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Biscuit Brook Primitive Campsite [DEC #228717] (Big Indian Wilderness)

Drive-up · New York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation · NY · 42.00881, -74.48237

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 first-come primitive camping at the Biscuit Brook Primitive Campsite, a DEC-designated tent site near Biscuit Brook at the southwestern (Frost Valley / NY-47) end of the Pine Hill - West Branch Trail in the Big Indian Wilderness (Ulster County, central Catskill Park, DEC Region 3). New York provides it at NO CHARGE: the DEC page lists the unit as 'Free' and open year-round, and says designated campsites are 'marked with a yellow "Camp Here" disc' (plus at-large primitive camping is allowed). This is a remote backcountry site reached on foot from a free DEC trailhead -- no reservation, no fee, and no facilities (no hookups, no showers, no potable water). CONFIDENCE / RULES NOTE -- please read: this is MEDIUM confidence. The DEC page confirms designated marked sites exist and at-large camping is allowed but does NOT publish a count of the tent sites, so treat this as an established, DEC-mapped designated site rather than a certified specific one; on the ground, camp only where you see a round yellow DEC 'Camp Here' disc, and keep any at-large camp at least 150 feet from the trail, road, or water. 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 1-833-NYS-RANGERS / 1-833-697-7264)). Bring or treat all water, 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 Catskill access and conditions vary by season and trail/lean-to status can change (a Rider Hollow lean-to was recently removed) -- confirm current conditions and this site's status on the DEC page (dec.ny.gov/places/big-indian-wilderness) or with the DEC Region 3 office (845-256-3076) before you go; we have not visited.

USGS topo — contours & terrain

USGS topographic map of Biscuit Brook Primitive Campsite [DEC #228717] (Big Indian Wilderness)

Aerial — USGS / NAIP

Aerial image of Biscuit Brook Primitive Campsite [DEC #228717] (Big Indian Wilderness)

Weather outlook

Loading the latest forecast…

Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 2,406 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

DDump6 mi
WWater7 mi
@Mail7 mi
LLaundry8 mi
OOutfitter9 mi
RxPharmacy10 mi
FFuel10 mi
GGrocery10 mi
AAir-up10 mi
+Urgent care10 mi
MMechanic10 mi
HHardware11 mi
ShShower13 mi

≤30 mi30–4545+water

The read: water's a short hop out, fuel & food sit about 10 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

2,406 ft

State

Coordinates

42.00881, -74.48237

Cost

Free

Nearby & resupply (OpenStreetMap)

Water featureBiscuit Brook (stream) · nearby
Nearest townBranch · ~1.2 mi
Drinking waterDrinking water · ~6.7 mi
FuelCitgo · ~10.3 mi
Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
Dump stationDump station · ~6.5 mi
GroceriesPhoenicia Supermarket · ~10.1 mi
PharmacyNekos Boiceville Pharmacy · ~11.0 mi
Hospital / clinicMargaretville Hospital · ~12.5 mi
HardwareVillage Hardware · ~19.5 mi

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

Highway rest areaRoscoe · ~20.4 mi W
Highway rest areaUlster Travel Plaza · ~24.7 mi E
Highway rest areaParking/Rest Area · ~25.8 mi E
Highway rest areaParking/Rest Area · ~27.7 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

Likely — The record is good enough to put a pin on, but thin in places. Treat the details as a starting point, not gospel.

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 228717, NAME verbatim 'Biscuit Brook Primitive Campsite', ASSET='PRIMITIVE TENT SITE', PUBLICUSE='Y', ACCESSIBLE='N', FACILITY='Big Indian Wilderness', DEC Region 3, WMU 3A. DESCRIP=''; NOTES=''. Coordinate is DEC's own point geometry (WGS84), pulled 2026-07-26 via the layer's /query endpoint (outSR=4326, one paced curl request -- the DEC GIS host rate-blocks bursts). FREE confirmed on dec.ny.gov/places/big-indian-wilderness (Big Indian Wilderness, read 2026-07-26): 'Fee: Free', open year-round, Towns of Denning, Shandaken and Hardenburgh, Ulster County, DEC Region 3 New Paltz Office (845) 256-3076; the page states 'There are five lean-tos located trailside throughout the area... Other designated campsites are marked with a yellow "Camp Here" disc. In addition, primitive camping is allowed. Campsites must be at least 150 feet away from the nearest road, trail, or body of water. Camping for more than three nights or in groups of ten or more requires a permit from a Forest Ranger.' CONFIDENCE (MED): the page COUNTS the lean-tos (five) but does NOT enumerate a count of the designated tent/primitive campsites, so this is the COUNT-only / at-large basis (Blue Mountain / Slide Mountain / Sargent Ponds / Willowemoc lesson) -- the point is an established DEC-designated tent site but cannot be certified 1:1 against a page slot, so it ships at the honest MEDIUM floor, not HIGH. IDENTITY/LOCATION CORROBORATION: no OSM camp_site node exists for either site (an Overpass sweep of both site areas returned zero tourism=camp_site/wilderness_hut nodes); corroboration is the named OSM way 290539470 'Pine Hill - West Branch Trail' (the long N-S trail through the wilderness), which runs ~277 ft from this point (`out geom`, overpass.kumi.systems, 2026-07-26); the DEC NAME matches the geography (Biscuit Brook drainage / Pine Hill-West Branch Trail namesake). ELEVATION ~2406 ft (USGS EPQS, 2026-07-26) -- below the 3,500-ft Catskill camping ban; no elevation restriction applies. PAID-NEIGHBOUR (guardrail 2): DEC's Woodland Valley and Kenneth L. Wilson developed fee campgrounds are separate facilities several miles away; access is via free DEC trailheads, so no access/day-use/permit fee attaches to this backcountry site. NOTE: a page banner (read 2026-07-25/26) reports the Rider Hollow lean-to removed for structural damage -- a lean-to, not this tent site, but confirm current conditions. LEGALITY (guardrail 1): DEC-designated, publicly-usable, first-come, no-reservation, per DEC State Land Camping Rules (dec.ny.gov/things-to-do/camping/state-land-rules). Ingest 2026-07-26.

Field check

Not verified on the ground. Nobody from here has camped it. It stays at Likely 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 →