Found · unverifiedNY DECFree

Flume Campsite [DEC #10893] (Wilmington Wild Forest)

Drive-up · New York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation · NY · 44.36636, -73.84210

We haven't personally camped here. Everything below is pulled from public land data, USGS maps and OpenStreetMap — a real place on New York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation land, but not field-checked by us. Confirm road conditions, current access, stay limits and fire restrictions before you go.

FREE first-come primitive camping at the Flume Campsite, one of exactly two DEC-designated backcountry tent sites in the Wilmington Wild Forest (eastern Adirondack Park near Whiteface Mountain and the West Branch AuSable River; Essex/Clinton Counties, DEC Region 5). This site sits off the River Trail of the Wilmington Flume Trail Network, a short walk from the free Flume trailhead on NY-86 near the West Branch AuSable River. New York provides it at NO CHARGE: the DEC page lists the unit as 'Free' and open year-round and says 'There are two designated primitive tent sites for backcountry camping,' locating one on the Cooper Kiln Trail near the Copper Kill East Trailhead (Bonnieview Road) and the other off the River Trail of the Wilmington Flume Trail Network. This is a remote, no-reservation backcountry site reached on foot from a free DEC trailhead -- no fee and no facilities (no hookups, no showers, no potable water). IMPORTANT -- this is NOT the paid Wilmington Notch or Taylor Pond campground: those are separate DEC fee campgrounds (Wilmington Notch is about 1.3 miles away); this designated tent site is free. On the ground, camp at the marked designated site (round yellow DEC 'Camp Here' disc); if you camp at large instead, stay at least 150 feet from any road, trail, or water. 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 or treat all water, 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 and trail/lean-to status can change (the Cooper Kiln Pond lean-to was recently dismantled for rebuilding) -- confirm current conditions and this site's status on the DEC page (dec.ny.gov/places/wilmington-wild-forest) or with the DEC Region 5 office (518-897-1200) before you go; we have not visited.

USGS topo — contours & terrain

USGS topographic map of Flume Campsite [DEC #10893] (Wilmington Wild Forest)

Aerial — USGS / NAIP

Aerial image of Flume Campsite [DEC #10893] (Wilmington Wild Forest)

Weather outlook

Loading the latest forecast…

Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 1,136 ft.

Fire & smokeNIFC · 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 camp

Straight-line miles · bearings approx · roads run longer

Nearest of each

OOutfitter0 mi
WWater1 mi
DDump1 mi
ShShower1 mi
@Mail2 mi
FFuel2 mi
GGrocery2 mi
MMechanic6 mi
RxPharmacy9 mi
HHardware9 mi
+Urgent care10 mi
LLaundry21 mi

≤30 mi30–4545+water

The read: water is basically at camp, fuel & food sit about 2 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). Open in Google Maps ↗

The site

Access

Drive-up

Land

New York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation

Elevation

1,136 ft

State

Coordinates

44.36636, -73.84210

Cost

Free

Nearby & resupply (OpenStreetMap)

Water featureWest Branch Ausable River (river) · nearby
Nearest townWilmington · ~2.0 mi
Drinking waterDrinking water · ~1.3 mi
FuelMobil · ~2.1 mi
Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
Dump stationDump station · ~1.3 mi
GroceriesLittle Super Market · ~2.1 mi
PharmacyKinney Drugs · ~14.9 mi
Hospital / clinicAdirondack Medical Center at Lake Placid · ~9.7 mi
HardwareAubuchon Hardware · ~9.4 mi

Nearby restrooms — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)

Highway rest areaValcour · ~23.8 mi NE
Highway rest areaHigh Peaks (South) · ~25.1 mi S
Highway rest areaHigh Peaks (North) · ~25.3 mi S

Open this spot elsewhere

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

Other camps nearby

If this one is full, gated or washed out.

How we know this

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 10893, GIS NAME verbatim 'Flume Campsite', ASSET='PRIMITIVE TENT SITE', PUBLICUSE='Y', ACCESSIBLE='N', FACILITY='Wilmington Wild Forest', DEC Region 5. DESCRIP=''; NOTES=''. Coordinate is DEC's own point geometry (WGS84), pulled 2026-07-26 via the layer's /query endpoint (outSR=4326, one paced curl request -- the DEC GIS host rate-blocks bursts). FREE confirmed on dec.ny.gov/places/wilmington-wild-forest (Wilmington Wild Forest, read 2026-07-26): 'Fee: Free', open year-round, Towns of Wilmington, Jay, Keene and St. Armand (Essex Co.) + Black Brook (Clinton Co.), DEC Region 5 - Eastern Adirondacks/Lake Champlain. The page states verbatim: 'There are two designated primitive tent sites for backcountry camping. One is located along the Cooper Kill Trail just a short distance from the Copper Kill East Trailhead on the Bonnieview Road. The other is located off the River Trail of the Wilmington Flume Trail Network just a short distance from the trailhead.' CONFIDENCE (HIGH): the page ENUMERATES a firm count (two designated primitive tent sites) that MATCHES the GIS count (2) and locates each site; the two GIS points map 1:1 to those two descriptions (this point = the Flume-trail-network site) -- the enumeration-matches-GIS + per-location HIGH basis (Crystal Lake / Split Rock / Sentinel Range), not the count-only MED basis. LOCATION CORROBORATION: OSM way 410673503 'The Flume' foot path, 358 ft away (`out geom`, overpass.kumi.systems, 2026-07-26). ELEVATION ~1136 ft (USGS EPQS, 2026-07-26) -- low valley elevation, no high-elevation camping restriction applies. PAID-NEIGHBOUR (guardrail 2): a ray-cast point-in-polygon test placed the Flume site OUTSIDE the DEC Wilmington Notch developed FEE campground (OSM way 899899708, fee=yes), 1.31 mi from its nearest boundary; the DEC page itself lists Wilmington Notch / Taylor Pond as SEPARATE fee campgrounds 'for day trips into the forest'. Both tent sites are backcountry sites reached on foot from FREE DEC trailheads (Flume TH on NY-86; Copper Kill East / Cooper Kiln Pond TH on Bonnieview Rd), so no access/day-use/permit fee attaches. NOTE: a page banner (read 2026-07-26) reports the Cooper Kiln Pond LEAN-TO dismantled for rebuild -- a lean-to, not this tent site, but confirm current conditions. LEGALITY (guardrail 1): DEC-DESIGNATED primitive tent site, publicly-usable, first-come, no-reservation, per DEC State Land Camping Rules (dec.ny.gov/things-to-do/camping/state-land-rules). Ingest 2026-07-26.

Field check

Not verified on the ground. Nobody from here has camped it. It stays at Researched until someone does.

What we don’t know

A land record can put you within a few metres 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

Before you go

Your first dispersed night →Fire rules & restrictions →Getting unstuck →Power off-grid →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 →