Found · unverifiedNY DECFree

Big Pond Campsite 12 [DEC #16695] (Delaware Wild Forest)

Drive-up · New York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation · NY · 42.04971, -74.72367

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 designated primitive camping at Big Pond, a first-come pondside camping area in the Delaware Wild Forest off Barkaboom Road near Andes (Delaware County, western Catskills, DEC Region 4). New York provides this at NO CHARGE: the DEC Delaware Wild Forest page lists the fee as 'Free' and the Big Pond Camping Area as a designated facility, and Catskill Mountaineer confirms the 12 Big Pond sites are free, first-come first-served with no reservation and no registration. This is Campsite 12 of 12, reached on a short foot spur from the free Barkaboom Road / Post Road parking. DEC numbers this as one of the 12 designated Big Pond campsites, so camp AT this marked, established site (fire ring + shared privy) rather than dispersing -- the 150-foot at-large setback does not apply at a designated site. COUNT NOTE: DEC's Delaware Wild Forest page lists 'Big Pond Camping Area' as a free designated facility with a privy and fire ring, and DEC's mapping data returns 12 individually-NUMBERED primitive campsites here (Campsite 1 through 12, with Campsite 1 the group site and Campsite 5 the ADA-accessible site) -- a count that matches Catskill Mountaineer's independent 12-site roster. Every distance quoted was measured against OpenStreetMap, which independently maps Big Pond, the parking lots and campsite nodes at this spot; no pins were invented. This is a FREE, first-come DEC primitive campsite at Big Pond -- no reservation, no fee and no registration; the Barkaboom Road and Post Road parking areas are free. Do NOT confuse it with the reservable LITTLE POND CAMPGROUND, a separate DEC FEE campground about a mile southwest on Barkaboom Road -- that one charges and takes reservations; Big Pond does not. SEASON / ACCESS: DEC lists the Delaware Wild Forest as open YEAR-ROUND and free. The Big Pond sites are short foot-spur walks in from the free Barkaboom Road / Post Road DEC parking lots. The only DEC alerts for the unit are seasonal snowmobile-trail notices and a Campbell Mountain snowmobile-BRIDGE closure (several miles east, not at Big Pond). Roads and spurs can be muddy or snow-covered off-season, so confirm current conditions with the DEC Region 4 Stamford office (607-652-7365) or the unit page before you go. RULES: no reservation and no fee; 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 4 Office in Stamford at (607) 652-7365 (Forest Rangers via 911 or DEC dispatch 1-833-NYS-RANGERS)); the group site is Campsite 1 and the accessible site is Campsite 5. These are primitive sites: expect a fire ring and a shared privy -- no hookups, no showers and no potable water, so bring water or treat what you take from the pond. This site is around 1933 feet elevation. 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 and this specific site's status on the DEC page (dec.ny.gov/places/delaware-wild-forest) or with the Stamford office (607-652-7365) before you go; we have not visited.

USGS topo — contours & terrain

USGS topographic map of Big Pond Campsite 12 [DEC #16695] (Delaware Wild Forest)

Aerial — USGS / NAIP

Aerial image of Big Pond Campsite 12 [DEC #16695] (Delaware Wild Forest)

Weather outlook

Loading the latest forecast…

Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 1,933 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

WWater1 mi
DDump1 mi
ShShower1 mi
FFuel4 mi
+Urgent care6 mi
@Mail7 mi
GGrocery8 mi
MMechanic8 mi
LLaundry9 mi
HHardware12 mi
OOutfitter13 mi
RxPharmacy18 mi
AAir-up21 mi

≤30 mi30–4545+water

The read: water is basically at camp, fuel & food sit about 4 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

1,933 ft

State

Coordinates

42.04971, -74.72367

Cost

Free

Nearby & resupply (OpenStreetMap)

Water featureBig Pond (water) · nearby
Nearest townTurnwood · ~1.9 mi
Drinking waterDrinking water · ~1.3 mi
FuelLew Beach General Store · ~4.5 mi
Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
Dump stationDump station · ~1.3 mi
GroceriesThe Kitchen Cheetah · ~7.8 mi
PharmacyK&K PHARMACY · ~17.7 mi
Hospital / clinicMargaretville Hospital · ~7.9 mi
HardwareWestlake Ace Hardware · ~18.1 mi

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

Highway rest areaRoscoe · ~11.2 mi SW
Highway rest areaEast Branch · ~22.8 mi W
RestroomCallicoon PA Access Seasonal Toilet · ~26.6 mi SW · NPS
RestroomLordville Access Seasonal Toilet · ~28.1 mi SW · NPS

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 16695, NAME verbatim 'Campsite 12', ASSET='PRIMITIVE TENT SITE', PUBLICUSE='Y', FACILITY='Delaware Wild Forest', REGION 4 (Stamford office), UNIT='CFP' (Catskill Forest Preserve). DESCRIP=''; NOTES=''; ACCESSIBLE='N'. This is a DEC-NUMBERED DESIGNATED campsite (Campsite 12 of 12 at Big Pond), so its legality rests on official designation, not the 150-ft at-large rule. Coordinate is DEC's own point geometry (WGS84), pulled 2026-07-25 via the layer's /query endpoint (outSR=4326). FREE confirmed on dec.ny.gov/places/delaware-wild-forest (Delaware Wild Forest, read 2026-07-25): whole-unit Fee='Free', open year-round, APSLMP class WILD FOREST; 'Big Pond Camping Area' listed as a free designated facility (privy + fire ring); DEC Region 4 Stamford (607) 652-7365. Independently corroborated at catskillmountaineer.com/DWF-big-pond.html (read 2026-07-25): 12 designated primitive campsites, 'Free -- no reservation system (first come - first serve)', Campsite 1 = group site, Campsite 5 = ADA-accessible; free parking off Barkaboom Road and Post Road. COUNT NOTE: DEC's Delaware Wild Forest page lists 'Big Pond Camping Area' as a free designated facility with a privy and fire ring, and DEC's mapping data returns 12 individually-NUMBERED primitive campsites here (Campsite 1 through 12, with Campsite 1 the group site and Campsite 5 the ADA-accessible site) -- a count that matches Catskill Mountaineer's independent 12-site roster. Every distance quoted was measured against OpenStreetMap, which independently maps Big Pond, the parking lots and campsite nodes at this spot; no pins were invented. HIGH: DEC's mapping individually NUMBERS this site (Campsite 12) within the Big Pond Camping Area that the official DEC unit page lists as a free designated facility; Catskill Mountaineer's independent roster lists the same 12 designated sites (group + ADA included); and OpenStreetMap independently maps Big Pond, the DEC parking lots and campsite nodes at this exact spot -- a multi-source designation + location match. ACCESS-COST CHECK (guardrail 2): the DEC page names no day-use, parking or access fee; NY has no statewide access pass; PAID-NEIGHBOUR GUARD set on the Little Pond FEE campground (~1 mi SW) -- this site was measured ~1.0-1.4 mi from Little Pond and clears the guard box. LEGALITY (guardrail 1): camping is allowed -- an official DEC-numbered designated campsite in a free Wild Forest, no closure posted (only alerts are seasonal snowmobile-trail + a Campbell Mountain snowmobile-bridge closure elsewhere in the unit). APSLMP CLASS = WILD FOREST. ELEVATION ~1933 ft (USGS EPQS, 2026-07-25) -- far below the 3,500-ft Catskill high-elevation camping restriction (and moot for a designated site). MEASURED GEOMETRY (OpenStreetMap via the maps.mail.ru overpass mirror, 2026-07-25, point-to-nearest-vertex on `out geom`): the DEC point sits about 113 ft from the Big Pond shoreline (OSM way 237659959), about 502 ft from Post Road and about 787 ft from the nearest DEC parking lot, with the nearest OSM-mapped campsite node about 2254 ft away. CORROBORATION: the DEC-numbered point sits ~2254 ft from an OSM tourism=camp_site node and ~787 ft from a mapped DEC parking lot at Big Pond, independently confirming a real, mapped pondside campsite area; DEC individually numbers this site and Catskill Mountaineer's roster lists the same 12 designated sites -- a multi-source designation + location match. Plus DEC State Land Camping Rules (dec.ny.gov/things-to-do/camping/state-land-rules): free Forest Ranger permit for stays over 3 nights or 10+ people. 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.

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 →