★ Field-verified · Dave's ownPublic landFree
Madison County
Drive-up · public land · Madison County, NY · 42.79368, -75.40604
Ask an AI about this campsiteOpens Grok already loaded with this site. It reads the same records this page is built from, and links whatever it tells you.
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.
A free equestrian campground in Charles E Baker state forest. Several campsites with fire ring and sheltered picnic tables. No toilet in winter. Accommodates two or three vehicles, and there are hitching posts and shelters for horses. No winter maintenance. We had it all to ourselves in winter. Might be busy in summer. No cell service. Highly recommended.
A night on record
Dave slept here on 3 March 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 Madison County
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 1,456 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Madison CountyNIFC · 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 Madison County · public land · NY
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- @Mail7 mi
- GGrocery7 mi
- HHardware8 mi
- LLaundry8 mi
- FFuel8 mi
- EVEV fast charger8 mi
- RxPharmacy8 mi
- MMechanic10 mi
- +Urgent care12 mi
- WWater20 mi
- DDump21 mi
- OOutfitter21 mi
- ShShower24 mi
- AAir-up24 mi
- PPropane44 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water is a real 20-mi drive, fuel & food sit about 7 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 — Madison County
Access
Drive-up
Land
public land
Elevation
1,456 ft
Ground slope
3.8% · gentle
Nearest rail line
~2.1 mi · main line
County
Madison County, NY
Coordinates
42.79368, -75.40604
Cost
Free
Nearby & resupply — around Madison County · public land · NY (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featurePleasant Brook · ~0.1 mi · USGS: perennial stream
- Nearest townMoscow Hill · ~0.0 mi
- Nearest rail line~2.1 mi · main line
- Nearest highwayno interstate or US route within 10 mi
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- FuelSpeedway · ~7.6 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- Dump station~20.6 mi
- GroceriesHamilton Whole Foods · ~7.4 mi
- PharmacyKinney Drugs · ~21.2 mi
- Hospital / clinicCommunity Memorial Hospital · ~7.1 mi
- HardwareDo it Best · ~14.5 mi
From the field — what Dave saw, in person
Cell service
No signal
Getting there
Any vehicle managed it
Fire ring
Yes
Toilet on site
No
Tent friendly
Yes
Verdict
Highly recommended
EV charging — from Madison County · public land · NY — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger7.6 mi straight-line W — EVolve NY Hamilton · Electrify America · CCS · 4 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach17 within 25 mi · 74 within 50 · 302 within 100 · 733 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)23.0 mi — Aldi Yorkville TUL36, Yorkville
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO22.3 mi — L747 PL1, Yorkville
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)6.6 mi — COLGATE SAPERSTEIN, Hamilton, 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 378084 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Madison County · public land · NY — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Highway rest areaOnieda Travel Plaza · ~22.9 mi N
- Highway rest areaEB Parking Area · ~24.1 mi N
- Highway rest areaParking/Rest Area · ~24.1 mi N
- Highway rest areaSchuyler Travel Plaza WB · ~24.8 mi NE
Coming out here — Madison County · public land · NY
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Pleasant Brook as a perennial stream, ~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 3.8% — 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 ~2.1 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 Madison County elsewhere
Other camps near Madison County
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Hunts Pond State Forest~13.9 mi
Who holds the land at Madison County
USGS’s Protected Areas Database (PAD-US 4.1, queried 2026-09-23) lists the ground at this pin as Charles E. Baker 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 — Madison County
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 (Madison 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 3 March 2018. Conditions still change — confirm before you commit.
What we don’t know about Madison County
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 — Madison County
Finding water out here →Cold-weather camping →Fire rules & restrictions →Getting unstuck →All field notes →