Designated South Lake Campsite 2 (Black River Wild Forest)
FREE primitive camping in Black River Wild Forest, part of New York's Adirondack Forest Preserve (DEC Region 6, the North Lake / South Lake / Old Forge country of Herkimer County in the southwestern Adirondacks). This is a DEC-designated primitive tent site ('Designated South Lake Campsite 2', on South Lake), and New York provides it at NO CHARGE: the DEC page lists the fee as 'Free' and the unit is open year-round. NEAR-DRIVE-UP: this site is about 25 feet from South Lake Road, right on South Lake (~42 ft from the water). This is interior Adirondack Forest Preserve, not a developed campground -- there is no campground office, fee booth or hookups; do not confuse it with the nearby PAID Nicks Lake Campground (which charges a fee and offers amenities) or any other developed campground. SEASON: DEC lists the unit as open year-round, but the interior gates (Loop Road / North Lake Road, Mill Creek Road, Wolf Lake Landing Road) CLOSE for the winter season -- as of the DEC backcountry report read 2026-07-24 they were open for the season -- so DRIVE-UP access is NOT year-round; confirm road/gate status with the Herkimer office before a late-fall, winter or early-spring trip. RULES: this is a designated, first-come first-served free site -- no reservation and no fee. Standard Adirondack Forest Preserve rules apply: camp only at the designated site, and 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 6 Herkimer Office at 315-866-6330 (Forest Rangers via 911 or DEC dispatch)). DEC prints no other night limit for these sites, so plan around that statewide 3-night default and confirm on site. This is a primitive site: expect at most a fire ring -- no hookups, no showers and no potable water, so bring water or treat what you take from the lake or river. Pack out all trash, follow Leave No Trace and the DEC fire rules, and store food from bears (this is black-bear country). Confirm current rules and this site's status on the DEC page (dec.ny.gov/places/black-river-wild-forest) or with the Herkimer office (315-866-6330) before you go; we have not visited.
Everything you need — measured from Designated South Lake Campsite 2 (Black River Wild Forest) · Black River Wild Forest · NY
- FFuel12 mi
- @Mail13 mi
- GGrocery14 mi
- RxPharmacy14 mi
- HHardware14 mi
- WWater17 mi
- LLaundry18 mi
- MMechanic21 mi
- ShShower24 mi
- DDump25 mi
- OOutfitter27 mi
- +Urgent care28 mi
- EVEV fast charger31 mi
- AAir-up31 mi
The read: water's a short hop out, fuel & food sit about 12 mi out, the nearest EV fast charger is a 31-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 — Designated South Lake Campsite 2 (Black River Wild Forest)
Nearby & resupply — around Designated South Lake Campsite 2 (Black River Wild Forest) · Black River Wild Forest · NY (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureSouth Lake · under 0.1 mi · USGS: perennial lake or pond
- Nearest townAtwell · ~2.1 mi
- Rail & highwaynone mapped within 10 mi
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- FuelOtter Lake Gas Station and Grocery · ~11.7 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- Dump station~25.3 mi
- GroceriesKalil's Market · ~17.0 mi
- PharmacyKinney Drugs · ~13.6 mi
- HardwareAce Hardware - Old Forge Department Store · ~13.8 mi
EV charging — from Designated South Lake Campsite 2 (Black River Wild Forest) · Black River Wild Forest · NY — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger30.6 mi straight-line SW — L742 PL1, Utica, NY · ChargePoint Network · 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 · 29 within 50 · 239 within 100 · 582 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)31.8 mi — Utica, NY - Tesla Supercharger, Utica
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO33.8 mi — IONIQ L3 #1, Yorkville
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)12.8 mi — SWTCH Energy Inc., Old Forge, NY (at a parking lot) · SWTCH · J1772 · 2 Level 2 ports listed · listed open, no confirmation date on the record · 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 395820 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Designated South Lake Campsite 2 (Black River Wild Forest) · Black River Wild Forest · NY — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- No mapped restroom within 30 miles — plan to pack it out.
Coming out here — Designated South Lake Campsite 2 (Black River Wild Forest) · Black River Wild Forest · NY
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps South Lake 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 5.8% — 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 Designated South Lake Campsite 2 (Black River Wild Forest) elsewhere
Other camps near Designated South Lake Campsite 2 (Black River Wild Forest)
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Designated South Lake Campsite 1 (Black River Wild Forest)~0.3 mi
- North Lake Designated Campsite #10 (Black River Wild Forest)~2.0 mi
- North Lake Designated Campsite #9 (Black River Wild Forest)~2.1 mi
- North Lake Designated Campsite #8 (Black River Wild Forest)~2.1 mi
The unit that manages Designated South Lake Campsite 2 (Black River Wild Forest)
Designated South Lake Campsite 2 is in Black River 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 — Designated South Lake Campsite 2 (Black River Wild Forest)
What we don’t know about Designated South Lake Campsite 2 (Black River 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