Clarks Landing Campsite (Debar Mountain Wild Forest)
FREE primitive camping on Adirondack Forest Preserve land associated with the 72,000-acre Santa Clara Conservation Easement Tract, in the northwestern Adirondacks (Franklin and St. Lawrence Counties, DEC Region 5). DEC-designated primitive tent site ('Clarks Landing Campsite'). New York provides these designated primitive tent sites at NO CHARGE -- the DEC page lists the fee as 'Free' -- and they are first-come, first-served and cannot be reserved. This one is EASY: DEC places this campsite "near the Clarks Landing Hand Launch on the Deer River Flow", and the Clark's Landing Hand Launch parking area -- off Cold Brook Road immediately off State Route 30 -- is about 0.13 mile away in a straight line, so it is a short carry from the car rather than a backcountry hike, on a big quiet flow with a boat put-in right there. WHICH DEC PAGE COVERS THIS ONE: DEC's mapping files this site under the Debar Mountain Wild Forest, but it lies WEST of State Route 30, and the Debar Mountain Wild Forest page explicitly excludes that ground -- it is described instead on DEC's Santa Clara Conservation Easement Tract page, which is where the 'Free' fee and this site's description come from. Practical consequences: the surrounding easement land is PRIVATELY OWNED AND ACTIVELY LOGGED (expect logging trucks and skidders, and some access roads are closed during operations), more than 100 privately-leased camps are scattered through the tract and the public is barred from the camps and the posted one acre around each, and many roads there are not open to public motor vehicles -- stay on designated roads. PERMITS: a free New York State Forest Ranger permit is required for any stay of more than three nights in one spot, or for a group of ten or more (neither DEC page sets a stricter local threshold, so the statewide rule governs). Arrange any permit in advance through the DEC Region 5 Ray Brook Office at 518-897-1200 (Mon-Fri, 8:30 AM to 4:45 PM). Camp only at the marked site -- look for the yellow 'Camp Here' disc -- because elsewhere on the Forest Preserve camping is prohibited within 150 feet of any road, trail, spring, stream, pond or other water. These are primitive sites: typically just a fire ring, no hookups, no toilets and no potable water, and designated TENT sites are for tents. Pack out all trash, follow Leave No Trace and the DEC fire rules, and store food away from black bears. Do not confuse this with the nearby Meacham Lake and Buck Pond Campgrounds, which are DEC's developed PAID campgrounds. The area is open year-round, but many of the access roads here are seasonal and winter travel is on ski or snowshoe. One more thing worth knowing: DEC has a Unit Management Plan and Environmental Impact Statement underway for this area whose stated scope includes changes to "trails and tent sites", so this inventory can shift. Confirm current rules, road and trail conditions and this site's status on the DEC page (dec.ny.gov/places/santa-clara-conservation-easement-tract) or with the Ray Brook office before you go; we have not visited.
Everything you need — measured from Clarks Landing Campsite (Debar Mountain Wild Forest) · Debar Mountain Wild Forest · NY
- @Mail14 mi
- GGrocery15 mi
- FFuel15 mi
- RxPharmacy15 mi
- EVEV fast charger15 mi
- +Urgent care18 mi
- HHardware22 mi
- OOutfitter22 mi
- MMechanic22 mi
- DDump23 mi
- WWater23 mi
- ShShower23 mi
- LLaundry35 mi
The read: water is a real 23-mi drive, fuel & food sit about 15 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 — Clarks Landing Campsite (Debar Mountain Wild Forest)
Nearby & resupply — around Clarks Landing Campsite (Debar Mountain Wild Forest) · Debar Mountain Wild Forest · NY (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureDeer River · under 0.1 mi · USGS: perennial river
- Also mapped (OSM)Deer River Flow (water) · mapped within 1.6 mi
- Nearest townDuane Center · ~2.0 mi
- Rail & highwaynone mapped within 10 mi
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- FuelStewart's · ~14.9 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- Dump station~23.3 mi
- GroceriesPrice Chopper · ~14.7 mi
- PharmacyKinney Drugs · ~14.9 mi
- Hospital / clinicAlice Hyde Medical Center · ~15.5 mi
- HardwareSturdy Supply & Rental · ~22.3 mi
EV charging — from Clarks Landing Campsite (Debar Mountain Wild Forest) · Debar Mountain Wild Forest · NY — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger14.9 mi straight-line N — Aldi TUL 3 Malone (at a public site) · RED_E · CCS · 4 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: not listed · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach5 within 25 mi · 31 within 50 · 111 within 100 · 326 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)23.7 mi — Aldi TUL 46 Saranac Lake, Saranac Lake
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO14.9 mi — ELLIS CHEVY ELLISDCFC, Malone
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)12.8 mi — VIC AND CAMPUS SUGAR SHACK 1.2, Paul Smiths, NY · 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 451464 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Clarks Landing Campsite (Debar Mountain Wild Forest) · Debar Mountain Wild Forest · NY — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- No mapped restroom within 30 miles — plan to pack it out.
Coming out here — Clarks Landing Campsite (Debar Mountain Wild Forest) · Debar Mountain Wild Forest · NY
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Deer River as a perennial river, 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 5.1% — gentle. 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 Clarks Landing Campsite (Debar Mountain Wild Forest) elsewhere
Other camps near Clarks Landing Campsite (Debar Mountain Wild Forest)
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Clear Pond Campsite (Debar Mountain Wild Forest)~3.1 mi
- Debar Meadows Campsite (Debar Mountain Wild Forest)~5.8 mi
- Skiff Pond Campsite (Debar Mountain Wild Forest)~6.1 mi
- Long Pond Designated Campsite (Debar Mountain Wild Forest)~10.5 mi
The unit that manages Clarks Landing Campsite (Debar Mountain Wild Forest)
Clarks Landing Campsite is in Debar Mountain 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 — Clarks Landing Campsite (Debar Mountain Wild Forest)
What we don’t know about Clarks Landing Campsite (Debar 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
- 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