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Challis Pond Primitive Tentsite [DEC #18351] (Hammond Pond Wild Forest)

Drive-up · New York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation · NY · 43.98590, -73.66872

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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 primitive tent camping at the Challis Pond Primitive Tentsite, a DEC-mapped primitive tent site by Challis Pond in the Hammond Pond Wild Forest (Essex County, Adirondack foothills, DEC Region 5). New York provides it at NO CHARGE: the DEC Hammond Pond Wild Forest page lists the unit as 'Free' and open year-round, and says 'numerous undesignated tent sites are available on a first come - first served basis and cannot be reserved.' This is one of DEC's mapped tent sites, about 57 feet from Challis Pond (measured against OpenStreetMap; nearest the Challis Pond foot trail 55 ft / an old woods road 309 ft). CONFIDENCE / RULES NOTE -- please read: this is MEDIUM confidence. The DEC page formally DESIGNATES only one primitive tent site in the whole unit (the Boquet River site near Split Rock Falls); this spot is one of the UNDESIGNATED, DEC-mapped first-come tent sites, so treat it as an established primitive site rather than a guaranteed marked one. Away from a designated site, New York's rule is to camp at least 150 feet from any road, trail, or water -- several of these lakeside tent sites sit closer than that to the water, so on the ground use the established/hardened tent pad and look for a round yellow DEC 'Camp Here' disc; if the spot is not a marked designated site, move back 150+ feet from the water. These are FREE, first-come sites -- no reservation, no fee, no registration, and no facilities (no hookups, no showers, no potable water); this is NOT a reservable DEC fee campground. 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 5 Office in Ray Brook at (518) 897-1300 (Forest Rangers via 911 or DEC dispatch 1-833-NYS-RANGERS)); hunters may get a full-hunting-season camping permit from the local Forest Ranger; no temporary-camping permit is issued to anyone under 18. Bring water or treat what you take from the pond or 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). This site is around 1147 feet elevation. SEASON / ACCESS: DEC lists the unit as open year-round, but the trails and access roads can be muddy, washed or snow-covered off-season -- confirm current conditions and this specific site's status on the DEC page (dec.ny.gov/places/hammond-pond-wild-forest) or with the DEC Region 5 Ray Brook office (518-897-1300) before you go; we have not visited.

Can I go now? — Challis Pond Primitive Tentsite [DEC #18351] (Hammond Pond Wild Forest) · Hammond Pond 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

USGS topographic map of Challis Pond Primitive Tentsite [DEC #18351] (Hammond Pond Wild Forest)

Aerial — USGS / NAIP

Aerial image of Challis Pond Primitive Tentsite [DEC #18351] (Hammond Pond Wild Forest)

Weather outlook — at Challis Pond Primitive Tentsite [DEC #18351] (Hammond Pond Wild Forest)

Loading the latest forecast…

Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 1,147 ft.

Fire & smoke — around Challis Pond Primitive Tentsite [DEC #18351] (Hammond Pond 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 Challis Pond Primitive Tentsite [DEC #18351] (Hammond Pond Wild Forest) · Hammond Pond Wild Forest · NY

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

Nearest of each

WWater3 mi
EVEV fast charger4 mi
FFuel9 mi
GGrocery9 mi
@Mail9 mi
MMechanic10 mi
+Urgent care10 mi
HHardware10 mi
RxPharmacy10 mi
OOutfitter11 mi
ShShower11 mi
DDump11 mi
LLaundry11 mi
AAir-up47 mi

≤30 mi30–4545+water

The read: water is basically at camp, fuel & food sit about 9 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); the EV fast charger from the US DOE station locator. Open in Google Maps ↗

The site — Challis Pond Primitive Tentsite [DEC #18351] (Hammond Pond Wild Forest)

Access

Drive-up

Land

New York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation

Elevation

1,147 ft

Ground slope

15.4% · steep

Nearest highway

~2.6 mi · Interstate 87

State

Coordinates

43.98590, -73.66872

Cost

Free

Nearby & resupply — around Challis Pond Primitive Tentsite [DEC #18351] (Hammond Pond Wild Forest) · Hammond Pond Wild Forest · NY (OpenStreetMap)

Water featureChallis Pond · under 0.1 mi · USGS: perennial lake or pond
Nearest townNorth Hudson · ~3.8 mi
Nearest rail linenone mapped within 10 mi
Nearest highway~2.6 mi · Interstate 87
Drinking waterDrinking water · ~3.4 mi
FuelMineville Oil Company · ~9.4 mi
Propane / LPGAmeriGas · ~16.8 mi
Dump station~11.2 mi
GroceriesBoyea's Grocery and Deli · ~9.5 mi
PharmacyMoriah Pharmacy · ~11.2 mi
Hospital / clinicBack to Health Chiropractic · ~11.2 mi
HardwareBryant's Lumber and Hardware · ~10.2 mi

EV charging — from Challis Pond Primitive Tentsite [DEC #18351] (Hammond Pond Wild Forest) · Hammond Pond Wild Forest · NY — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)

Nearest public DC fast charger4.0 mi straight-line SW — EVolve NY North Hudson · Electrify America · CHAdeMO, CCS · 8 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily · directions
Public DC fast stations within reach9 within 25 mi · 67 within 50 · 250 within 100 · 549 within 150
Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)4.0 mi — North Hudson, NY - Tesla Supercharger, North Hudson
Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)4.2 mi — Paradox Brewery, North Hudson, NY · VIALYNK · J1772 · 10 Level 2 ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily
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 316283 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center

Nearby restrooms — around Challis Pond Primitive Tentsite [DEC #18351] (Hammond Pond Wild Forest) · Hammond Pond Wild Forest · NY — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)

Highway rest areaHigh Peaks (North) · ~2.6 mi NW
Highway rest areaHigh Peaks (South) · ~2.8 mi NW

Coming out here — Challis Pond Primitive Tentsite [DEC #18351] (Hammond Pond Wild Forest) · Hammond Pond Wild Forest · NY

Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Challis Pond 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 15.4% — steep. 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 is mapped within 10 mi of the pin in the FRA/BTS North American Rail Network (data updated Jul 21, 2026) — abandoned, lifted and out-of-service track excluded, so a rail-trail does not count as one.
Interstate 87 is mapped ~2.6 mi from the pin. Straight-line, from the Census's TIGER/Line primary roads (TIGER/Line 2025, released Oct 2025) — the divided, limited-access highways, which is why a state expressway or a two-lane US route near this camp would not appear here.
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 Challis Pond Primitive Tentsite [DEC #18351] (Hammond Pond Wild Forest) elsewhere

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

Other camps near Challis Pond Primitive Tentsite [DEC #18351] (Hammond Pond Wild Forest)

If this one is full, gated or washed out.

The unit that manages Challis Pond Primitive Tentsite [DEC #18351] (Hammond Pond Wild Forest)

Challis Pond Primitive Tentsite [DEC #18351] is in Hammond Pond 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.

Hammond Pond Wild Forest →

How we know this — Challis Pond Primitive Tentsite [DEC #18351] (Hammond Pond Wild Forest)

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 18351, NAME verbatim 'Challis Pond Primitive Tentsite', ASSET='PRIMITIVE TENT SITE', PUBLICUSE='Y', ACCESSIBLE='N', FACILITY='Hammond Pond Wild Forest', DEC Region 5 (Ray Brook). 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/hammond-pond-wild-forest (Hammond Pond Wild Forest, read 2026-07-25): 'Fee: Free', open year-round; Essex County; DEC Region 5 Ray Brook (518) 897-1300. COUNT/CONFIDENCE (MED): the DEC page states 'There is only one designated primitive tent site at this time' (the Boquet River site upstream of Split Rock Falls) plus 'numerous undesignated tent sites ... available on a first come - first served basis.' DEC's GIS maps 13 named primitive-tent-site points for the unit; this site, 'Challis Pond Primitive Tentsite', is one of the UNDESIGNATED tent sites -- DEC-mapped and PUBLICUSE='Y' but NOT individually designated on the unit page, so MED not HIGH. IDENTITY/LOCATION CORROBORATION: measured against OpenStreetMap, this point is about 57 feet from Challis Pond (OSM-named 'Challis Pond'), matching the DEC site name; nearest the Challis Pond foot trail 55 ft / an old woods road 309 ft (OSM `out geom`, maps.mail.ru/kumi.systems overpass mirror, 2026-07-25, point-to-nearest-vertex). ACCESS-COST CHECK (guardrail 2): NY has no statewide access pass and the page names no day-use, parking or permit fee; this is a free primitive tent site, NOT a reservable DEC fee campground (the developed DEC fee campgrounds in the region -- Paradox Lake, Lincoln Pond, Putnam Pond, Sharp Bridge, Eagle Point -- are separate facilities on other waters). LEGALITY (guardrail 1): a DEC-mapped, publicly-usable primitive tent site (PUBLICUSE='Y') in a Wild Forest where the unit page confirms first-come undesignated tent camping is allowed; legality rests on this being a DEC-mapped established camping location (Windham-Blackhead basis), not on per-site designation. No closure/alert posted for the unit (checked 2026-07-25). ELEVATION ~1147 ft (USGS EPQS, 2026-07-25); Adirondack foothills, so the Catskill/High-Peaks 3,500-ft camping ban does not apply. 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 groups of 10+, hunters may obtain a full-season permit from the local Forest Ranger, no temporary-camping permit for anyone under 18. 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 Challis Pond Primitive Tentsite [DEC #18351] (Hammond Pond 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 — Challis Pond Primitive Tentsite [DEC #18351] (Hammond Pond Wild Forest)

Camping near a reservoir →Finding water out here →Cold-weather camping →Off-grid communication →All field notes →

Is this page wrong about Challis Pond Primitive Tentsite [DEC #18351] (Hammond Pond Wild Forest)?

This page was built from a public land record, not from a visit. If you have actually pulled in here and it does not match, that is worth more than anything we can read off a map. Tell Dave what is off — it goes to him, not onto the page.

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A reader report is not a fact, and this one will not change a word of this page by itself. Dave reads it and checks it against the agency’s own record, because that record is what this site says. If reader reports are ever shown here they are labelled “reader report, unverified” with the date, and they are never merged into the agency fields.