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Goldsmith Road Campsite [DEC #15670] (Chazy Highlands Wild Forest)

Drive-up · New York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation · NY · 44.55255, -74.03607

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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: this is a large drive-up style designated primitive campsite (Goldsmith Road) in the Chazy Highlands Wild Forest. It sits on Adirondack Forest Preserve in the Chazy Highlands Wild Forest (Chazy Highlands Wild Forest, DEC Region 5). New York provides it at NO CHARGE -- the DEC page lists the unit as 'Fee: Free' and 'Open for recreation: Year-round'. A free Forest-Ranger permit is required only for stays longer than 3 nights or groups of 10 or more; otherwise just show up. There are no hookups and no potable water at primitive sites -- bring or treat all water, pack out all trash, follow Leave No Trace and DEC fire rules, and store food from animals. Note: DEC's Chazy Highlands Wild Forest page confirms the unit is free and open to camping but does not describe this specific site by name (it is DEC's own mapped designated site), so treat the exact spot as approximate and confirm on arrival. The town hopes you will stop in and spend a little locally while you are passing through. Rules and site status can change and we have not visited -- confirm current conditions on the DEC page (dec.ny.gov/places/chazy-highlands-wild-forest) or with the DEC Region 5 office (Ray Brook) at (518) 897-1200 for the Adirondack units, or the DEC Region 5 Warrensburg sub-office / local Forest Ranger via (518) 897-1300; Forest Rangers in an emergency via 911 or 1-833-NYS-RANGERS (1-833-697-7264) before you go.

Can I go now? — Goldsmith Road Campsite [DEC #15670] (Chazy Highlands Wild Forest) · Chazy Highlands Wild Forest · NY

Open today Year-round per the agency record.

New York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation record: “Year-round” 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 Goldsmith Road Campsite [DEC #15670] (Chazy Highlands Wild Forest)

Aerial — USGS / NAIP

Aerial image of Goldsmith Road Campsite [DEC #15670] (Chazy Highlands Wild Forest)

Weather outlook — at Goldsmith Road Campsite [DEC #15670] (Chazy Highlands Wild Forest)

Loading the latest forecast…

Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 1,375 ft.

Fire & smoke — around Goldsmith Road Campsite [DEC #15670] (Chazy Highlands 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 Goldsmith Road Campsite [DEC #15670] (Chazy Highlands Wild Forest) · Chazy Highlands 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
FFuel12 mi
GGrocery12 mi
+Urgent care15 mi
RxPharmacy16 mi
OOutfitter16 mi
EVEV fast charger16 mi
HHardware16 mi
MMechanic16 mi
WWater16 mi
DDump16 mi
ShShower16 mi
LLaundry25 mi

≤30 mi30–4545+water

The read: water's a short hop out, fuel & food sit about 12 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 — Goldsmith Road Campsite [DEC #15670] (Chazy Highlands Wild Forest)

Access

Drive-up

Land

New York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation

Elevation

1,375 ft

Ground slope

3.2% · gentle

State

Coordinates

44.55255, -74.03607

Cost

Free

Nearby & resupply — around Goldsmith Road Campsite [DEC #15670] (Chazy Highlands Wild Forest) · Chazy Highlands Wild Forest · NY (OpenStreetMap)

Water featureNorth Branch Saranac River · ~0.1 mi · USGS: perennial river
Nearest townLoon Lake · ~1.0 mi
Rail & highwaynone mapped within 10 mi
Drinking waternone within 10 mi
FuelMobil · ~15.8 mi
Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
Dump station~16.4 mi
GroceriesLittle Super Market · ~15.8 mi
PharmacyKinney Drugs · ~15.5 mi
Hospital / clinicAdirondack Medical Center · ~15.3 mi
HardwareSturdy Supply & Rental · ~16.1 mi

EV charging — from Goldsmith Road Campsite [DEC #15670] (Chazy Highlands Wild Forest) · Chazy Highlands Wild Forest · NY — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)

Nearest public DC fast charger15.6 mi straight-line S — 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 reach10 within 25 mi · 55 within 50 · 123 within 100 · 342 within 150
Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)17.0 mi — Aldi TUL 46 Saranac Lake, Saranac Lake
Nearest listing CHAdeMO23.9 mi — ELLIS CHEVY ELLISDCFC, Malone
Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)13.1 mi — VIC AND CAMPUS SUGAR SHACK 1.2, Paul Smiths, NY · ChargePoint Network · J1772 · 2 Level 2 ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · 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 Goldsmith Road Campsite [DEC #15670] (Chazy Highlands Wild Forest) · Chazy Highlands Wild Forest · NY — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)

Highway rest areaValcour · ~27.0 mi E

Coming out here — Goldsmith Road Campsite [DEC #15670] (Chazy Highlands Wild Forest) · Chazy Highlands Wild Forest · NY

Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps North Branch Saranac River as a perennial river, ~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 3.2% — 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 Goldsmith Road Campsite [DEC #15670] (Chazy Highlands Wild Forest) elsewhere

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Other camps near Goldsmith Road Campsite [DEC #15670] (Chazy Highlands Wild Forest)

If this one is full, gated or washed out.

The unit that manages Goldsmith Road Campsite [DEC #15670] (Chazy Highlands Wild Forest)

Goldsmith Road Campsite [DEC #15670] is in Chazy Highlands 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.

Chazy Highlands Wild Forest →

How we know this — Goldsmith Road Campsite [DEC #15670] (Chazy Highlands Wild Forest)

Open season

Year-round

Permit

Free permit needed only for stays over 3 nights or groups of 10 or more

Source

NY Dept. of Environmental Conservation

Confidence

Likely — The record is good enough to put a pin on, but thin in places. Treat the details as a starting point, not gospel.

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 15670, GIS NAME verbatim 'Goldsmith Road Campsite', ASSET='PRIMITIVE TENT SITE', PUBLICUSE='Y', ACCESSIBLE='N', FACILITY='Chazy Highlands Wild Forest'. DESCRIP='Primitive Campsite'; NOTES='Large Drive Up Style Primitive Campsite'. Coordinate is DEC's own point geometry (WGS84), pulled 2026-07-26 via the layer's /query endpoint (outSR=4326, one paced bundled curl covering five facilities -- the DEC GIS host rate-blocks bursts). FREE confirmed on the DEC page dec.ny.gov/places/chazy-highlands-wild-forest (Chazy Highlands Wild Forest, read 2026-07-26): 'Fee: Free', 'Open for recreation: Year-round'. CONFIDENCE (MED): GIS returns this as a PUBLICUSE=Y designated primitive tent site in the Chazy Highlands Wild Forest (page 'Fee: Free', camping allowed unit-wide); the page's prose does not name this specific site and OSM maps none -> MED. LOCATION CORROBORATION: no OSM camp node mapped there; page + GIS carry existence. ELEVATION ~1375 ft (USGS EPQS, 2026-07-26) -- an Adirondack Region 5 unit, far below any high-elevation camping restriction (the 3,500-ft Catskill ban does not apply). LAND/FEE (guardrail 2): Adirondack Forest Preserve (Wild Forest / Primitive Area) land; the only permit is a FREE Forest-Ranger permit for stays over 3 nights or groups of 10 or more. LEGALITY (guardrail 1): a DEC-DESIGNATED PUBLICUSE primitive tent site, camping explicitly allowed, per DEC State Land Camping Rules (dec.ny.gov/things-to-do/camping/state-land-rules). Ingest 2026-07-26.

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 Goldsmith Road Campsite [DEC #15670] (Chazy Highlands 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 — Goldsmith Road Campsite [DEC #15670] (Chazy Highlands Wild Forest)

Finding water out here →Cold-weather camping →Fire rules & restrictions →How to read this page →All field notes →

Is this page wrong about Goldsmith Road Campsite [DEC #15670] (Chazy Highlands 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.

Anything else, in your own words (optional)Your email — optional, and only so Dave can ask you a follow-up. It does not go on a list, and nobody is promising you a reply.

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.