Found · unverifiedNY DECFree

Peaked Hill Pond Tentsite [DEC #18355] (Hammond Pond Wild Forest)

Drive-up · New York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation · NY · 43.90467, -73.68621

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 tent camping at the Peaked Hill Pond Tentsite, a DEC-mapped primitive tent site by Peaked Hill Pond in the Hammond Pond Wild Forest (Essex County, Adirondack foothills, DEC Region 5). New York provides it at NO CHARGE: the DEC Hammond Pond Wild Forest page lists the unit as 'Free' and open year-round, and says 'numerous undesignated tent sites are available on a first come - first served basis and cannot be reserved.' This is one of DEC's mapped tent sites, about 197 feet from Peaked Hill Pond (measured against OpenStreetMap; nearest the Peaked Hill foot trail 82 ft (no road within 0.37 mi)). CONFIDENCE / RULES NOTE -- please read: this is MEDIUM confidence. The DEC page formally DESIGNATES only one primitive tent site in the whole unit (the Boquet River site near Split Rock Falls); this spot is one of the UNDESIGNATED, DEC-mapped first-come tent sites, so treat it as an established primitive site rather than a guaranteed marked one. Away from a designated site, New York's rule is to camp at least 150 feet from any road, trail, or water -- several of these lakeside tent sites sit closer than that to the water, so on the ground use the established/hardened tent pad and look for a round yellow DEC 'Camp Here' disc; if the spot is not a marked designated site, move back 150+ feet from the water. These are FREE, first-come sites -- no reservation, no fee, no registration, and no facilities (no hookups, no showers, no potable water); this is NOT a reservable DEC fee campground. 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 5 Office in Ray Brook at (518) 897-1300 (Forest Rangers via 911 or DEC dispatch 1-833-NYS-RANGERS)); hunters may get a full-hunting-season camping permit from the local Forest Ranger; no temporary-camping permit is issued to anyone under 18. Bring water or treat what you take from the pond or a stream, pack out all trash, follow Leave No Trace and the DEC fire rules, and store food from bears (this is black-bear country). This site is around 1162 feet elevation. SEASON / ACCESS: DEC lists the unit as open year-round, but the trails and access roads can be muddy, washed or snow-covered off-season -- confirm current conditions and this specific site's status on the DEC page (dec.ny.gov/places/hammond-pond-wild-forest) or with the DEC Region 5 Ray Brook office (518-897-1300) before you go; we have not visited.

USGS topo — contours & terrain

USGS topographic map of Peaked Hill Pond Tentsite [DEC #18355] (Hammond Pond Wild Forest)

Aerial — USGS / NAIP

Aerial image of Peaked Hill Pond Tentsite [DEC #18355] (Hammond Pond Wild Forest)

Weather outlook

Loading the latest forecast…

Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 1,162 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

FFuel4 mi
GGrocery4 mi
WWater4 mi
HHardware5 mi
@Mail6 mi
LLaundry6 mi
ShShower7 mi
DDump7 mi
+Urgent care13 mi
MMechanic13 mi
OOutfitter14 mi
RxPharmacy15 mi
AAir-up42 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

1,162 ft

State

Coordinates

43.90467, -73.68621

Cost

Free

Nearby & resupply (OpenStreetMap)

Water featurePeaked Hill Pond (water) · nearby
Nearest townParadox · ~2.2 mi
Drinking waterDrinking water · ~4.3 mi
FuelHap's · ~13.1 mi
Propane / LPGAmeriGas · ~14.9 mi
Dump stationDump station · ~7.3 mi
GroceriesTops · ~6.0 mi
PharmacyMoriah Pharmacy · ~15.0 mi
Hospital / clinicElizabethtown Community Hospital - Ticonderoga · ~13.0 mi
HardwareCurtis Lumber Co., Inc. · ~5.1 mi

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

Highway rest areaHigh Peaks (North) · ~7.6 mi N
Highway rest areaHigh Peaks (South) · ~7.8 mi N
Highway rest areaFair Haven Welcome Center · ~29.5 mi SE

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

Likely — The record is good enough to put a pin on, but thin in places. Treat the details as a starting point, not gospel.

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 18355, NAME verbatim 'Peaked Hill Pond Tentsite', ASSET='PRIMITIVE TENT SITE', PUBLICUSE='Y', ACCESSIBLE='N', FACILITY='Hammond Pond Wild Forest', DEC Region 5 (Ray Brook). DESCRIP=''; NOTES=''. Coordinate is DEC's own point geometry (WGS84), pulled 2026-07-25 via the layer's /query endpoint (outSR=4326). FREE confirmed on dec.ny.gov/places/hammond-pond-wild-forest (Hammond Pond Wild Forest, read 2026-07-25): 'Fee: Free', open year-round; Essex County; DEC Region 5 Ray Brook (518) 897-1300. COUNT/CONFIDENCE (MED): the DEC page states 'There is only one designated primitive tent site at this time' (the Boquet River site upstream of Split Rock Falls) plus 'numerous undesignated tent sites ... available on a first come - first served basis.' DEC's GIS maps 13 named primitive-tent-site points for the unit; this site, 'Peaked Hill Pond Tentsite', is one of the UNDESIGNATED tent sites -- DEC-mapped and PUBLICUSE='Y' but NOT individually designated on the unit page, so MED not HIGH. IDENTITY/LOCATION CORROBORATION: measured against OpenStreetMap, this point is about 197 feet from Peaked Hill Pond (OSM-named 'Peaked Hill Pond'), matching the DEC site name; nearest the Peaked Hill foot trail 82 ft (no road within 0.37 mi) (OSM `out geom`, maps.mail.ru/kumi.systems overpass mirror, 2026-07-25, point-to-nearest-vertex). ACCESS-COST CHECK (guardrail 2): NY has no statewide access pass and the page names no day-use, parking or permit fee; this is a free primitive tent site, NOT a reservable DEC fee campground (the developed DEC fee campgrounds in the region -- Paradox Lake, Lincoln Pond, Putnam Pond, Sharp Bridge, Eagle Point -- are separate facilities on other waters). LEGALITY (guardrail 1): a DEC-mapped, publicly-usable primitive tent site (PUBLICUSE='Y') in a Wild Forest where the unit page confirms first-come undesignated tent camping is allowed; legality rests on this being a DEC-mapped established camping location (Windham-Blackhead basis), not on per-site designation. No closure/alert posted for the unit (checked 2026-07-25). ELEVATION ~1162 ft (USGS EPQS, 2026-07-25); Adirondack foothills, so the Catskill/High-Peaks 3,500-ft camping ban does not apply. Plus DEC State Land Camping Rules (dec.ny.gov/things-to-do/camping/state-land-rules): free Forest Ranger permit for stays over 3 nights or groups of 10+, hunters may obtain a full-season permit from the local Forest Ranger, no temporary-camping permit for anyone under 18. Ingest 2026-07-25.

Field check

Not verified on the ground. Nobody from here has camped it. It stays at Likely 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 →