Found · unverifiedNY DECFree

Lost Pond Campsite [DEC #9290] (Hurricane Mountain Primitive Area)

Drive-up · New York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation · NY · 44.26080, -73.71050

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 Lost Pond Campsite, one of the DEC-designated backcountry tent sites in the Hurricane Mountain Wilderness (formerly the Hurricane Mountain Primitive Area; eastern Adirondack Park, Essex County, DEC Region 5 -- 13,784 acres in the towns of Jay, Lewis, Keene and Elizabethtown). This site sits near the Biesemeyer lean-to, between Lost Pond and Weston Mountain. New York provides it at NO CHARGE: the DEC page lists the unit as 'Free' and open year-round and describes 'four primitive campsites and two lean-tos available for public use' -- three tent sites near the Gulf Brook lean-to (about 1.2 miles from the Crow's Clearing Trailhead) and one near the Biesemeyer lean-to between Lost Pond and Weston Mountain. These are remote, no-reservation, first-come backcountry sites reached on foot from a free DEC trailhead -- no fee and no facilities (no hookups, no showers, no potable water). Only two of the three Gulf Brook tent sites are individually mapped, and the Lost Pond site's exact coordinate is approximate (DEC's own record notes it was added in the office, not field-surveyed), so use the trail and the nearby lean-to to find the marked spot on the ground. Camp only 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 -- confirm current conditions and this site's status on the DEC page (dec.ny.gov/places/hurricane-mountain-wilderness) 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 Lost Pond Campsite [DEC #9290] (Hurricane Mountain Primitive Area)

Aerial — USGS / NAIP

Aerial image of Lost Pond Campsite [DEC #9290] (Hurricane Mountain Primitive Area)

Weather outlook

Loading the latest forecast…

Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 2,919 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

FFuel4 mi
GGrocery4 mi
@Mail4 mi
OOutfitter6 mi
RxPharmacy7 mi
HHardware7 mi
MMechanic8 mi
WWater10 mi
DDump10 mi
ShShower10 mi
+Urgent care14 mi
LLaundry24 mi

≤30 mi30–4545+water

The read: water's a short hop out, fuel & food sit about 4 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

2,919 ft

State

Coordinates

44.26080, -73.71050

Cost

Free

Nearby & resupply (OpenStreetMap)

Water featureLost Pond (water) · nearby
Nearest townGlenmore · ~1.7 mi
Drinking waterDrinking water · ~9.7 mi
FuelFuel · ~8.1 mi
Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
Dump stationDump station · ~9.7 mi
GroceriesCedar Run Bakery & Market · ~4.2 mi
PharmacyMoriah Pharmacy · ~19.2 mi
Hospital / clinicElizabethtown Community Hospital · ~6.5 mi
HardwareAubuchon Hardware · ~14.8 mi

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

Highway rest areaHigh Peaks (South) · ~16.9 mi S
Highway rest areaHigh Peaks (North) · ~17.1 mi S
Highway rest areaValcour · ~26.1 mi NE

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

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 9290, GIS NAME verbatim 'Lost Pond Campsite', ASSET='PRIMITIVE TENT SITE', PUBLICUSE='Y', ACCESSIBLE='N', FACILITY='Hurricane Mountain Primitive Area' (legacy classification; the land is now managed as Hurricane Mountain Wilderness -- same Gulf Brook / Lost Pond / Biesemeyer sites), DEC Region 5. DESCRIP=''; NOTES='Sca Crew Did Not Inventory - Added In The Office'. 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). SLUG-HUNT: the old dec.ny.gov/places/hurricane-mountain-primitive-area 404s (DEC reorg); the current page is dec.ny.gov/places/hurricane-mountain-wilderness (Hurricane Mountain Wilderness, HTTP 200, read 2026-07-26). FREE confirmed there: 'Fee: Free', open year-round, Towns of Jay/Lewis/Keene/Elizabethtown (Essex Co.), DEC Region 5, 13,784 ac. Page states verbatim: 'four primitive campsites and two lean-tos available for public use ... The Gulf Brook lean-to is located 1.2 miles from the Crow's Clearing Trailhead; three primitive tent sites are located nearby ... The Biesemeyer lean-to is located between Lost Pond and Weston Mountain and one primitive tent site is located nearby.' CONFIDENCE (MED): the DEC GIS point self-discloses it was NOT field-inventoried ('Sca Crew Did Not Inventory - Added In The Office') and disagrees with the independently-mapped OSM 'Lost Pond Campsite' node by 559 ft; the SITE is triple-confirmed (page + GIS + OSM, near the Biesemeyer lean-to) but the coordinate is approximate within ~0.1 mi. LOCATION CORROBORATION: OSM node 4829675213 'Lost Pond Campsite' 559 ft away, which itself sits 43 ft from OSM node 4829675214 'Beisemeyer Lean-to' (`out center`, overpass.kumi.systems, 2026-07-26); OSM also maps the Gulf Brook Lean-to, the Beisemeyer Lean-to, Lost Pond (way 216278705) and the Gulf Brook Trail (way 20077933). ELEVATION ~2919 ft (USGS EPQS, 2026-07-26) -- Adirondack unit, well below any high-elevation camping restriction (the 3,500-ft Catskill ban does not apply here; the ~4,000-ft eastern-High-Peaks rule is far above). PAID-NEIGHBOUR (guardrail 2): an Overpass sweep of the unit found NO fee campground nearby; these are backcountry sites reached on foot from the FREE Crow's Clearing (Crow Clearing) trailhead, so no access/day-use/permit fee attaches. LEGALITY (guardrail 1): DEC-DESIGNATED primitive tent site, publicly-usable, first-come, cannot be reserved, 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 Likely 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 →