Agency-listedNY DECFree

Cheney Pond Campsite #3 (Vanderwhacker Mountain Wild Forest)

Drive-up · New York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation · NY · 43.93482, -73.96905

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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 camping. DEC-designated primitive tent site ('Cheney Pond Campsite #3') in the Vanderwhacker Mountain Wild Forest, part of New York's Adirondack Forest Preserve, in the Newcomb-Minerva-Indian Lake area (Essex/Hamilton County). New York's Forest Preserve allows backcountry camping at these designated sites at NO CHARGE (the DEC unit page lists the fee as 'Free'), first-come/first-served -- they cannot be reserved. A FREE New York State Forest Ranger permit is required ONLY if you stay more than 3 nights in one spot or camp in a group of 10 or more; otherwise no permit and no fee. Camp only at the marked site (look for the yellow 'Camp Here' disc). This is a primitive site: no hookups, no potable water, pack out all trash, follow Leave No Trace and the DEC fire rules. This site is named for a pond/lake, so it may require a short hike or a paddle to reach; confirm access on the DEC unit page. Rules and site status change -- confirm with the DEC unit page (dec.ny.gov/places/vanderwhacker-mountain-wild-forest) or a regional DEC office before you go; we have not visited.

USGS topo — contours & terrain

USGS topographic map of Cheney Pond Campsite #3 (Vanderwhacker Mountain Wild Forest)

Aerial — USGS / NAIP

Aerial image of Cheney Pond Campsite #3 (Vanderwhacker Mountain Wild Forest)

Weather outlook — at Cheney Pond Campsite #3 (Vanderwhacker Mountain Wild Forest)

Loading the latest forecast…

Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 1,706 ft.

Fire & smoke — around Cheney Pond Campsite #3 (Vanderwhacker Mountain 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 Cheney Pond Campsite #3 (Vanderwhacker Mountain Wild Forest) · New York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation · NY

Straight-line miles · bearings approx · roads run longer

Nearest of each

@Mail8 mi
OOutfitter8 mi
GGrocery10 mi
FFuel11 mi
EVEV fast charger12 mi
HHardware12 mi
WWater12 mi
LLaundry12 mi
DDump15 mi
RxPharmacy16 mi
+Urgent care16 mi
ShShower17 mi
MMechanic18 mi
AAir-up48 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); the EV fast charger from the US DOE station locator. Open in Google Maps ↗

The site — Cheney Pond Campsite #3 (Vanderwhacker Mountain Wild Forest)

Access

Drive-up

Land

New York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation

Elevation

1,706 ft

State

Coordinates

43.93482, -73.96905

Cost

Free

Nearby & resupply — around Cheney Pond Campsite #3 (Vanderwhacker Mountain Wild Forest) · New York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation · NY (OpenStreetMap)

Nearest townSchroon Lake · ~12.2 mi
Drinking waternone within 10 mi
FuelSullivan's Store · ~11.4 mi
Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
Dump station~14.7 mi
GroceriesMurdie General Store · ~10.0 mi
PharmacyRite Aid Pharmacy · ~16.2 mi
Hospital / clinicNorth Creek Health Center · ~16.3 mi
HardwareCurtis Lumber Co., Inc. · ~12.0 mi

EV charging — from Cheney Pond Campsite #3 (Vanderwhacker Mountain Wild Forest) · New York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation · NY — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)

Nearest public DC fast charger11.7 mi straight-line E — North Hudson, NY - Tesla Supercharger · Tesla · CCS, NACS (Tesla) · 8 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-06-18 · hours: 24 hours daily. Open to all vehicles. · directions
Public DC fast stations within reach9 within 25 mi · 38 within 50 · 255 within 100 · 518 within 150
Nearest listing CHAdeMO11.8 mi — EVolve NY North Hudson, North Hudson
Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)6.9 mi — TOWN OF NEWCOMB TON3 · ChargePoint Network · J1772 · 2 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 331348 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center

Nearby restrooms — around Cheney Pond Campsite #3 (Vanderwhacker Mountain Wild Forest) · New York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation · NY — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)

Highway rest areaHigh Peaks (North) · ~14.2 mi NE
Highway rest areaHigh Peaks (South) · ~14.3 mi NE

Open Cheney Pond Campsite #3 (Vanderwhacker Mountain Wild Forest) elsewhere

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Other camps near Cheney Pond Campsite #3 (Vanderwhacker Mountain Wild Forest)

If this one is full, gated or washed out.

How we know this — Cheney Pond Campsite #3 (Vanderwhacker Mountain Wild Forest)

Permit

Permit needed only for stays over 3 nights or groups of 10 or more

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 3782, ASSET='PRIMITIVE TENT SITE', PUBLICUSE='Y', FACILITY='Vanderwhacker Mountain Wild Forest'; coordinate is DEC's own point geometry (WGS84), pulled 2026-07-22 via the layer's /find endpoint (the /query path is WAF-blocked). FREE confirmed by DEC's own place page (dec.ny.gov/places/vanderwhacker-mountain-wild-forest, read 2026-07-22): Fee='Free', '38 designated primitive tent sites ... available on a first come - first served basis and cannot be reserved,' marked with a yellow 'Camp Here' disc; and DEC State Land Camping Rules (dec.ny.gov/things-to-do/camping/state-land-rules): backcountry/primitive camping allowed on Adirondack Forest Preserve, Forest-Ranger permit only for stays >3 nights or groups of 10+. Ingest 2026-07-22. | water 2026-08-25 (fire 1780, NY batch 2): no drinking water. DEC place page https://dec.ny.gov/places/vanderwhacker-mountain-wild-forest (read 2026-08-25) states "There are no hook-ups for water or electricity at campsites" for this unit, walks every campsite cluster in it (Moose Pond Rd, North Woods Club Rd, Cheney Pond, Huntley Pond, Oliver Pond, Boreas River, Fourteenth Rd) without naming a water source at any of them, lists one accessible facility unit-wide (a hand boat launch), and routes campers who want more amenities to Eagle Point / Lake Harris / Scaroon Manor Campgrounds -- that is an INFERENCE of no drinking water, not a DEC sentence saying so. Surface water distance is the true minimum from DEC's own coordinate to USGS NHD high-resolution hydrography (https://hydro.nationalmap.gov/arcgis/rest/services/nhd/MapServer, layer 6 flowline / layer 12 waterbody, queried 2026-08-25); NHD FCODE flow regime carried through verbatim, so an intermittent draw is labelled intermittent, and a named NHD ArtificialPath (FTYPE 558, the flow line drawn down a mapped river -- how NHD carries the Hudson and the Boreas here) is reported as mapped surface water with NO flow-regime claim, because FCODE 55800 carries none. Nothing here is called potable: DEC's Vanderwhacker Mountain Wild Forest UMP, April 2005, p.80 (https://dec.ny.gov/docs/lands_forests_pdf/vmwfplanonly.pdf) says "The Department cannot regularly test waters in VMWF for potability. To be safe, recreationists should always filter water from any stream or waterbody in VMWF before drinking", and DEC's current State Land Camping Rules (https://dec.ny.gov/things-to-do/camping/state-land-rules) say "Drinking and cooking water should be boiled for 5 minutes, treated with purifying tablets or filtered through filtration device to prevent instances of giardia infection." NHD nearest features at this pin: Cheney Pond lake/pond perennial 0.01 mi; unnamed stream/river perennial 0.15 mi; Boreas River named flow line unflagged 0.15 mi; Boreas River named flow line unflagged 0.17 mi. NOT a field check -- no one has stood at this site; NHD is a map layer, not an observation of flow on the day you arrive.

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 Cheney Pond Campsite #3 (Vanderwhacker Mountain 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
Seasonal & winter access
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 — Cheney Pond Campsite #3 (Vanderwhacker Mountain Wild Forest)

Camping near a reservoir →Water on public land →Cold-weather camping →How to read this page →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 →