Agency-listedNY DECFreeSeason: check first

Curtis Pond (Cranberry Lake Wild Forest)

Drive-up · New York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation · NY · 44.15806, -74.76023

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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 in the Cranberry Lake Wild Forest, part of New York's Adirondack Forest Preserve in the northwestern Adirondacks -- Towns of Fine, Clifton, Colton and Piercefield, St. Lawrence County (DEC Region 6), on and around Cranberry Lake. DEC-designated primitive tent site ('Curtis Pond'). 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. DEEP BACKCOUNTRY -- THE MOST REMOTE SITE IN THIS BATCH. Curtis Pond is an inland pond well east of Cranberry Lake, and DEC's page does not describe this campsite or how to reach it; it describes the forty-six shoreline sites and leaves the inland ponds undescribed. From DEC's own coordinates, the nearest published access point is the Otterbrook Road parking area, about 4.1 miles away in a STRAIGHT LINE, and real travel distance will be considerably longer than that. This is a site for people who are already comfortable navigating off a described route -- confirm it with the Potsdam office before you go. PERMITS: DEC states the rule for this side of the lake in its own words -- "Campsites on the north side of the lake within the Cranberry Lake Wild Forest require a permit from a Forest Ranger for stays longer than 3 nights or for groups of more than 9 people" -- and every site in this batch is on that Cranberry Lake Wild Forest side. The permit itself is free. Arrange any permit in advance through the DEC Region 6 Potsdam Office at 315-265-3090 (Mon-Fri, 8:00 AM to 4:30 PM). Camp only at the marked site -- DEC says these sites are "designated with yellow markers" -- because elsewhere on the Forest Preserve camping is prohibited within 150 feet of any road, trail or water. These are primitive sites: typically just a fire ring, no hookups, no toilets and no potable water, so treat any water you take from the lake or a pond. 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 CRANBERRY LAKE CAMPGROUND AND DAY USE AREA, which DEC describes on the same page -- that is DEC's developed campground just east of the Village of Cranberry Lake, with showers, a beach, a dump station and graded tent/trailer pads, and it CHARGES. This site charges nothing and has none of that. ONE THING ON DEC'S PAGE THAT DOES *NOT* APPLY HERE, so you do not turn around for nothing: because DEC covers this whole area on one 'Cranberry Lake Complex' page, that page carries the line "There is no public access to the Massawepie Easement from June 15 through August 31." That closure is about the separate 3,048-acre Massawepie Conservation Easement several miles east of here, not about this campsite -- this site is on Cranberry Lake Wild Forest Forest Preserve, which the same page lists as open generally year-round. Confirm current rules, road and trail conditions and this site's status on the DEC page (dec.ny.gov/places/cranberry-lake-complex) or with the Potsdam office before you go; we have not visited.

Can I go now? — Curtis Pond (Cranberry Lake Wild Forest) · Cranberry Lake Wild Forest · NY

Season: check first Year-round with exceptions in the record — read it.

New York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation record: “Generally year-round, except on the Massawepie Easement” 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 Curtis Pond (Cranberry Lake Wild Forest)

Aerial — USGS / NAIP

Aerial image of Curtis Pond (Cranberry Lake Wild Forest)

Weather outlook — at Curtis Pond (Cranberry Lake Wild Forest)

Loading the latest forecast…

Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 1,847 ft.

Fire & smoke — around Curtis Pond (Cranberry 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 Curtis Pond (Cranberry Lake Wild Forest) · Cranberry 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

GGrocery8 mi
@Mail8 mi
+Urgent care10 mi
MMechanic14 mi
OOutfitter14 mi
FFuel15 mi
HHardware15 mi
RxPharmacy16 mi
WWater20 mi
ShShower20 mi
DDump21 mi
LLaundry27 mi
EVEV fast charger33 mi

≤30 mi30–4545+water

The read: water is a real 20-mi drive, fuel & food sit about 8 mi out, the nearest EV fast charger is a 33-mi run (and back).

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 — Curtis Pond (Cranberry Lake Wild Forest)

Access

Drive-up

Land

New York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation

Elevation

1,847 ft

Ground slope

10.7% · noticeable

Nearest rail line

~6.0 mi · main line

State

Coordinates

44.15806, -74.76023

Cost

Free

Nearby & resupply — around Curtis Pond (Cranberry Lake Wild Forest) · Cranberry Lake Wild Forest · NY (OpenStreetMap)

Water featureCurtis Pond · under 0.1 mi · USGS: perennial lake or pond
Nearest townTupper Lake · ~15.6 mi
Nearest rail line~6.0 mi · main line
Nearest highwayno interstate or US route within 10 mi
Drinking waternone within 10 mi
FuelMobil · ~15.0 mi
Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
Dump station~21.4 mi
GroceriesOtto's Abode · ~8.2 mi
PharmacyKinney Drugs · ~15.6 mi
Hospital / clinicCamp Massawepie Health Lodge · ~9.6 mi
HardwareAubuchon Hardware · ~15.4 mi

EV charging — from Curtis Pond (Cranberry Lake Wild Forest) · Cranberry Lake Wild Forest · NY — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)

Nearest public DC fast charger33.0 mi straight-line NE — Upstate Auto, Saranac Lake, NY · VIALYNK · J1772, CCS · 2 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily · directions
Public DC fast stations within reachnone within 25 mi · 14 within 50 · 163 within 100 · 398 within 150
Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)33.6 mi — ChargeSmart EV - Saranac Lake, Saranac Lake
Nearest listing CHAdeMO36.9 mi — EVolve NY Potsdam, Potsdam
Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)8.2 mi — Otto's Abode, Wanakena, NY (at a parking lot) · Non-Networked · J1772 · 1 Level 2 port listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2024-03-14 · 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 351665 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center

Nearby restrooms — around Curtis Pond (Cranberry Lake Wild Forest) · Cranberry Lake Wild Forest · NY — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)

No mapped restroom within 30 miles — plan to pack it out.

Coming out here — Curtis Pond (Cranberry Lake Wild Forest) · Cranberry Lake Wild Forest · NY

Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Curtis 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 10.7% — 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 ~6.0 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 Curtis Pond (Cranberry Lake Wild Forest) elsewhere

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

Other camps near Curtis Pond (Cranberry Lake Wild Forest)

If this one is full, gated or washed out.

The unit that manages Curtis Pond (Cranberry Lake Wild Forest)

Curtis Pond is in Cranberry 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.

Cranberry Lake Wild Forest →

How we know this — Curtis Pond (Cranberry Lake Wild Forest)

Open season

Generally year-round, except on the Massawepie Easement

Area rules

Camping is prohibited within 150 feet of any road, trail, spring, stream, pond or other body of water except at areas designated by a "Camp Here" disk.

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 3471, NAME verbatim 'Curtis Pond', ASSET='PRIMITIVE TENT SITE', PUBLICUSE='Y', FACILITY='Cranberry Lake Wild Forest'; coordinate is DEC's own point geometry (WGS84), pulled 2026-07-23 via the layer's /find endpoint (honours sr=4326; /query returns projected UTM). FREE confirmed on dec.ny.gov/places/cranberry-lake-complex (Cranberry Lake Complex, read 2026-07-23): Fee='Free', 'Open for Recreation: Generally year-round, except on the Massawepie Easement', 'Forty-six of the tent sites line the shores of Cranberry Lake and Joe Indian Island', 'All camp sites and lean-tos are available on a first come, first served basis', 'Campsites on the north side of the lake within the Cranberry Lake Wild Forest require a permit from a Forest Ranger for stays longer than 3 nights or for groups of more than 9 people'. NOTE THE SLUG: there is no 'cranberry-lake-wild-forest' page (404); this Wild Forest is governed by the COMBINED 'Cranberry Lake Complex' page, which also covers the Conifer-Emporium and Massawepie Conservation Easements. NO LAUNCH OR DAY-USE FEE is stated anywhere on that page (explicitly checked -- guardrail 2); the shoreline route DEC gives is the PUBLIC boat launch on Columbian Road. COUNT: GIS 31 for this facility vs the page's 46 shoreline sites, and the arithmetic closes exactly -- 27 of the 31 are numbered shoreline records covering 26 distinct numbers (2-15, 19-25, 42-46; 27 records because site 6 has a '6 B'), the 20 numbers absent (1, 16, 17, 18, 26-41) are the SOUTH-side sites the same page assigns to the Five Ponds Wilderness, and 26 + 20 = 46; the Five Ponds fire already ingested south-side sites 17 and 18 under FACILITY='Five Ponds Wilderness'. The other 4 records (Curtis Pond, Dog Pond Campsite 1, Hedgehog Pond Campsite, Peavine Swamp Loop 1 Campsite) are inland sites additional to the 46 shoreline sites. The 3 lean-tos (Bear Mountain, Burntbridge Pond, Peavine Swamp) are a different asset class, correctly absent. SCOPE: the page covers more than this facility but disclaims no part of the Wild Forest; all 31 records carry FACILITY='Cranberry Lake Wild Forest' exactly, so no foreign extras. PAID-CAMPGROUND GUARD: verified NOT inside the Cranberry Lake Campground and Day Use Area (OSM relation 6388984, bbox 44.18284-44.20687 N / -74.83228..-74.82022 W), the paid DEC campground described on this same page; the ingester aborts rather than write a site inside that bounding box. A GIS FACILITY search for 'Cranberry Lake Campground' returns 0 records -- fee-campground sites are not in this layer. MASSAWEPIE-CLOSURE GUARD: this site is 7.0 mi from the nearest published Massawepie Easement access coordinate, well outside the 3,048-acre easement that is closed to public access June 15 - August 31; the ingester aborts on any site within 3.0 mi of those coordinates. Plus DEC State Land Camping Rules (dec.ny.gov/things-to-do/camping/state-land-rules, re-read 2026-07-23): 150-foot rule, free Forest Ranger permit for the thresholds DEC states above, arranged via the DEC Region 6 Potsdam Office at 315-265-3090 (Mon-Fri, 8:00 AM to 4:30 PM). Access classified as 'hike' from DEC's own prose; nearest DEC-published access coordinate the Otterbrook Road parking area, 4.06 mi straight-line. Ingest 2026-07-23.

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 Curtis Pond (Cranberry 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
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 — Curtis Pond (Cranberry Lake Wild Forest)

Camping near a reservoir →Water on public land →The town run →First-night troubleshooting →All field notes →

Is this page wrong about Curtis Pond (Cranberry Lake 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.