Agency-listedNY DECFreeOpen today
Cary Lake Campsite (Fulton Chain Wild Forest)
Drive-up · New York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation · NY · 43.75081, -74.89349
Ask an AI about this campsiteOpens Grok already loaded with this site. It reads the same records this page is built from, and links whatever it tells you.
Ask about this camp →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 primitive camping in the Fulton Chain Wild Forest, part of New York's Adirondack Forest Preserve -- Herkimer County (DEC Region 6), in the Old Forge / Inlet lakes country. This is a DEC-designated primitive tent site ('Cary Lake Campsite') on Cary Lake, and New York provides it at NO CHARGE: the DEC page lists the fee as 'Free' and the unit is open year-round. NEAR-DRIVE-UP: DEC lists parking off Cary Lake Road and this site is about 134 feet from that road, right on Cary Lake (~70 ft from the water). DEC's own note on this site: "Parking off Cary Lake Road". Do NOT confuse this free site with the nearby DEVELOPED, FEE state campgrounds -- Nicks Lake, Alger Island (a paid island-tent campground on Fourth Lake) and Limekiln Lake -- which charge a nightly fee and are separate facilities; this Wild Forest site is free. RULES: this is a designated, first-come, free site -- no reservation and no fee. Standard Adirondack Forest Preserve rules apply: camp only at the designated site, and 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 6 Herkimer Office at 315-866-6330). DEC's page prints no other night limit for this unit, so plan around that statewide 3-night default and confirm on site. This is a primitive site: expect a fire ring and, at most of the Moss Lake sites, a nearby pit privy -- no hookups, no showers and no potable water, so bring water or treat what you take from the lake. 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 site's status on the DEC page (dec.ny.gov/places/fulton-chain-wild-forest) or with the Herkimer office (315-866-6330) before you go; we have not visited.
Can I go now? — Cary Lake Campsite (Fulton Chain Wild Forest) · Fulton Chain Wild Forest · 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
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Weather outlook — at Cary Lake Campsite (Fulton Chain Wild Forest)
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 1,823 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Cary Lake Campsite (Fulton Chain Wild Forest)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 Cary Lake Campsite (Fulton Chain Wild Forest) · Fulton Chain Wild Forest · NY
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- LLaundry4 mi
- @Mail4 mi
- HHardware5 mi
- WWater5 mi
- GGrocery5 mi
- FFuel5 mi
- RxPharmacy5 mi
- OOutfitter12 mi
- DDump21 mi
- ShShower26 mi
- MMechanic26 mi
- +Urgent care28 mi
- EVEV fast charger32 mi
- AAir-up46 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water is basically at camp, fuel & food sit about 5 mi out, the nearest EV fast charger is a 32-mi run (and back).
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); the EV fast charger from the US DOE station locator. Open in Google Maps ↗
The site — Cary Lake Campsite (Fulton Chain Wild Forest)
Access
Drive-up
Land
New York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation
Elevation
1,823 ft
Ground slope
11.6% · noticeable
Nearest rail line
~2.7 mi · main line
State
NY
Coordinates
43.75081, -74.89349
Cost
Free
Nearby & resupply — around Cary Lake Campsite (Fulton Chain Wild Forest) · Fulton Chain Wild Forest · NY (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureCary Lake · under 0.1 mi · USGS: perennial lake or pond
- Nearest townMountain Lodge · ~3.9 mi
- Nearest rail line~2.7 mi · main line
- Nearest highwayno interstate or US route within 10 mi
- Drinking waterDrinking water · ~4.9 mi
- FuelFuel · ~5.3 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- Dump station~20.9 mi
- GroceriesKalil's Market · ~5.0 mi
- PharmacyKinney Drugs · ~5.3 mi
- Hospital / clinicClifton Fine Hospital · ~29.6 mi
- HardwareAce Hardware - Old Forge Department Store · ~4.8 mi
EV charging — from Cary Lake Campsite (Fulton Chain Wild Forest) · Fulton Chain Wild Forest · NY — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger31.5 mi straight-line E — Indian Lake - Welcome Center · 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 reachnone within 25 mi · 16 within 50 · 242 within 100 · 504 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)39.4 mi — Aldi Carthage TUL 27, West Carthage
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO48.2 mi — IONIQ L3 #1, Yorkville
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)4.1 mi — Eagle Bay Visitor Center (at a rest stop) · SWTCH · J1772 · 2 Level 2 ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2023-05-03 · hours: 24 hours daily
- Also listed, not counted aboveNACS-only Level 2 — Great Pines - Tesla Destination, Old Forge, 1.8 mi · NACS (Tesla) · hours: 24 hours daily. Open to Teslas only. · AFDC lists it “Free”
- 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 405740 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Cary Lake Campsite (Fulton Chain Wild Forest) · Fulton Chain Wild Forest · NY — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- No mapped restroom within 30 miles — plan to pack it out.
Coming out here — Cary Lake Campsite (Fulton Chain Wild Forest) · Fulton Chain Wild Forest · NY
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Cary Lake as a perennial lake or pond, under 0.1 mi from the pin (National Hydrography Dataset, data refreshed October 2022). Mapped as perennial is not the same as flowing today. Nobody has checked it for you. Filter or boil anything you drink.
- Ground slope around the pin: about 11.6% — noticeable. 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.
- Rail line mapped ~2.7 mi from the pin — the national rail atlas classes it as a main line. The atlas also records tourist, museum or scenic passenger service on it. That is the FRA/BTS North American Rail Network (data updated Jul 21, 2026), which records that a line is there and what class of track it is. Whether anything runs on it, how often, and at what hour, it does not say, and nobody has checked this one for you.
- No interstate or US route is mapped within 10 mi of the pin in the Census's TIGER/Line primary roads (TIGER/Line 2025, released Oct 2025). That file holds the divided, limited-access highways only — a state expressway or a two-lane US route near this camp would not be in 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 Cary Lake Campsite (Fulton Chain Wild Forest) elsewhere
Other camps near Cary Lake Campsite (Fulton Chain Wild Forest)
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Mountain Pond Campsite (Fulton Chain Wild Forest)~0.6 mi
- Sis-Bubb Lakes Campsite (Fulton Chain Wild Forest)~2.2 mi
- Bubb Lake Designated Tent Site 1 (Fulton Chain Wild Forest)~2.4 mi
- Bubb Lake Designated Tent Site 2 (Fulton Chain Wild Forest)~2.8 mi
The unit that manages Cary Lake Campsite (Fulton Chain Wild Forest)
Cary Lake Campsite is in Fulton Chain Wild Forest, a wild forest 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.
How we know this — Cary Lake Campsite (Fulton Chain Wild Forest)
Open season
Year-round
Area rules
Camping is prohibited within 150 feet of any road, trail, spring, stream, pond or other body of water except at areas designated by a "Camp Here" disk.
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 17023, NAME verbatim 'Cary Lake Campsite', ASSET='PRIMITIVE TENT SITE', PUBLICUSE='Y', FACILITY='Fulton Chain Wild Forest'; coordinate is DEC's own point geometry (WGS84), pulled 2026-07-24 via the layer's /query endpoint (outSR=4326). FREE confirmed on dec.ny.gov/places/fulton-chain-wild-forest (Fulton Chain Wild Forest, read 2026-07-24): Fee='Free', Open for Recreation='Year-round', 'Moss Lake has designated primitive campsites all scattered around the lake ... Camping elsewhere on the Fulton Chain Wild Forest is allowed as long as the chosen site is more than 150 feet from a road, trail or any water body'; Herkimer County, DEC Region 6, 315-866-6330. This slug LOADS (no 404). PAID-NEIGHBOUR GUARD (Debar rule): the page names three developed FEE campgrounds nearby -- Nicks Lake, Alger Island and Limekiln Lake; their OSM bounding boxes were pulled (OSM API 2026-07-24) and a point-in-box test confirms this site is inside NONE of them. LIVE-CONDITIONS CHECK (DEC Backcountry Information for the Adirondack Park, read 2026-07-24, stamped 'New this week (7/23/2026)'): only a Rondaxe/Bald Mountain 'No Parking' note, no campsite closure for this unit. COUNT: 18 GIS PTS for the facility -> 13 ingested; 4 DeCamps Island sites HELD (DEC GIS note on ASSET_UID 18984: 'This Campsite Will Likely Be Retained, Others Will Have To Be Closed To Comply With Apslmp' -- current designation of the four unconfirmable) and Moss #2.5 (ASSET_UID 17005) EXCLUDED (DEC note 'An Unofficial Spread Of Campsite #2'). MEASURED GEOMETRY (OpenStreetMap, 2026-07-24): ~70 ft to the Cary Lake shoreline (OSM water way), no mapped trail (herd-path access), 134 ft to the nearest drivable road; access class 'drive-up'; DEC per-site note 'Parking off Cary Lake Road'. No OSM camp_site nodes in the unit bbox, so DEC point geometry is the sole coordinate source. Plus DEC State Land Camping Rules (dec.ny.gov/things-to-do/camping/state-land-rules): designated-site + 150-foot rule, free Forest Ranger permit for stays over 3 nights or 10+ people. Ingest 2026-07-24.
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 Cary Lake Campsite (Fulton Chain Wild Forest)
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 — Cary Lake Campsite (Fulton Chain Wild Forest)
Camping near a reservoir →Finding water out here →Cold-weather camping →Getting unstuck →All field notes →