Found · unverifiedNY DECFree

Hoel Pond Site 1 (Saranac Lakes Wild Forest)

Drive-up · New York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation · NY · 44.34699, -74.34443

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 backcountry primitive camping. DEC-designated primitive tent site ('Hoel Pond Site 1') in the Saranac Lakes Wild Forest, part of New York's Adirondack Forest Preserve, in the northern Adirondacks -- the Towns of Brighton, Franklin, Harrietstown, Santa Clara and Tupper Lake in Franklin County and the Towns of North Elba and St. Armand in Essex County -- in the Saranac Lake / St. Regis lakes-and-ponds canoe country. New York's Forest Preserve allows backcountry camping at these designated sites at NO CHARGE (the DEC unit page lists the fee as 'Free'), first-come/first-served -- these backcountry sites cannot be reserved. NOTE ON ACCESS: this unit is a MIX -- some sites are drive-up along Floodwood Road or Route 3, but MANY are on lakes, ponds and rivers reached by canoe/kayak (or on foot). THIS particular site is on a lake, pond or river in this canoe country, so it is most likely reached by canoe/kayak (some pond sites can also be reached on foot or from a nearby road) -- confirm THIS site's access and the nearest launch/parking on the DEC unit page / DECinfo Locator. DON'T CONFUSE THESE FREE SITES WITH THE NEARBY PAID CAMPGROUNDS: Fish Creek Pond, Rollins Pond and Meadowbrook Campgrounds and the Saranac Lake Islands Campground (which covers the Lower and Middle Saranac Lake sites) are separate developed facilities that charge a fee -- these designated Wild-Forest sites are the free ones. Camping for more than 3 nights in one spot requires a FREE New York State Forest Ranger permit; a free New York State Forest Ranger permit is required for any stay of more than three nights at one spot; the DEC unit page states organized groups of 20 or more require a permit (the statewide rule is a permit for groups of 10 or more). Arrange any permit in advance through the DEC Region 5 Ray Brook Office (Mon-Fri 8:30 AM-4:45 PM) at (518) 897-1200 -- they name the local Forest Ranger for the permit. Camp only at the marked site (look for the yellow 'Camp Here' disc), and keep camp 150 feet from water, roads and trails unless the site is otherwise designated. This is a primitive site: no hookups, no potable water, pack out all trash, follow Leave No Trace and the DEC fire rules. Rules and site status change (the DEC page notes sites are added and closed) -- confirm with the DEC unit page (dec.ny.gov/places/saranac-lakes-wild-forest) or a regional DEC office before you go; we have not visited.

USGS topo — contours & terrain

USGS topographic map of Hoel Pond Site 1 (Saranac Lakes Wild Forest)

Aerial — USGS / NAIP

Aerial image of Hoel Pond Site 1 (Saranac Lakes Wild Forest)

Weather outlook

Loading the latest forecast…

Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 1,628 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

FFuel3 mi
GGrocery3 mi
DDump3 mi
ShShower4 mi
WWater4 mi
@Mail6 mi
RxPharmacy10 mi
MMechanic10 mi
HHardware10 mi
+Urgent care10 mi
OOutfitter10 mi
LLaundry39 mi

≤30 mi30–4545+water

The read: water is basically at camp, fuel & food sit about 3 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

1,628 ft

State

Coordinates

44.34699, -74.34443

Cost

Free

Nearby & resupply (OpenStreetMap)

Water featureGreen Pond (water) · nearby
Nearest townSaranac Inn · ~1.3 mi
Drinking waterDrinking water · ~3.9 mi
FuelFuel · ~3.3 mi
Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
Dump stationDump station · ~3.4 mi
GroceriesStore · ~3.3 mi
PharmacyKinney Drugs · ~9.8 mi
Hospital / clinicAdirondack Medical Center · ~10.0 mi
HardwareSturdy Supply & Rental · ~10.6 mi

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

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

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 13543, ASSET='PRIMITIVE TENT SITE', PUBLICUSE='Y', FACILITY='Saranac Lakes Wild Forest'; coordinate is DEC's own point geometry (WGS84), pulled 2026-07-23 via the layer's /find endpoint (the /query path is WAF-blocked). FREE confirmed by DEC's own place page (dec.ny.gov/places/saranac-lakes-wild-forest, read 2026-07-23): Fee='Free', at-large backcountry camping with designated tent sites on the unit's waterbodies; and DEC State Land Camping Rules (dec.ny.gov/things-to-do/camping/state-land-rules): backcountry/primitive camping allowed on Adirondack Forest Preserve Wild Forest, a free permit only for >3 nights or groups of 10+, arranged via the DEC Region 5 Ray Brook Office (Mon-Fri 8:30 AM-4:45 PM) at (518) 897-1200 -- they name the local Forest Ranger for the permit. PAID-CAMPGROUND TRAP CLEARED: the FACILITY filter excludes the fee-based Fish Creek Pond, Rollins Pond and Meadowbrook Campgrounds and the Saranac Lake Islands Campground (which covers the Lower and Middle Saranac Lake sites) -- the GIS returns 0 Fish Creek and 0 Lower/Middle Saranac sites and only the free backcountry Rollins Pond sites. COUNT: the GIS /find returns 162 records collapsing to 161 distinct ASSET_UIDs (UID 13809 duplicated at an identical coordinate, collapsed by UID); the page gives no single total, so the GIS is the coordinate source of record and no pin is invented. Ingest 2026-07-23.

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 →