Barkeater Cliffs Campsite [DEC #11703] (Sentinel Range Wilderness)
Drive-up · public land · NY · 44.26163, -73.86770
We haven't personally camped here. Everything below is pulled from public land data, USGS maps and OpenStreetMap — a real place on public land, but not field-checked by us. Confirm road conditions, current access, stay limits and fire restrictions before you go.
FREE first-come primitive camping at the Barkeater Cliffs Campsite, one of the four DEC-designated primitive tent sites in the Sentinel Range Wilderness (Essex County, northern Adirondacks between Lake Placid and Wilmington, DEC Region 5). New York provides it at NO CHARGE: the DEC Sentinel Range Wilderness page lists the unit as 'Free' and open year-round, and states 'There are four designated primitive tent sites and one lean-to,' with one tent site on Owens Pond, two on Copperas Pond, and one off the Jackrabbit Ski Trail. This is the designated tent site the DEC page places off the Jackrabbit Ski Trail, about a mile from the Alstead Lane Trailhead; OpenStreetMap puts it roughly 660 feet from the mapped Jack Rabbit Trail, near a small stream. DEC flags it as a LOW-USE camping spot, so it is quieter and less developed -- treat any water you take from the stream. These are FREE, first-come, designated sites -- no reservation, no fee, no facilities (no hookups, no showers, no potable water); this is NOT the developed Wilmington Notch Campground (a separate DEC fee campground about 2.3 miles away on NY 86). Camp only on the designated/hardened site (look for a round yellow DEC 'Camp Here' disc). 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 5 Ray Brook office at (518) 897-1200 (Forest Rangers via 911 or 1-833-NYS-RANGERS / 1-833-697-7264)). Bring water or treat what you take, pack out all trash, follow Leave No Trace and the DEC fire rules, and store food from bears (this is black-bear country). SEASON / ACCESS: DEC lists the unit as open year-round, but Adirondack access and conditions vary by season -- confirm current conditions and this specific site's status on the DEC page (dec.ny.gov/places/sentinel-range-wilderness) or with the DEC Region 5 office (518-897-1200) before you go; we have not visited.
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 11703, NAME verbatim 'Barkeater Cliffs Campsite', ASSET='PRIMITIVE TENT SITE', PUBLICUSE='Y', ACCESSIBLE='N', FACILITY='Sentinel Range Wilderness', DEC Region 5. DESCRIP='Near Brook And Waterfall'; NOTES='Low Use For Camping'. Coordinate is DEC's own point geometry (WGS84), pulled 2026-07-25 via the layer's /query endpoint (outSR=4326). FREE + COUNT confirmed on dec.ny.gov/places/sentinel-range-wilderness (Sentinel Range Wilderness, read 2026-07-25): 'Fee: Free', open year-round, Essex County, DEC Region 5 (518) 897-1200. CONFIDENCE (HIGH): the page enumerates exactly -- 'There are four designated primitive tent sites and one lean-to', 'one ... on the shore of Owens Pond and two ... on the shore of Copperas Pond ... A designated tent site is also located off the Jackrabbit Ski Trail' -- count 4 = GIS 4 and the per-location split (Owen 1 / Copperas 2 / Jackrabbit 1) matches the GIS points location-for-location, so this designated site is individually certifiable (Crystal Lake enumeration basis). IDENTITY/LOCATION CORROBORATION (OSM `out geom`, overpass.kumi.systems, 2026-07-25): this point is about 185 feet from a stream, off the Jackrabbit Ski Trail; LOCATION: the page's 'designated tent site ... off the Jackrabbit Ski Trail ~1 mi from the Alstead Lane Trailhead' -- OSM 'Jack Rabbit Trail' 659 ft; the only non-pond GIS point. GIS NOTES='Low Use For Camping' (usage descriptor, not a closure). ELEVATION ~1897 ft (USGS EPQS, 2026-07-25) -- Sentinel Range is NOT the High Peaks Wilderness; far below the Adirondack 4,000-ft camping restriction, no elevation kills. PAID-NEIGHBOUR (guardrail 2): the DEC Wilmington Notch Campground is a separate developed FEE campground on NY 86, OSM-measured 2.28 mi away -- not adjacent, not required for access; the sites are reached free from the Copperas Pond / Owen Pond trailheads (or the Jackrabbit Ski Trail for Barkeater Cliffs), no parking/day-use/permit fee. LEGALITY (guardrail 1): DEC-designated, publicly-usable tent site, first-come, no-reservation. Plus DEC State Land Camping Rules (dec.ny.gov/things-to-do/camping/state-land-rules): free Forest Ranger permit only for stays over 3 nights or groups of 10+. Ingest 2026-07-25.
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.
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 →
![USGS topographic map of Barkeater Cliffs Campsite [DEC #11703] (Sentinel Range Wilderness)](img/barkeater-cliffs-campsite-dec-11703-sentinel-ran-ny-44262n73868w-topo.png)
![Aerial image of Barkeater Cliffs Campsite [DEC #11703] (Sentinel Range Wilderness)](img/barkeater-cliffs-campsite-dec-11703-sentinel-ran-ny-44262n73868w-aerial.jpg)