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Bradkin primitive tent site [DEC #228988] (Slide Mountain Wilderness)

Drive-up · New York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation · NY · 42.00758, -74.29192
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New York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation lists this site. Someone from the agency inventoried it, so it is a real camp — not a spot we guessed at. What changes is conditions — roads, gates, closures, fire rules. Check those with the unit before you commit to the drive.

FREE first-come primitive tent camping at the Bradkin primitive tent site, a DEC-mapped primitive tent site on an old woods road 595 ft in the Slide Mountain Wilderness (Ulster County, the high Catskills, DEC Region 3). New York provides it at NO CHARGE: the DEC Slide Mountain Wilderness page lists the unit as 'Free' and open year-round, and confirms 'at large primitive camping is allowed' alongside its 24 designated primitive campsites and 3 lean-tos. This is one of DEC's mapped tent sites, about 110 feet from Traver Hollow Stream (measured against OpenStreetMap). This is a lower-elevation Bradkin / Traver Hollow site (around 900-1,050 feet) close to Traver Hollow Stream. If the spot is a marked designated site you may be within the usual 150 feet of water; if it is NOT marked, camp at least 150 feet back from the stream. Treat any water you take from it. CONFIDENCE / RULES NOTE -- please read: this is MEDIUM confidence. The DEC page says the unit has 24 designated primitive campsites but does not publish which of DEC's 23 mapped tent-site points those are -- so treat this spot as an established DEC-mapped tent site rather than a certified designated one. Away from a marked designated site, New York's rule is to camp at least 150 feet from any road, trail, or water; on the ground, use the established/hardened tent pad and look for a round yellow DEC 'Camp Here' disc, and if the spot is not marked, move back 150+ feet from the water and trail. CATSKILL 3,500-FOOT RULE: camping and fires are prohibited above 3,500 feet in the Catskills at any time of year -- this site is around 924 feet, below that line, but do not move uphill to camp. These are FREE, first-come sites -- no reservation, no fee, no facilities (no hookups, no showers, no potable water); this is NOT a reservable DEC fee campground (Woodland Valley and Kenneth L. Wilson are separate developed fee campgrounds over a mile away). 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 Office in New Paltz at (845) 256-3076 (Forest Rangers via 911 or 1-833-NYS-RANGERS / 1-833-697-7264)). Bring water or treat what you take from a stream, 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 these are steep high-Catskill trails that can be icy, muddy, washed or snow-covered much of the year -- confirm current conditions and this specific site's status on the DEC page (dec.ny.gov/places/slide-mountain-wilderness) or with the DEC Region 3 New Paltz office (845-256-3076) before you go; we have not visited.

Can I go now? — Bradkin primitive tent site [DEC #228988] (Slide Mountain Wilderness) · New York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation · NY
Open today Year-round per the agency record.
New York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation record: “Year-round” Read against the calendar on 2026-09-17; with JavaScript your browser re-checks it against today.
USGS topo — contours & terrain
USGS topographic map of Bradkin primitive tent site [DEC #228988] (Slide Mountain Wilderness)
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Aerial image of Bradkin primitive tent site [DEC #228988] (Slide Mountain Wilderness)
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Weather outlook — at Bradkin primitive tent site [DEC #228988] (Slide Mountain Wilderness)
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Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 924 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Bradkin primitive tent site [DEC #228988] (Slide Mountain Wilderness)NIFC · 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 Bradkin primitive tent site [DEC #228988] (Slide Mountain Wilderness) · New York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation · NY

15 MI30 MI60 MIYOUR CAMPN ↑Water · 3 miWDump · 4 miD7-Eleven · Propane · 57 miPSunoco · Fuel · 1 miFBoiceville Market · Grocery · 1 miGNekos Boiceville Pharmacy · Pharmacy · 1 miRxWoodstock Hardware · Hardware · 9 miHCar Craft Body Shop · Mechanic · 2 miMWoodstock Laundry · Laundry · 9 miLShower · 4 miShAir-up · 5 miAMedical Associates of the Hudson Valley · Urgent care · 5 mi+Mountain Life Gear & Ammo · Outfitter · 9 miOUS Post Office · Mail · 1 mi@Trident Chargers - 295 NY-375 · EV fast charger · 10 miEV
Straight-line miles · bearings approx · roads run longer
Nearest of each
  • FFuel1 mi
  • GGrocery1 mi
  • @Mail1 mi
  • RxPharmacy1 mi
  • MMechanic2 mi
  • WWater3 mi
  • ShShower4 mi
  • DDump4 mi
  • AAir-up5 mi
  • +Urgent care5 mi
  • HHardware9 mi
  • OOutfitter9 mi
  • LLaundry9 mi
  • EVEV fast charger10 mi
  • PPropane57 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water

The read: water is basically at camp, fuel & food sit about 1 mi out.

One dot per need — the nearest of each kind, straight-line from camp. Places from OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors); the EV fast charger from the US DOE station locator. Open in Google Maps ↗

The site — Bradkin primitive tent site [DEC #228988] (Slide Mountain Wilderness)

Access
Drive-up
Land
New York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation
Elevation
924 ft
State
NY
Coordinates
42.00758, -74.29192
Cost
Free

Nearby & resupply — around Bradkin primitive tent site [DEC #228988] (Slide Mountain Wilderness) · New York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation · NY (OpenStreetMap)

  • Water featureTraver Hollow Stream (stream) · nearby
  • Nearest townCold Brook · ~1.2 mi
  • Drinking waterDrinking water · ~3.3 mi
  • FuelSpeedway · ~12.5 mi
  • Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
  • Dump station~4.0 mi
  • GroceriesBoiceville Market · ~1.2 mi
  • PharmacyNekos Boiceville Pharmacy · ~1.3 mi
  • Hospital / clinicHealth Quest · ~14.8 mi
  • HardwareVillage Hardware · ~14.7 mi

EV charging — from Bradkin primitive tent site [DEC #228988] (Slide Mountain Wilderness) · New York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation · NY — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)

Nearby restrooms — around Bradkin primitive tent site [DEC #228988] (Slide Mountain Wilderness) · New York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation · NY — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)

Open Bradkin primitive tent site [DEC #228988] (Slide Mountain Wilderness) elsewhere

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Other camps near Bradkin primitive tent site [DEC #228988] (Slide Mountain Wilderness)

If this one is full, gated or washed out.

How we know this — Bradkin primitive tent site [DEC #228988] (Slide Mountain Wilderness)

Open season
Year-round
Permit
Free permit needed only for stays over 3 nights or groups of 10 or more
Closures
None posted (checked 2026-07-25)
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 228988, NAME verbatim 'Bradkin primitive tent site', ASSET='PRIMITIVE TENT SITE', PUBLICUSE='Y', ACCESSIBLE='N', FACILITY='Slide Mountain Wilderness', DEC Region 3 (New Paltz). DESCRIP=''; NOTES=''. 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/slide-mountain-wilderness (Slide Mountain Wilderness, read 2026-07-25): 'Fee: Free', open year-round; Ulster County; DEC Region 3 New Paltz (845) 256-3076. COUNT/CONFIDENCE (MED): the DEC page states 'There are 24 designated primitive campsites and 3 lean-tos in the Slide Mountain Wilderness ... at large primitive camping is allowed.' DEC's GIS maps 23 named primitive-tent-site points for the unit but the page does NOT enumerate which are designated, so this site 'Bradkin primitive tent site' ships MED (real DEC-mapped PUBLICUSE tent site, camping allowed unit-wide, but NOT certifiable as one of the 24 designated -- honest floor, not HIGH). IDENTITY/LOCATION CORROBORATION: measured against OpenStreetMap this point is about 110 feet from Traver Hollow Stream; nearest trail is an old woods road 595 ft (OSM `out geom`, overpass.kumi.systems, 2026-07-25, point-to-nearest-vertex). CLUSTER: Bradkin / Traver Hollow low corridor, near Traver Hollow Stream (OSM water 72-116 ft). ELEVATION ~924 ft (USGS EPQS, 2026-07-25); the Catskill 3,500-ft camping ban applies unit-wide and every one of the 23 GIS points is below it (highest = Burroughs #7 at 3,466 ft) -- ZERO elevation kills this unit. ACCESS-COST CHECK (guardrail 2): NY has no statewide access pass; no day-use/parking/permit fee on the unit page; the Woodland Valley and Kenneth L. Wilson DEC campgrounds are separate developed FEE facilities >1 mi off (no site within 1 mi of Woodland Valley). LEGALITY (guardrail 1): DEC-mapped, publicly-usable primitive tent site (PUBLICUSE='Y') in a Wilderness where the page confirms both designated and at-large primitive camping are allowed; legality rests on DEC-mapped established-site (Windham-Blackhead basis), not per-site designation. No closure posted for the unit (checked 2026-07-25). Plus DEC State Land Camping Rules (dec.ny.gov/things-to-do/camping/state-land-rules): camp 150+ ft from road/trail/water unless at a marked designated site; free Forest Ranger permit for stays over 3 nights or groups of 10+; NO camping or fires above 3,500 ft in the Catskills. Ingest 2026-07-25.
Season
Read from the agency's own season / closure text in this record (data/conditions.py) and checked against the calendar. The words we read are printed under the verdict at the top of the page.
EV chargers
US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center station locator, snapshot 2026-09-16. Straight-line miles to the nearest public, open, unrestricted station; restricted and planned units are shown but never counted.
Field check
On the agency's books. The land manager inventoried this site, so its existence is not in question — current conditions are. Nobody from here has camped it recently.

What we don’t know about Bradkin primitive tent site [DEC #228988] (Slide Mountain Wilderness)

A land record can put you within a few meters 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 — Bradkin primitive tent site [DEC #228988] (Slide Mountain Wilderness)

Finding water out here →Cold-weather camping →Fire rules & restrictions →Off-grid communication →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 →