Found · unverifiedNY DECFree

Moss Lake Campsite #2 (Fulton Chain Wild Forest)

Drive-up · New York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation · NY · 43.78689, -74.84460

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 primitive camping in the Fulton Chain Wild Forest, part of New York's Adirondack Forest Preserve -- Herkimer County (DEC Region 6), in the Old Forge / Inlet lakes country. This is a DEC-designated primitive tent site ('Moss Lake Campsite #2') on Moss Lake, and New York provides it at NO CHARGE: the DEC page lists the fee as 'Free' and the unit is open year-round. HIKE-IN: reach it on foot -- about 283 feet from the nearest mapped trail and 621 feet from the nearest road, right on Moss Lake (~235 ft from the water). Do NOT confuse this free site with the nearby DEVELOPED, FEE state campgrounds -- Nicks Lake, Alger Island (a paid island-tent campground on Fourth Lake) and Limekiln Lake -- which charge a nightly fee and are separate facilities; this Wild Forest site is free. RULES: this is a designated, first-come, free site -- no reservation and no fee. Standard Adirondack Forest Preserve rules apply: camp only at the designated site, and 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 6 Herkimer Office at 315-866-6330). DEC's page prints no other night limit for this unit, so plan around that statewide 3-night default and confirm on site. This is a primitive site: expect a fire ring and, at most of the Moss Lake sites, a nearby pit privy -- no hookups, no showers and no potable water, so bring water or treat what you take from the lake. Pack out all trash, follow Leave No Trace and the DEC fire rules, and store food from bears (this is black-bear country). Confirm current rules and this site's status on the DEC page (dec.ny.gov/places/fulton-chain-wild-forest) or with the Herkimer office (315-866-6330) before you go; we have not visited.

USGS topo — contours & terrain

USGS topographic map of Moss Lake Campsite #2 (Fulton Chain Wild Forest)

Aerial — USGS / NAIP

Aerial image of Moss Lake Campsite #2 (Fulton Chain Wild Forest)

Weather outlook

Loading the latest forecast…

Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 1,805 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

LLaundry2 mi
@Mail2 mi
WWater3 mi
GGrocery4 mi
HHardware4 mi
FFuel4 mi
RxPharmacy9 mi
OOutfitter12 mi
ShShower23 mi
DDump24 mi
+Urgent care25 mi
MMechanic28 mi
AAir-up50 mi

≤30 mi30–4545+water

The read: water is basically at camp, 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

1,805 ft

State

Coordinates

43.78689, -74.84460

Cost

Free

Nearby & resupply (OpenStreetMap)

Water featureBubb Lake (water) · nearby
Nearest townEagle Bay · ~1.8 mi
Drinking waterDrinking water · ~3.4 mi
FuelFuel · ~4.0 mi
Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
Dump stationDump station · ~23.5 mi
GroceriesKalil's Market · ~3.5 mi
PharmacyKinney Drugs · ~8.7 mi
Hospital / clinicClifton Fine Hospital · ~28.0 mi
HardwareAce Hardware - Old Forge Department Store · ~8.3 mi

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

No mapped restroom within 30 miles — plan to pack it out.

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 17006, NAME verbatim 'Moss Lake Campsite #2', ASSET='PRIMITIVE TENT SITE', PUBLICUSE='Y', FACILITY='Fulton Chain Wild Forest'; coordinate is DEC's own point geometry (WGS84), pulled 2026-07-24 via the layer's /query endpoint (outSR=4326). FREE confirmed on dec.ny.gov/places/fulton-chain-wild-forest (Fulton Chain Wild Forest, read 2026-07-24): Fee='Free', Open for Recreation='Year-round', 'Moss Lake has designated primitive campsites all scattered around the lake ... Camping elsewhere on the Fulton Chain Wild Forest is allowed as long as the chosen site is more than 150 feet from a road, trail or any water body'; Herkimer County, DEC Region 6, 315-866-6330. This slug LOADS (no 404). PAID-NEIGHBOUR GUARD (Debar rule): the page names three developed FEE campgrounds nearby -- Nicks Lake, Alger Island and Limekiln Lake; their OSM bounding boxes were pulled (OSM API 2026-07-24) and a point-in-box test confirms this site is inside NONE of them. LIVE-CONDITIONS CHECK (DEC Backcountry Information for the Adirondack Park, read 2026-07-24, stamped 'New this week (7/23/2026)'): only a Rondaxe/Bald Mountain 'No Parking' note, no campsite closure for this unit. COUNT: 18 GIS PTS for the facility -> 13 ingested; 4 DeCamps Island sites HELD (DEC GIS note on ASSET_UID 18984: 'This Campsite Will Likely Be Retained, Others Will Have To Be Closed To Comply With Apslmp' -- current designation of the four unconfirmable) and Moss #2.5 (ASSET_UID 17005) EXCLUDED (DEC note 'An Unofficial Spread Of Campsite #2'). MEASURED GEOMETRY (OpenStreetMap, 2026-07-24): ~235 ft to the Moss Lake shoreline (OSM relation 8423657, 75 vertices), 283 ft to the nearest mapped foot trail, 621 ft to the nearest drivable road; access class 'hike-in'. No OSM camp_site nodes in the unit bbox, so DEC point geometry is the sole coordinate source. Plus DEC State Land Camping Rules (dec.ny.gov/things-to-do/camping/state-land-rules): designated-site + 150-foot rule, free Forest Ranger permit for stays over 3 nights or 10+ people. Ingest 2026-07-24.

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.

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 →