★ Field-verified · Dave's ownPublic landFree
Hunts Pond State Forest
Drive-up · public land · Chenango County, NY · 42.59427, -75.37207
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Ask about this camp →Dave's been here. A spot from Dave's own travels on public land — free to camp. Conditions still change, so confirm access, stay limits and fire rules before you go.
Permit required during warm season for this free campground located in Hunts Pond State Forest. Several primitive campsites with fire rings and picnic tables. No toilets. Ice fishing during winter, although no winter maintenance. Very nice spot. Enough room for a couple of vehicles. Highly recommended. Some cell service.
A night on record
Dave slept here on 17 January 2018. No agency publishes a season for this site, so that night is the only season evidence we have — what the site was then, not a forecast for this year.
USGS topo — contours & terrain
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Weather outlook — at Hunts Pond State Forest
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 1,463 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Hunts Pond State ForestNIFC · 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 Hunts Pond State Forest · public land · NY
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- +Urgent care3 mi
- GGrocery3 mi
- FFuel3 mi
- @Mail4 mi
- RxPharmacy9 mi
- LLaundry9 mi
- MMechanic10 mi
- HHardware10 mi
- WWater12 mi
- DDump13 mi
- ShShower16 mi
- EVEV fast charger17 mi
- AAir-up18 mi
- OOutfitter28 mi
- PPropane54 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water's a short hop out, fuel & food sit about 3 mi out.
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 — Hunts Pond State Forest
Access
Drive-up
Land
public land
Elevation
1,463 ft
Ground slope
7.3% · gentle
Nearest rail line
~7.6 mi · main line
County
Chenango County, NY
Coordinates
42.59427, -75.37207
Cost
Free
Nearby & resupply — around Hunts Pond State Forest · public land · NY (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureHunt Pond · under 0.1 mi · USGS: perennial lake or pond
- Also mapped (OSM)Hunts Pond (water) · mapped within 1.6 mi
- Nearest townSages Crossing · ~2.0 mi
- Nearest rail line~7.6 mi · main line
- Nearest highwayno interstate or US route within 10 mi
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- FuelFuel · ~2.9 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- Dump station~12.8 mi
- GroceriesMirabito · ~7.9 mi
- PharmacyWalmart Pharmacy · ~10.3 mi
- Hospital / clinicGuthrie Clinic New Berlin · ~2.6 mi
- HardwareOxford Hardware · ~15.6 mi
From the field — what Dave saw, in person
Cell service
Had a signal
Getting there
Any vehicle managed it
Fire ring
Yes
Toilet on site
No
Tent friendly
Yes
Verdict
Highly recommended
EV charging — from Hunts Pond State Forest · public land · NY — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger17.0 mi straight-line SE — Country Club Imports, Oneonta, NY (at a car dealership) · Non-Networked · CHAdeMO, J1772, CCS · 2 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2024-02-12 · hours: Dealership business hours; see service desk for access · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach10 within 25 mi · 71 within 50 · 313 within 100 · 963 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)19.3 mi — Oneonta, NY - Tesla Supercharger, Oneonta
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)8.6 mi — The Sherburne News · AMPUP · J1772 · 2 Level 2 ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2025-12-12 · hours: 24 hours daily
- Pricing at the fast chargerFree (as listed by AFDC)
- 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 44176 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Hunts Pond State Forest · public land · NY — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Highway rest areaWells Bridge · ~17.3 mi S
- Highway rest areaUnadilla · ~19.0 mi S
Coming out here — Hunts Pond State Forest · public land · NY
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Hunt Pond as a perennial lake or pond, under 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 7.3% — 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 ~7.6 mi from the pin — the national rail atlas classes it as a main line. 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 Hunts Pond State Forest elsewhere
Other camps near Hunts Pond State Forest
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Madison County~13.9 mi
Who holds the land at Hunts Pond State Forest
USGS’s Protected Areas Database (PAD-US 4.1, queried 2026-09-23) lists the ground at this pin as Hunts Pond State Forest, manager on record: NYS Department of Environmental Conservation (state). That names who holds the land — it is not a statement that camping is permitted here.
How we know this — Hunts Pond State Forest
Source
Dave's own travels
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
FIELD VERIFIED by Dave Lalande -- he has stood on this site. Coordinates are his own GPX track point, not a geocode. County and state confirmed against the FCC Census Block API (Chenango County, NY). Everything under 'From the field' is a direct observation; nothing here is inferred from a land record.
A night on record
Dave's own GPS diary, 2017–2020: the date of the waypoint he saved here. The timestamp is UTC, so an entry saved in the evening carries the next morning's date. An observation of one night, never a forecast.
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
Verified on the ground. Dave has stood on this one. He camped here on 17 January 2018. Conditions still change — confirm before you commit.
What we don’t know about Hunts Pond State 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.
- How many rigs actually fit
- Seasonal & winter access
- 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 — Hunts Pond State Forest
Camping near a reservoir →Finding water out here →Cold-weather camping →Off-grid communication →All field notes →