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Copperas Pond Site #2 [DEC #4781] (Sentinel Range Wilderness)

Drive-up · New York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation · NY · 44.32879, -73.89901

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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 camping at the Copperas Pond Site #2, one of the four DEC-designated primitive tent sites in the Sentinel Range Wilderness (Essex County, northern Adirondacks between Lake Placid and Wilmington, DEC Region 5). New York provides it at NO CHARGE: the DEC Sentinel Range Wilderness page lists the unit as 'Free' and open year-round, and states 'There are four designated primitive tent sites and one lean-to,' with one tent site on Owens Pond, two on Copperas Pond, and one off the Jackrabbit Ski Trail. This is one of the two designated tent sites on the shore of Copperas Pond, a popular short hike off NY 86 between Lake Placid and Wilmington (a lean-to also sits on the pond). Treat any water you take from the pond. These are FREE, first-come, designated sites -- no reservation, no fee, no facilities (no hookups, no showers, no potable water); this is NOT the developed Wilmington Notch Campground (a separate DEC fee campground about 2.3 miles away on NY 86). Camp only on the designated/hardened site (look for a round yellow DEC 'Camp Here' disc). 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 Ray Brook office at (518) 897-1200 (Forest Rangers via 911 or 1-833-NYS-RANGERS / 1-833-697-7264)). Bring water or treat what you take, 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 Adirondack access and conditions vary by season -- confirm current conditions and this specific site's status on the DEC page (dec.ny.gov/places/sentinel-range-wilderness) or with the DEC Region 5 office (518-897-1200) before you go; we have not visited.

Can I go now? — Copperas Pond Site #2 [DEC #4781] (Sentinel Range Wilderness) · Sentinel Range 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 Copperas Pond Site #2 [DEC #4781] (Sentinel Range Wilderness)

Aerial — USGS / NAIP

Aerial image of Copperas Pond Site #2 [DEC #4781] (Sentinel Range Wilderness)

Weather outlook — at Copperas Pond Site #2 [DEC #4781] (Sentinel Range Wilderness)

Loading the latest forecast…

Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 1,817 ft.

Fire & smoke — around Copperas Pond Site #2 [DEC #4781] (Sentinel Range 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 Copperas Pond Site #2 [DEC #4781] (Sentinel Range Wilderness) · Sentinel Range Wilderness · NY

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

Nearest of each

WWater2 mi
DDump2 mi
ShShower2 mi
OOutfitter4 mi
FFuel5 mi
GGrocery5 mi
MMechanic5 mi
@Mail5 mi
EVEV fast charger5 mi
RxPharmacy5 mi
HHardware6 mi
+Urgent care6 mi
LLaundry25 mi

≤30 mi30–4545+water

The read: water is basically at camp, fuel & food sit about 5 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 — Copperas Pond Site #2 [DEC #4781] (Sentinel Range Wilderness)

Access

Drive-up

Land

New York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation

Elevation

1,817 ft

Ground slope

3.3% · gentle

State

Coordinates

44.32879, -73.89901

Cost

Free

Nearby & resupply — around Copperas Pond Site #2 [DEC #4781] (Sentinel Range Wilderness) · Sentinel Range Wilderness · NY (OpenStreetMap)

Water featureCopperas Pond · under 0.1 mi · USGS: perennial lake or pond
Nearest townUndercliff · ~3.5 mi
Rail & highwaynone mapped within 10 mi
Drinking waterDrinking water · ~2.4 mi
FuelMobil · ~5.2 mi
Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
Dump station~2.5 mi
GroceriesStewart's Shops · ~5.2 mi
PharmacyKinney Drugs · ~12.0 mi
Hospital / clinicAdirondack Medical Center at Lake Placid · ~5.9 mi
HardwareAubuchon Hardware · ~5.7 mi

EV charging — from Copperas Pond Site #2 [DEC #4781] (Sentinel Range Wilderness) · Sentinel Range Wilderness · NY — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)

Nearest public DC fast charger5.3 mi straight-line SW — GRANDVIEW HOTEL OLYMPIC 01, Lake Placid, NY · ChargePoint Network · CCS · 1 fast port listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily · directions
Public DC fast stations within reach10 within 25 mi · 56 within 50 · 162 within 100 · 379 within 150
Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)6.0 mi — Lake Placid, NY - Tesla Supercharger, Lake Placid
Nearest listing CHAdeMO27.4 mi — EVolve NY North Hudson, North Hudson
Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)2.6 mi — NYS ORDA WHITEFACE #4, Wilmington, NY · ChargePoint Network · J1772 · 2 Level 2 ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily
Also listed, not counted aboveLevel 2, restricted access — Mirror Lake Inn Resort, Lake Placid, 4.8 mi · J1772 · hours: 24 hours daily; customer use only
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 372635 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center

Nearby restrooms — around Copperas Pond Site #2 [DEC #4781] (Sentinel Range Wilderness) · Sentinel Range Wilderness · NY — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)

Highway rest areaHigh Peaks (South) · ~23.6 mi SE
Highway rest areaHigh Peaks (North) · ~23.8 mi SE
Highway rest areaValcour · ~27.7 mi NE

Coming out here — Copperas Pond Site #2 [DEC #4781] (Sentinel Range Wilderness) · Sentinel Range Wilderness · NY

Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Copperas 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 3.3% — 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 Copperas Pond Site #2 [DEC #4781] (Sentinel Range Wilderness) elsewhere

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

Other camps near Copperas Pond Site #2 [DEC #4781] (Sentinel Range Wilderness)

If this one is full, gated or washed out.

The unit that manages Copperas Pond Site #2 [DEC #4781] (Sentinel Range Wilderness)

Copperas Pond Site #2 [DEC #4781] is in Sentinel Range 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.

Sentinel Range Wilderness →

How we know this — Copperas Pond Site #2 [DEC #4781] (Sentinel Range Wilderness)

Open season

Year-round

Permit

Free 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 4781, NAME verbatim 'Copperas Pond Site #2', ASSET='PRIMITIVE TENT SITE', PUBLICUSE='Y', ACCESSIBLE='N', FACILITY='Sentinel Range Wilderness', DEC Region 5. DESCRIP=''; NOTES=''. Coordinate is DEC's own point geometry (WGS84), pulled 2026-07-25 via the layer's /query endpoint (outSR=4326). FREE + COUNT confirmed on dec.ny.gov/places/sentinel-range-wilderness (Sentinel Range Wilderness, read 2026-07-25): 'Fee: Free', open year-round, Essex County, DEC Region 5 (518) 897-1200. CONFIDENCE (HIGH): the page enumerates exactly -- 'There are four designated primitive tent sites and one lean-to', 'one ... on the shore of Owens Pond and two ... on the shore of Copperas Pond ... A designated tent site is also located off the Jackrabbit Ski Trail' -- count 4 = GIS 4 and the per-location split (Owen 1 / Copperas 2 / Jackrabbit 1) matches the GIS points location-for-location, so this designated site is individually certifiable (Crystal Lake enumeration basis). IDENTITY/LOCATION CORROBORATION (OSM `out geom`, overpass.kumi.systems, 2026-07-25): this point is about 120 feet from Copperas Pond; LOCATION: on the Copperas Pond shore (one of the page's 'two ... on the shore of Copperas Pond'). ELEVATION ~1818 ft (USGS EPQS, 2026-07-25) -- Sentinel Range is NOT the High Peaks Wilderness; far below the Adirondack 4,000-ft camping restriction, no elevation kills. PAID-NEIGHBOUR (guardrail 2): the DEC Wilmington Notch Campground is a separate developed FEE campground on NY 86, OSM-measured 2.28 mi away -- not adjacent, not required for access; the sites are reached free from the Copperas Pond / Owen Pond trailheads (or the Jackrabbit Ski Trail for Barkeater Cliffs), no parking/day-use/permit fee. LEGALITY (guardrail 1): DEC-designated, publicly-usable tent site, first-come, no-reservation. Plus DEC State Land Camping Rules (dec.ny.gov/things-to-do/camping/state-land-rules): free Forest Ranger permit only for stays over 3 nights or groups of 10+. 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 Copperas Pond Site #2 [DEC #4781] (Sentinel Range 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 — Copperas Pond Site #2 [DEC #4781] (Sentinel Range Wilderness)

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

Is this page wrong about Copperas Pond Site #2 [DEC #4781] (Sentinel Range Wilderness)?

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.

Anything else, in your own words (optional)Your email — optional, and only so Dave can ask you a follow-up. It does not go on a list, and nobody is promising you a reply.

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.