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Burroughs Trail Campsite #5 [DEC #228716] (Slide Mountain Wilderness)

Drive-up · New York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation · NY · 42.00308, -74.36822

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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 Burroughs Trail Campsite #5, a DEC-mapped primitive tent site on the Wittenberg-Cornell-Slide (Burroughs Range) Trail 77 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, a trailside forest site (nearest water about 1635 feet away) (measured against OpenStreetMap). This is a high Burroughs-Range ridge site on the Wittenberg-Cornell-Slide Trail, roughly 3,150-3,260 feet -- BELOW the Catskill 3,500-foot camping limit, but do NOT move uphill to camp: camping and fires are prohibited above 3,500 feet in the Catskills year-round. There is no water at the site (nearest is a distant, likely-seasonal stream), so carry in or treat what you find. 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 3253 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? — Burroughs Trail Campsite #5 [DEC #228716] (Slide Mountain Wilderness) · Slide Mountain Wilderness · NY

Open today Year-round per the agency record.

New York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation record: “Year-round” Read against the calendar on 2026-09-22; with JavaScript your browser re-checks it against today.

USGS topo — contours & terrain

USGS topographic map of Burroughs Trail Campsite #5 [DEC #228716] (Slide Mountain Wilderness)

Aerial — USGS / NAIP

Aerial image of Burroughs Trail Campsite #5 [DEC #228716] (Slide Mountain Wilderness)

Weather outlook — at Burroughs Trail Campsite #5 [DEC #228716] (Slide Mountain Wilderness)

Loading the latest forecast…

Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 3,253 ft.

Fire & smoke — around Burroughs Trail Campsite #5 [DEC #228716] (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 Burroughs Trail Campsite #5 [DEC #228716] (Slide Mountain Wilderness) · Slide Mountain Wilderness · NY

▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.

Nearest of each

DDump2 mi
WWater2 mi
@Mail5 mi
FFuel5 mi
GGrocery5 mi
RxPharmacy5 mi
MMechanic5 mi
AAir-up6 mi
+Urgent care6 mi
ShShower8 mi
OOutfitter8 mi
LLaundry10 mi
HHardware13 mi
EVEV fast charger14 mi
PPropane59 mi

≤30 mi30–4545+water

The read: water is basically at camp, fuel & food sit about 5 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 — Burroughs Trail Campsite #5 [DEC #228716] (Slide Mountain Wilderness)

Access

Drive-up

Land

New York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation

Elevation

3,253 ft

Ground slope

2.7% · flat

State

Coordinates

42.00308, -74.36822

Cost

Free

Nearby & resupply — around Burroughs Trail Campsite #5 [DEC #228716] (Slide Mountain Wilderness) · Slide Mountain Wilderness · NY (OpenStreetMap)

Water featureWittenberg Brook · ~1.0 mi · USGS: intermittent stream
Nearest townPhoenicia · ~6.2 mi
Rail & highwaynone mapped within 10 mi
Drinking waterWater · ~2.4 mi
FuelSunoco · ~5.2 mi
Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
Dump station~2.3 mi
GroceriesBoiceville Pit Stop · ~5.2 mi
PharmacyNekos Boiceville Pharmacy · ~5.2 mi
Hospital / clinicMedical Associates of the Hudson Valley · ~6.3 mi
HardwareWoodstock Hardware · ~12.9 mi

EV charging — from Burroughs Trail Campsite #5 [DEC #228716] (Slide Mountain Wilderness) · Slide Mountain Wilderness · NY — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)

Nearest public DC fast charger13.5 mi straight-line E — Trident Chargers - 295 NY-375, West Hurley, NY · VIALYNK · CCS · 4 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily · directions
Public DC fast stations within reach24 within 25 mi · 85 within 50 · 831 within 100 · 1473 within 150
Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)18.0 mi — Kingston, NY - Tesla Supercharger, Kingston
Nearest listing CHAdeMO16.7 mi — NYC FLEET DEP_ARKVLE_1_L3, Arkville
Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)4.5 mi — Full Moon Resort - Tesla Destination, Big Indian, NY · Tesla Destination · J1772, NACS (Tesla) · 6 Level 2 ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-08-27 · hours: 24 hours daily. Open to all vehicles.
Pricing at the fast chargernot listed
Power (kW)not listed by AFDC — “DC fast” spans roughly 24 to 350 kW, so ask the network.
Read this honestlyStraight-line miles, like every distance on this site. Roads run longer than this, and you have to get back. We know where a charger is listed. We don’t know if it works today, how fast it is, or the road miles. Check the network before you commit.
Snapshot 2026-09-16 · AFDC record 460325 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center

Nearby restrooms — around Burroughs Trail Campsite #5 [DEC #228716] (Slide Mountain Wilderness) · Slide Mountain Wilderness · NY — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)

Highway rest areaUlster Travel Plaza · ~18.9 mi E
Highway rest areaParking/Rest Area · ~20.1 mi E
Highway rest areaParking/Rest Area · ~22.2 mi E
Highway rest areaMalden Travel Plaza · ~22.4 mi E

Coming out here — Burroughs Trail Campsite #5 [DEC #228716] (Slide Mountain Wilderness) · Slide Mountain Wilderness · NY

Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Wittenberg Brook as an intermittent stream, ~1.0 mi from the pin (National Hydrography Dataset, data refreshed October 2022). Mapped as intermittent — expect it dry for part of the year. Nobody has checked it for you. Filter or boil anything you drink.
Ground slope around the pin: about 2.7% — flat. Measured on USGS's 3DEP elevation model (1 m data here), sampled every 10 metres around the point. That is the hillside, not the ground under your wheels — a graded pullout or a bench a few metres across is too small to show up at that spacing, and nobody has checked this one for you.
No rail line and no interstate or US route is mapped within 10 mi of the pin. Checked against the FRA/BTS North American Rail Network (data updated Jul 21, 2026) and the Census's TIGER/Line primary roads (TIGER/Line 2025, released Oct 2025). Both are national files and both are maps of what is built, not counts of what moves on it.
Power: Dave carries his own — batteries or solar. A generator will run your rig and it is also the thing everybody camped near you can hear.
Getting online: Dave recommends Starlink. He has had it since SpaceX introduced it, used it for four years living on the road, and it delivers as promised — several hundred nights out, and he can count on one hand the places he could not connect. The cable on his unit runs 150 feet, which is usually all it takes to find enough sky. Starlink → Referral link — Starlink pays Dave $100 in cash if you sign up through it, and that money funds this site and the next trip. It costs you nothing and does not change the recommendation.

Open Burroughs Trail Campsite #5 [DEC #228716] (Slide Mountain Wilderness) elsewhere

Google satellite →Gaia GPS →CalTopo →Back to the map →

Other camps near Burroughs Trail Campsite #5 [DEC #228716] (Slide Mountain Wilderness)

If this one is full, gated or washed out.

The unit that manages Burroughs Trail Campsite #5 [DEC #228716] (Slide Mountain Wilderness)

Burroughs Trail Campsite #5 [DEC #228716] is in Slide Mountain Wilderness, a wilderness managed by NY DEC. Stay limits, permits, road closures and fire restrictions are set there, not at the campsite — check before you go. Its page maps every camp in it.

Slide Mountain Wilderness →

How we know this — Burroughs Trail Campsite #5 [DEC #228716] (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 228716, NAME verbatim 'Burroughs Trail Campsite #5', 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 'Burroughs Trail Campsite #5' 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 a trailside forest site (nearest water about 1635 feet away); nearest trail is the Wittenberg-Cornell-Slide (Burroughs Range) Trail 77 ft (OSM `out geom`, overpass.kumi.systems, 2026-07-25, point-to-nearest-vertex). CLUSTER: high Burroughs-Range col site on the Wittenberg-Cornell-Slide Trail (~3,150-3,260 ft, below the 3,500-ft Catskill ban); nearest OSM water is distant/seasonal. ELEVATION ~3253 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 Burroughs Trail Campsite #5 [DEC #228716] (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.

Road surface & last-mile access
How many rigs actually fit
Cell coverage by carrier
Current fire restrictions
Whether any water here is drinkable
Shade & wind exposure
Noise and who else shows up
Whether a listed EV charger works today, or the road miles to it

Before you go — Burroughs Trail Campsite #5 [DEC #228716] (Slide Mountain Wilderness)

Cold-weather camping →Fire rules & restrictions →Camping with a dog →Reading your camp page →All field notes →

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