Mason Lake 4 (Jessup River Wild Forest)
FREE backcountry primitive camping. DEC-designated primitive tent site ('Mason Lake 4') in the Jessup River Wild Forest, part of New York's Adirondack Forest Preserve, in the central/southern Adirondacks between Indian Lake and Speculator -- the Towns of Arietta, Indian Lake, Lake Pleasant and Wells in Hamilton County. New York's Forest Preserve allows backcountry camping at these designated sites at NO CHARGE (the DEC unit page lists the fee as 'Free' -- 24 designated tent sites free for overnight use), first-come/first-served -- these backcountry sites cannot be reserved. NOTE ON ACCESS: the DEC page groups this unit's sites by location (12 at Fawn Lake, 8 on Perkins-Clearing Road near Mason Lake, 1 on the Northville-Lake Placid Trail at Fall Stream, 3 on the Speculator Tree Farm easement boundary) but does not spell out how each is reached. THIS particular site is on Perkins-Clearing Road near Mason Lake, which the DEC page files as a roadside cluster, so it is most likely a DRIVE-UP / roadside site along the Perkins-Clearing Road dirt corridor -- but confirm the exact parking and access on the DEC unit page / DECinfo Locator. DON'T CONFUSE THESE FREE SITES WITH THE NEARBY PAID CAMPGROUNDS: the DEC-operated Lewey Lake Campground (NY 30 south of Indian Lake) and Moffitt Beach Campground (near Speculator) -- developed, reservable, fee-based public campgrounds are separate developed facilities that charge a fee and take reservations -- 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, or for a group of ten or more (the DEC unit page sets no stricter local group threshold). 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 -- confirm with the DEC unit page (dec.ny.gov/places/jessup-river-wild-forest) or the Region 5 Ray Brook office before you go; we have not visited.
Everything you need — measured from Mason Lake 4 (Jessup River Wild Forest) · Jessup River Wild Forest · NY
- ShShower4 mi
- WWater6 mi
- GGrocery7 mi
- @Mail7 mi
- DDump7 mi
- FFuel7 mi
- LLaundry8 mi
- +Urgent care8 mi
- MMechanic16 mi
- EVEV fast charger16 mi
- HHardware21 mi
- RxPharmacy23 mi
- OOutfitter30 mi
- AAir-up39 mi
The read: water's a short hop out, fuel & food sit about 7 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 — Mason Lake 4 (Jessup River Wild Forest)
Nearby & resupply — around Mason Lake 4 (Jessup River Wild Forest) · Jessup River Wild Forest · NY (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureMason Lake · under 0.1 mi · USGS: perennial lake or pond
- Nearest townSpeculator · ~7.1 mi
- Rail & highwaynone mapped within 10 mi
- Drinking waterDrinking water · ~4.5 mi
- FuelStewart's · ~15.5 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- Dump station~7.0 mi
- GroceriesCharlie Johns · ~6.9 mi
- PharmacyRite Aid Pharmacy · ~23.4 mi
- Hospital / clinicNorth Creek Health Center · ~23.2 mi
- HardwareAllen & Palmer True Value · ~28.3 mi
EV charging — from Mason Lake 4 (Jessup River Wild Forest) · Jessup River Wild Forest · NY — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger15.6 mi straight-line NE — Indian Lake - Welcome Center · VIALYNK · CCS · 4 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach1 within 25 mi · 35 within 50 · 273 within 100 · 581 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)32.6 mi — Chestertown, NY - Tesla Supercharger, Chestertown
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO42.7 mi — EVolve NY North Hudson, North Hudson
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)6.4 mi — Oak Mountain, Speculator, NY · VIALYNK · J1772 · 4 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 405740 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Mason Lake 4 (Jessup River Wild Forest) · Jessup River Wild Forest · NY — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- No mapped restroom within 30 miles — plan to pack it out.
Coming out here — Mason Lake 4 (Jessup River Wild Forest) · Jessup River Wild Forest · NY
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Mason Lake 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 6.5% — 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.
- No rail line and no interstate or US route is mapped within 10 mi of the pin. Checked against the FRA/BTS North American Rail Network (data updated Jul 21, 2026) and the Census's TIGER/Line primary roads (TIGER/Line 2025, released Oct 2025). Both are national files and both are maps of what is built, not counts of what moves on 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 Mason Lake 4 (Jessup River Wild Forest) elsewhere
Other camps near Mason Lake 4 (Jessup River Wild Forest)
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Mason Lake 3 (Jessup River Wild Forest)~0.2 mi
- Mason Lake 2 (Jessup River Wild Forest)~0.4 mi
- Mason Lake 5 (Jessup River Wild Forest)~0.4 mi
- Mason Lake 1A (Jessup River Wild Forest)~0.4 mi
The unit that manages Mason Lake 4 (Jessup River Wild Forest)
Mason Lake 4 is in Jessup River 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 — Mason Lake 4 (Jessup River Wild Forest)
What we don’t know about Mason Lake 4 (Jessup River 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
- 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