi
  • GGrocery6 mi
  • @Mail6 mi
  • WWater7 mi
  • ShShower8 mi
  • DDump8 mi
  • RxPharmacy17 mi
  • HHardware17 mi
  • MMechanic18 mi
  • OOutfitter26 mi
  • AAir-up29 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water

The read: water's a short hop out, fuel & food sit about 6 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
1,386 ft
State
NY
Coordinates
43.47116, -74.25058
Cost
Free

Nearby & resupply (OpenStreetMap)

  • Water featureEast Branch Sacandaga River (river) · nearby
  • Nearest townGriffin · ~1.4 mi
  • Drinking waterDrinking water · ~7.1 mi
  • FuelValero · ~18.0 mi
  • Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
  • Dump stationDump station · ~7.6 mi
  • GroceriesCharlie Johns · ~6.1 mi
  • PharmacyRite Aid Pharmacy · ~20.7 mi
  • Hospital / clinicNorth Creek Health Center · ~20.4 mi
  • HardwareAllen & Palmer True Value · ~17.4 mi

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

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 15816, ASSET='PRIMITIVE TENT SITE', PUBLICUSE='Y', FACILITY='Siamese Ponds Wilderness'; coordinate is DEC's own point geometry (WGS84), pulled 2026-07-23 via the layer's /find endpoint (honours sr=4326; /query returns projected UTM). FREE confirmed by DEC's own place page (dec.ny.gov/places/siamese-ponds-wilderness, read 2026-07-23): Fee='Free', 'Open for recreation: Year-round', "There are 39 primitive tent sites and four lean-tos located in the Siamese Pond Wilderness", all first-come and not reservable; plus DEC State Land Camping Rules (dec.ny.gov/things-to-do/camping/state-land-rules, re-read 2026-07-23): primitive camping is allowed on the Adirondack Forest Preserve (Wilderness is a category where it is allowed), with a free permit only for stays over 3 nights or groups of 10+, arranged via the DEC Region 5 Warrensburg Office at 518-623-1200 (Mon-Fri, 8:30 to 4:45). COUNT: GIS returns 42 records vs the page's stated 39 tent sites -- no foreign unit is dragged in (all 42 carry this FACILITY and Siamese-Ponds-region names); one record covers four sites ('13Th Lake Campsite 1, 11, 12, 13') and the page's prose list is not exhaustive. EXCLUDED as PAID: the 20 Indian Lake shoreline sites, which the page says are part of the DEC Indian Lake Islands Campground and require a paid reservation in season -- they are absent from this GIS layer (no 'Indian Lake' facility) and no site here is on that shoreline. Access classified as 'near-road'; nearest DEC-published access point the Auger Falls trailhead parking area off NY 30/8, 0.14 mi straight-line. Ingest 2026-07-23.
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.

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 →