Horseshoe Lake Campsite 10 (Horseshoe Lake Wild Forest)
FREE primitive camping in the 17,123-acre Horseshoe Lake Wild Forest, part of New York's Adirondack Forest Preserve -- Town of Tupper Lake in Franklin County and the Towns of Clifton, Colton and Piercefield in St. Lawrence County (DEC Region 6), between Tupper Lake and the Bog River. DEC-designated primitive tent site ('Horseshoe Lake Campsite 10'). New York provides these designated primitive tent sites at NO CHARGE -- the DEC page lists the fee as 'Free' -- and they are first-come, first-served and cannot be reserved. A FREE ROADSIDE PULL-OFF SITE YOU CAN DRIVE TO. DO NOT LET THE NAME FOOL YOU -- despite being called a 'Horseshoe Lake' campsite, this one is a measured 0.79 miles from the Horseshoe Lake shoreline, not on it. It sits a measured 0.000 mi (0 ft) off the Otter Brook Road corridor west of NY 421, which DEC describes as running "from State Route 421 to the Five Ponds Wilderness/private land boundary (8.5 mi.)" and which doubles as a snowmobile trail in winter. DEC's own page says this unit is heavily hunted partly "because of easy road access and the availability of roadside campsites" -- this is one of them, so expect company in the fall. It is an unpaved back road: check your clearance and conditions before you commit, and the nearest published parking area, the Horseshoe Lake Hand Launch on State Route 421, is about 0.8 mi away. On toilets, DEC's exact words are that "most of the sites have pit privies" and it names only the Bridge Brook Pond and Tupper Lake sites as the exceptions -- so this one probably has one, but 'most' is DEC's word, not 'all', so do not count on it. PERMITS: DEC states the rule for this Wild Forest in its own words -- "Camping for more than 3 nights or with 10 or more people requires a permit from a Forest Ranger" -- and the permit itself is free. Do not confuse this with the stricter 'parties of nine or less' limit printed on the same DEC page: that one governs Lows Lake, a different piece of the Bog River Complex, not this Wild Forest. Arrange any permit in advance through the DEC Region 6 Potsdam Office at 315-265-3090 (Mon-Fri, 8:00 AM to 4:30 PM). Camp only at the designated site, because elsewhere on the Forest Preserve camping is prohibited within 150 feet of any road, trail or water, and DEC also warns that some areas are posted 'Camping Prohibited'. These are primitive sites: typically just a fire ring, no hookups, no showers and no potable water, so treat any water you take from the lake or a pond. Pack out all trash, follow Leave No Trace and the DEC fire rules, and store food away from black bears -- DEC says bears are common here. DO NOT CONFUSE THIS WITH THE CRANBERRY LAKE CAMPGROUND AND DAY USE AREA, which the same DEC page points to for "campers who prefer more amenities" -- that is DEC's developed campground with showers, a beach and a dump station, and it CHARGES. This site charges nothing and has none of that. ONE THING ON DEC'S PAGE THAT DOES *NOT* APPLY HERE, so you do not turn around for nothing: because DEC covers this whole area on one 'Bog River Complex' page, that page says the area is open "Year-round, except for Big Tupper and Piercefield Flow Conservation Easements which is open May 1 - Sep. 30". That seasonal limit, and the rule that camping there is restricted to a single lean-to reachable by water only, belong to the separate 4,864-acre Big Tupper/Piercefield Flow Conservation Easement several miles north of here -- not to this campsite, which is on Horseshoe Lake Wild Forest Forest Preserve and is open year-round. HEADS UP ON CLOSURES: DEC's Adirondack backcountry conditions page listed two campsites in this Wild Forest as closed during 2026 (Campsite 2 on NY 421 for a gravel stockpile, and Campsite 8 on Otterbrook Road for accessibility work); this site is not one of them, but it shows the unit does close individual sites, so check the current conditions page before you drive out. Confirm current rules, road conditions and this site's status on the DEC page (dec.ny.gov/places/bog-river-complex) or with the Potsdam office before you go; we have not visited.
Everything you need — measured from Horseshoe Lake Campsite 10 (Horseshoe Lake Wild Forest) · Horseshoe Lake Wild Forest · NY
- +Urgent care9 mi
- OOutfitter10 mi
- MMechanic11 mi
- FFuel11 mi
- GGrocery11 mi
- HHardware11 mi
- RxPharmacy11 mi
- @Mail14 mi
- WWater17 mi
- ShShower17 mi
- DDump18 mi
- LLaundry27 mi
- EVEV fast charger29 mi
The read: water's a short hop out, fuel & food sit about 11 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 — Horseshoe Lake Campsite 10 (Horseshoe Lake Wild Forest)
Nearby & resupply — around Horseshoe Lake Campsite 10 (Horseshoe Lake Wild Forest) · Horseshoe Lake Wild Forest · NY (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureLittle Pine Pond · ~0.5 mi · USGS: perennial lake or pond
- Nearest townTupper Lake · ~11.3 mi
- Nearest rail line~0.7 mi · main line
- Nearest highwayno interstate or US route within 10 mi
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- FuelFuel · ~10.8 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- Dump station~17.6 mi
- GroceriesStewart's Shops · ~10.9 mi
- PharmacyKinney Drugs · ~11.3 mi
- Hospital / clinicCamp Massawepie Health Lodge · ~9.1 mi
- HardwareAubuchon Hardware · ~10.9 mi
EV charging — from Horseshoe Lake Campsite 10 (Horseshoe Lake Wild Forest) · Horseshoe Lake Wild Forest · NY — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger28.7 mi straight-line NE — 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 reachnone within 25 mi · 16 within 50 · 164 within 100 · 400 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)28.9 mi — ChargeSmart EV - Saranac Lake, Saranac Lake
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO40.5 mi — EVolve NY Potsdam, Potsdam
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)13.7 mi — Otto's Abode, Wanakena, NY (at a parking lot) · Non-Networked · J1772 · 1 Level 2 port listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2024-03-14 · hours: 24 hours daily
- Also listed, not counted aboveNACS-only Level 2 — Faust Motel - Tesla Destination, Tupper Lake, 10.9 mi · NACS (Tesla) · hours: 24 hours daily. Open to Teslas only. · AFDC lists it “Free”
- 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 Horseshoe Lake Campsite 10 (Horseshoe Lake Wild Forest) · Horseshoe Lake Wild Forest · NY — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- No mapped restroom within 30 miles — plan to pack it out.
Coming out here — Horseshoe Lake Campsite 10 (Horseshoe Lake Wild Forest) · Horseshoe Lake Wild Forest · NY
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Little Pine Pond as a perennial lake or pond, ~0.5 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 4.1% — 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.
- Rail line mapped ~0.7 mi from the pin — the national rail atlas classes it as a main line. The atlas also records tourist, museum or scenic passenger service on it. That is the FRA/BTS North American Rail Network (data updated Jul 21, 2026), which records that a line is there and what class of track it is. Whether anything runs on it, how often, and at what hour, it does not say, and nobody has checked this one for you.
- No interstate or US route is mapped within 10 mi of the pin in the Census's TIGER/Line primary roads (TIGER/Line 2025, released Oct 2025). That file holds the divided, limited-access highways only — a state expressway or a two-lane US route near this camp would not be in 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 Horseshoe Lake Campsite 10 (Horseshoe Lake Wild Forest) elsewhere
Other camps near Horseshoe Lake Campsite 10 (Horseshoe Lake Wild Forest)
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Horseshoe Lake Campsite 9 (Horseshoe Lake Wild Forest)~0.3 mi
- Horseshoe Lake Campsite 7 (Horseshoe Lake Wild Forest)~0.8 mi
- Horseshoe Lake Campsite 5 (Horseshoe Lake Wild Forest)~1.1 mi
- Bog River Primitive Campsite 3 [DEC #3403] (Bog River Complex, lower Bog River)~1.2 mi
The unit that manages Horseshoe Lake Campsite 10 (Horseshoe Lake Wild Forest)
Horseshoe Lake Campsite 10 is in Horseshoe Lake 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 — Horseshoe Lake Campsite 10 (Horseshoe Lake Wild Forest)
What we don’t know about Horseshoe Lake Campsite 10 (Horseshoe Lake 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