Agency-listedNY DECFree
Mud Lake (Ferris Lake Wild Forest)
Drive-up · New York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation · NY · 43.29236, -74.79512
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 →New York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation lists this site. Someone from the agency inventoried it, so it is a real camp — not a spot we guessed at. What changes is conditions — roads, gates, closures, fire rules. Check those with the unit before you commit to the drive.
FREE primitive camping. DEC-designated primitive tent site ('Mud Lake') in the Ferris Lake Wild Forest, part of New York's Adirondack Forest Preserve, in the southern Adirondacks in Fulton, Hamilton and Herkimer County (DEC Region 5, near Stratford, Caroga and Arietta). New York's Forest Preserve allows backcountry camping at these designated sites at NO CHARGE (the DEC unit page lists the fee as 'Free'), first-come/first-served -- these backcountry sites cannot be reserved. A FREE New York State Forest Ranger permit is required ONLY if you stay more than 3 nights in one spot or camp in a group of 10 or more; otherwise no permit and no fee. Camp only at the marked site (look for the yellow 'Camp Here' disc). This is a primitive site: no hookups, no potable water, pack out all trash, follow Leave No Trace and the DEC fire rules. This site is named for a pond/lake/creek, so it may require a short hike or a paddle to reach; confirm access on the DEC unit page. Rules and site status change -- confirm with the DEC unit page (dec.ny.gov/places/ferris-lake-wild-forest) or a regional DEC office before you go; we have not visited.
USGS topo — contours & terrain
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Weather outlook — at Mud Lake (Ferris Lake Wild Forest)
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 1,803 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Mud Lake (Ferris Lake Wild Forest)NIFC · 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 Mud Lake (Ferris Lake Wild Forest) · Ferris Lake Wild Forest · NY
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- HHardware13 mi
- FFuel13 mi
- GGrocery13 mi
- RxPharmacy13 mi
- @Mail13 mi
- EVEV fast charger19 mi
- DDump20 mi
- MMechanic21 mi
- +Urgent care21 mi
- ShShower23 mi
- AAir-up23 mi
- OOutfitter25 mi
- WWater25 mi
- LLaundry26 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water is a real 25-mi drive, fuel & food sit about 13 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 — Mud Lake (Ferris Lake Wild Forest)
Access
Drive-up
Land
New York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation
Elevation
1,803 ft
Ground slope
6.5% · gentle
State
NY
Coordinates
43.29236, -74.79512
Cost
Free
Nearby & resupply — around Mud Lake (Ferris Lake Wild Forest) · Ferris Lake Wild Forest · NY (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureMud Lake · under 0.1 mi · USGS: perennial lake or pond
- Nearest townBull Hill · ~6.1 mi
- Rail & highwaynone mapped within 10 mi
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- FuelStewart's · ~14.1 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- Dump station~20.1 mi
- GroceriesPrice Chopper · ~17.5 mi
- PharmacyKinney Drugs · ~13.0 mi
- Hospital / clinicLittle Falls Hospital · ~17.4 mi
- HardwareTruValue · ~20.8 mi
EV charging — from Mud Lake (Ferris Lake Wild Forest) · Ferris Lake Wild Forest · NY — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger19.0 mi straight-line S — Iroquois Travel Plaza, Little Falls, NY (at a rest stop) · APPLEGREEN · CHAdeMO, CCS, NACS (Tesla) · 4 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-03-12 · hours: 24 Hours Daily · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach8 within 25 mi · 39 within 50 · 260 within 100 · 681 within 150
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)17.7 mi — SWTCH Energy Inc., Little Falls, NY (at a parking lot) · SWTCH · J1772 · 2 Level 2 ports listed · listed open, no confirmation date on the record · hours: 24 hours daily
- Pricing at the fast charger$0.64 per kWh (as listed by AFDC)
- 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 320691 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Mud Lake (Ferris Lake Wild Forest) · Ferris Lake Wild Forest · NY — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Highway rest areaIndian Castle Travel Plaza EB · ~19.0 mi S
- Highway rest areaIroquois Travel Plaza WB · ~19.1 mi S
- Highway rest areaSchuyler Travel Plaza WB · ~21.5 mi SW
Coming out here — Mud Lake (Ferris Lake Wild Forest) · Ferris Lake Wild Forest · NY
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Mud 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 Mud Lake (Ferris Lake Wild Forest) elsewhere
Other camps near Mud Lake (Ferris Lake Wild Forest)
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Jerseyfield Rd #2 (Ferris Lake Wild Forest)~1.5 mi
- Jerseyfield Rd #1 (Ferris Lake Wild Forest)~2.0 mi
- Powley Rd Roadside Campsite (Ferris Lake Wild Forest)~6.6 mi
- Powley Rd Roadside Campsite (Ferris Lake Wild Forest)~6.6 mi
The unit that manages Mud Lake (Ferris Lake Wild Forest)
Mud Lake is in Ferris Lake 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 — Mud Lake (Ferris Lake Wild Forest)
Permit
Forest Ranger permit needed for stays over 3 nights or groups of 10 or more
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 6309, ASSET='PRIMITIVE TENT SITE', PUBLICUSE='Y', FACILITY='Ferris Lake Wild Forest'; coordinate is DEC's own point geometry (WGS84), pulled 2026-07-22 via the layer's /find endpoint (the /query path is WAF-blocked). FREE confirmed by DEC's own place page (dec.ny.gov/places/ferris-lake-wild-forest, read 2026-07-22): Fee='Free', '97 designated primitive campsites', 'Camping for more than three nights or in a group of ten or more requires a permit from a Forest Ranger' (the standard FREE NYS Forest Ranger backcountry permit); and DEC State Land Camping Rules (dec.ny.gov/things-to-do/camping/state-land-rules): backcountry/primitive camping allowed on Adirondack Forest Preserve, first-come, cannot be reserved. Ingest 2026-07-22.
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
On the agency's books. The land manager inventoried this site, so its existence is not in question — current conditions are. Nobody from here has camped it recently.
What we don’t know about Mud Lake (Ferris Lake 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
Before you go — Mud Lake (Ferris Lake Wild Forest)
Camping near a reservoir →Finding water out here →Cold-weather camping →First-night troubleshooting →All field notes →