Agency-listedNY DECFree
Crane Mountain Tentsite (Wilcox Lake Wild Forest)
Drive-up · New York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation · NY · 43.53785, -73.96682
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. DEC-designated primitive tent site ('Crane Mountain Tentsite') in the Wilcox Lake Wild Forest, part of New York's Adirondack Forest Preserve, in the southern Adirondacks between Northville and Stony Creek (Hamilton, Warren and Saratoga 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 -- these backcountry sites 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 check the DEC unit page / DECinfo Locator for this site's access (drive-up vs hike-in). Rules and site status change -- confirm with the DEC unit page (dec.ny.gov/places/wilcox-lake-wild-forest) or a regional DEC office before you go; we have not visited.
USGS topo — contours & terrain
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Weather outlook — at Crane Mountain Tentsite (Wilcox Lake Wild Forest)
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 2,119 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Crane Mountain Tentsite (Wilcox Lake 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 Crane Mountain Tentsite (Wilcox Lake Wild Forest) · Wilcox Lake Wild Forest · NY
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- @Mail7 mi
- +Urgent care9 mi
- HHardware9 mi
- FFuel10 mi
- GGrocery10 mi
- RxPharmacy10 mi
- LLaundry10 mi
- EVEV fast charger11 mi
- ShShower11 mi
- WWater14 mi
- OOutfitter16 mi
- MMechanic16 mi
- DDump18 mi
- AAir-up25 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 — Crane Mountain Tentsite (Wilcox Lake Wild Forest)
Access
Drive-up
Land
New York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation
Elevation
2,119 ft
Ground slope
10.9% · noticeable
Nearest rail line
~5.9 mi · main line
State
NY
Coordinates
43.53785, -73.96682
Cost
Free
Nearby & resupply — around Crane Mountain Tentsite (Wilcox Lake Wild Forest) · Wilcox Lake Wild Forest · NY (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featurePutnam Brook · ~0.4 mi · USGS: intermittent stream
- Nearest townGarnet Lake · ~2.3 mi
- Nearest rail line~5.9 mi · main line
- Nearest highwayno interstate or US route within 10 mi
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- FuelNice n' Easy · ~9.9 mi
- Propane / LPGPropane · ~19.6 mi
- Dump station~18.2 mi
- GroceriesNice n' Easy · ~9.9 mi
- PharmacyWalgreens · ~10.0 mi
- Hospital / clinicNorth Creek Health Center · ~11.2 mi
- HardwareBraley Noxon Hardware · ~9.3 mi
EV charging — from Crane Mountain Tentsite (Wilcox Lake Wild Forest) · Wilcox Lake Wild Forest · NY — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger10.6 mi straight-line E — Warren Ford, Warrensburg, NY (at a public site) · FORD_CHARGE · CCS · 2 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach17 within 25 mi · 44 within 50 · 283 within 100 · 756 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)12.7 mi — Chestertown, NY - Tesla Supercharger, Chestertown
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO23.1 mi — GARVEY SIDE 1, Queensbury
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)9.4 mi — NYS ORDA GORE MOUNTAIN 3, North Creek, 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 aboveNACS-only Level 2 — The Fern Lodge - Tesla Destination, Chestertown, 8.4 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 358294 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Crane Mountain Tentsite (Wilcox Lake Wild Forest) · Wilcox Lake Wild Forest · NY — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Highway rest areaGlens Falls (South) · ~23.3 mi SE
- Highway rest areaAdirondacks Welcome Center · ~23.5 mi SE
Coming out here — Crane Mountain Tentsite (Wilcox Lake Wild Forest) · Wilcox Lake Wild Forest · NY
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Putnam Brook as an intermittent stream, ~0.4 mi from the pin (National Hydrography Dataset, data refreshed October 2022). Mapped as intermittent — expect it dry for part of the year. Nobody has checked it for you. Filter or boil anything you drink.
- Ground slope around the pin: about 10.9% — 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 ~5.9 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 Crane Mountain Tentsite (Wilcox Lake Wild Forest) elsewhere
Other camps near Crane Mountain Tentsite (Wilcox Lake Wild Forest)
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Crane Mt. Pond Campsite (Wilcox Lake Wild Forest)~0.9 mi
- Crane Mt. Pond Campsite (Wilcox Lake Wild Forest)~1.0 mi
- Crane Mt. Pond Campsite (Wilcox Lake Wild Forest)~1.0 mi
- Garnete Lake Rd #1 Campsite (Wilcox Lake Wild Forest)~2.4 mi
The unit that manages Crane Mountain Tentsite (Wilcox Lake Wild Forest)
Crane Mountain Tentsite is in Wilcox Lake 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 — Crane Mountain Tentsite (Wilcox Lake Wild Forest)
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 228957, ASSET='PRIMITIVE TENT SITE', PUBLICUSE='Y', FACILITY='Wilcox Lake 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/wilcox-lake-wild-forest, read 2026-07-22): Fee='Free', '63 primitive campsites and 4 lean-tos', permit 'issued by area Forest Rangers free of charge' only for stays >3 nights or groups of 10+; and DEC State Land Camping Rules (dec.ny.gov/things-to-do/camping/state-land-rules): backcountry/primitive camping allowed on Adirondack Forest Preserve, first-come, cannot be reserved. Ingest 2026-07-22.
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 Crane Mountain Tentsite (Wilcox Lake 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 — Crane Mountain Tentsite (Wilcox Lake Wild Forest)
Camping near a reservoir →Finding water out here →Cold-weather camping →Reading the aerial →All field notes →