American Adventurer
Found · unverifiedNY DECFree

Mason Lake 6 (Jessup River Wild Forest)

Drive-up · New York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation · NY · 43.58079, -74.43424
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 backcountry primitive camping. DEC-designated primitive tent site ('Mason Lake 6') 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.

USGS topo — contours & terrain
USGS topographic map of Mason Lake 6 (Jessup River Wild Forest)
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Aerial image of Mason Lake 6 (Jessup River Wild Forest)
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Weather outlook
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 1,754 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

15 MI30 MI60 MIYOUR CAMPN ↑Water · 6 miWDump · 6 miDSpeculator Gas Station · Fuel · 7 miFCharlie Johns · Grocery · 6 miGRite Aid Pharmacy · Pharmacy · 24 miRxAce Hardware · Hardware · 22 miHThe Shop · Mechanic · 16 miMLaundromat · Laundry · 7 miLShower · 5 miShAir-up · 38 miAInfirmary · Urgent care · 7 mi+Cloud-Splitter Outfitters · Outfitter · 31 miOSpeculator Post Office · Mail · 6 mi@
Straight-line miles · bearings approx · roads run longer
Nearest of each
  • ShShower5 mi
  • WWater6 mi
  • DDump6 mi
  • GGrocery6 mi
  • @Mail6 mi
  • FFuel7 mi
  • LLaundry7 mi
  • +Urgent care7 mi
  • MMechanic16 mi
  • HHardware22 mi
  • RxPharmacy24 mi
  • OOutfitter31 mi
  • AAir-up38 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water

The read: water is basically at camp, fuel & food sit about 6 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
1,754 ft
State
NY
Coordinates
43.58079, -74.43424
Cost
Free

Nearby & resupply (OpenStreetMap)

  • Water featureMason Lake (water) · nearby
  • Nearest townSpeculator · ~6.6 mi
  • Drinking waterDrinking water · ~5.3 mi
  • FuelStewart's · ~16.3 mi
  • Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
  • Dump stationDump station · ~6.4 mi
  • GroceriesCharlie Johns · ~6.4 mi
  • PharmacyRite Aid Pharmacy · ~23.9 mi
  • Hospital / clinicNorth Creek Health Center · ~23.6 mi
  • HardwareAllen & Palmer True Value · ~27.8 mi

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

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
Researched — The record is detailed and internally consistent, and the coordinates land where the managing agency says this site is.
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 15909, ASSET='PRIMITIVE TENT SITE', PUBLICUSE='Y', FACILITY='Jessup River Wild Forest'; coordinate is DEC's own point geometry (WGS84), pulled 2026-07-23 via the layer's /find endpoint (the /query path is WAF-blocked). FREE confirmed by DEC's own place page (dec.ny.gov/places/jessup-river-wild-forest, read 2026-07-23): Fee='Free', 24 designated primitive tent sites free for overnight use, first-come/first-served; and DEC State Land Camping Rules (dec.ny.gov/things-to-do/camping/state-land-rules): backcountry/primitive camping allowed on Adirondack Forest Preserve Wild Forest, a free permit only for >3 nights or groups of 10+, arranged via 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. PAID NEIGHBOURS CLEARED: all 16 GIS records carry FACILITY='Jessup River Wild Forest' -- 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 DEC FACILITIES and return 0 records here. COUNT: the GIS /find returns 16 records (16 distinct ASSET_UIDs); the page states 24, so the GIS is an incomplete subset (all ingest, none held, no pin invented). Ingest 2026-07-23.
Field check
Not verified on the ground. Nobody from here has camped it. It stays at Researched 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.

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 →