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Agency-listedNY DECFree

Designated South Lake Campsite 2 (Black River Wild Forest)

Drive-up · New York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation · NY · 43.51756, -74.90428
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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 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.

USGS topo — contours & terrain
USGS topographic map of Designated South Lake Campsite 2 (Black River Wild Forest)
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Aerial image of Designated South Lake Campsite 2 (Black River Wild Forest)
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Weather outlook — at Designated South Lake Campsite 2 (Black River Wild Forest)
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 2,025 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Designated South Lake Campsite 2 (Black River 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 Designated South Lake Campsite 2 (Black River Wild Forest) · New York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation · NY

15 MI30 MI60 MIYOUR CAMPN ↑Water · 17 miWDump · 25 miDOtter Lake Gas Station and Grocery · Fuel · 12 miFFastrac Cafe · Grocery · 14 miGKinney Drugs · Pharmacy · 14 miRxOld Forge Hardware Store · Hardware · 14 miHLee's · Mechanic · 21 miMLaundry · 18 miLShower · 24 miShAir-up · 31 miAInfirmary · Urgent care · 28 mi+Stillwater Shop · Outfitter · 27 miOWoodgate Post Office · Mail · 13 mi@L742 PL1 · EV fast charger · 31 miEV
Straight-line miles · bearings approx · roads run longer
Nearest of each
  • 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
≤30 mi30–4545+water

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)

Access
Drive-up
Land
New York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation
Elevation
2,025 ft
State
NY
Coordinates
43.51756, -74.90428
Cost
Free

Nearby & resupply — around Designated South Lake Campsite 2 (Black River Wild Forest) · New York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation · NY (OpenStreetMap)

  • Water featureSouth Lake (water) · nearby
  • Nearest townAtwell · ~2.1 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) · New York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation · NY — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)

Nearby restrooms — around Designated South Lake Campsite 2 (Black River Wild Forest) · New York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation · NY — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)

Open Designated South Lake Campsite 2 (Black River Wild Forest) elsewhere

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Other camps near Designated South Lake Campsite 2 (Black River Wild Forest)

If this one is full, gated or washed out.

How we know this — Designated South Lake Campsite 2 (Black River Wild Forest)

Closures
None posted
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 227862, NAME verbatim 'Designated South Lake Campsite 2', ASSET='PRIMITIVE TENT SITE', PUBLICUSE='Y', FACILITY='Black River Wild Forest'; coordinate is DEC's own point geometry (WGS84), pulled 2026-07-24 via the layer's /query endpoint (outSR=4326). FREE confirmed on dec.ny.gov/places/black-river-wild-forest (Black River Wild Forest, read 2026-07-24): Fee='Free', Open for Recreation='Year-round'; DEC Herkimer 315-866-6330. The page lists ~54 tent sites unit-wide (mostly under the North Lake Conservation Easement / other facilities); GIS returns 14 PTS for the WF facility, of which 1 (Bisby/Nicks Lake Trail 19481) is HELD for paid-campground proximity and 13 are ingested (subset -> all ingested). DESCRIP check (outFields='*'): none flags 'Day Use Only'/'unofficial'/APSLMP. PAID-NEIGHBOUR GUARD (Debar rule): the page names the FEE Nicks Lake Campground as a nearby amenity option; this site is 5-20 mi from it and passes the Nicks Lake + Old Forge Camping Resort bbox abort-guard. ACCESS-COST CHECK (guardrail 2): no entry/day-use/launch fee stated; only the standard FREE Forest-Ranger permit for >3 nights or 10+ groups (the page's Wolf Lake Landing Road free-permit note does not attach to this site). LIVE-CONDITIONS CHECK (DEC Backcountry Information for the Adirondack Park, read 2026-07-24, 'New this week 7/23/2026'): 'The gates on Loop Road (North Lake), Mill Creek Road, and Wolf Lake Landing Road are now open for the season'; no closure for this unit's campsites. MEASURED GEOMETRY (OpenStreetMap, 2026-07-24, point-to-segment; North Lake and Long Lake shorelines pulled as multipolygon relations): ~42 ft to the South Lake shoreline (OSM natural=water), 25 ft to the nearest drivable road (South Lake Road); access class 'drive-up'. Interior gates close for winter (drive-up not year-round). No OSM camp_site nodes in the unit bbox, so DEC point geometry is the sole coordinate source. Plus DEC State Land Camping Rules (dec.ny.gov/things-to-do/camping/state-land-rules): designated-site + 150-foot rule, free Forest Ranger permit for stays over 3 nights or 10+ people. Ingest 2026-07-24.
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 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.

Before you go — Designated South Lake Campsite 2 (Black River Wild Forest)

Camping near a reservoir →Finding water out here →Cold-weather camping →Off-grid communication →All field notes →
Been here? Tell us what changed. This page is built from public records, so the fastest way it gets better is somebody who has actually pulled in. Road washed out, site gone, gate locked, or it is exactly as described — all of it useful. Send a report →