Found · unverifiedNY DECFree

Phoenicia East Branch Trail primitive tent site [DEC #228996] (Slide Mountain Wilderness)

Drive-up · New York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation · NY · 41.99404, -74.41984

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 first-come primitive tent camping at the Phoenicia East Branch Trail primitive tent site, a DEC-mapped primitive tent site on the Phoenicia-East Branch Trail 21 ft in the Slide Mountain Wilderness (Ulster County, the high Catskills, DEC Region 3). New York provides it at NO CHARGE: the DEC Slide Mountain Wilderness page lists the unit as 'Free' and open year-round, and confirms 'at large primitive camping is allowed' alongside its 24 designated primitive campsites and 3 lean-tos. This is one of DEC's mapped tent sites, a trailside forest site (nearest water about 706 feet away) (measured against OpenStreetMap). This is a Phoenicia-East Branch Trail site at about 3,070 feet -- below the Catskill 3,500-foot limit, but do not move uphill to camp (no camping or fires above 3,500 feet, year-round). Water is well away, so carry in or treat what you find. CONFIDENCE / RULES NOTE -- please read: this is MEDIUM confidence. The DEC page says the unit has 24 designated primitive campsites but does not publish which of DEC's 23 mapped tent-site points those are -- so treat this spot as an established DEC-mapped tent site rather than a certified designated one. Away from a marked designated site, New York's rule is to camp at least 150 feet from any road, trail, or water; on the ground, use the established/hardened tent pad and look for a round yellow DEC 'Camp Here' disc, and if the spot is not marked, move back 150+ feet from the water and trail. CATSKILL 3,500-FOOT RULE: camping and fires are prohibited above 3,500 feet in the Catskills at any time of year -- this site is around 3072 feet, below that line, but do not move uphill to camp. These are FREE, first-come sites -- no reservation, no fee, no facilities (no hookups, no showers, no potable water); this is NOT a reservable DEC fee campground (Woodland Valley and Kenneth L. Wilson are separate developed fee campgrounds over a mile away). 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 3 Office in New Paltz at (845) 256-3076 (Forest Rangers via 911 or 1-833-NYS-RANGERS / 1-833-697-7264)). Bring water or treat what you take from 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). SEASON / ACCESS: DEC lists the unit as open year-round, but these are steep high-Catskill trails that can be icy, muddy, washed or snow-covered much of the year -- confirm current conditions and this specific site's status on the DEC page (dec.ny.gov/places/slide-mountain-wilderness) or with the DEC Region 3 New Paltz office (845-256-3076) before you go; we have not visited.

USGS topo — contours & terrain

USGS topographic map of Phoenicia East Branch Trail primitive tent site [DEC #228996] (Slide Mountain Wilderness)

Aerial — USGS / NAIP

Aerial image of Phoenicia East Branch Trail primitive tent site [DEC #228996] (Slide Mountain Wilderness)

Weather outlook

Loading the latest forecast…

Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 3,072 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

DDump4 mi
WWater4 mi
@Mail8 mi
FFuel8 mi
GGrocery8 mi
RxPharmacy8 mi
MMechanic8 mi
AAir-up8 mi
+Urgent care8 mi
OOutfitter9 mi
LLaundry10 mi
ShShower10 mi
HHardware13 mi
PPropane60 mi

≤30 mi30–4545+water

The read: water is basically at camp, fuel & food sit about 8 mi out.

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

3,072 ft

State

Coordinates

41.99404, -74.41984

Cost

Free

Nearby & resupply (OpenStreetMap)

Water featureDeer Shanty Brook (stream) · nearby
Nearest townBranch · ~2.6 mi
Drinking waterDrinking water · ~4.3 mi
FuelCitgo · ~12.3 mi
Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
Dump stationDump station · ~4.2 mi
GroceriesBoiceville Market · ~7.9 mi
PharmacyNekos Boiceville Pharmacy · ~7.9 mi
Hospital / clinicMargaretville Hospital · ~15.5 mi
HardwareVillage Hardware · ~18.3 mi

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

Highway rest areaUlster Travel Plaza · ~21.6 mi E
Highway rest areaParking/Rest Area · ~22.8 mi E
Highway rest areaRoscoe · ~23.3 mi W
Highway rest areaParking/Rest Area · ~24.9 mi E

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 228996, NAME verbatim 'Phoenicia East Branch Trail primitive tent site', ASSET='PRIMITIVE TENT SITE', PUBLICUSE='Y', ACCESSIBLE='N', FACILITY='Slide Mountain Wilderness', DEC Region 3 (New Paltz). 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/slide-mountain-wilderness (Slide Mountain Wilderness, read 2026-07-25): 'Fee: Free', open year-round; Ulster County; DEC Region 3 New Paltz (845) 256-3076. COUNT/CONFIDENCE (MED): the DEC page states 'There are 24 designated primitive campsites and 3 lean-tos in the Slide Mountain Wilderness ... at large primitive camping is allowed.' DEC's GIS maps 23 named primitive-tent-site points for the unit but the page does NOT enumerate which are designated, so this site 'Phoenicia East Branch Trail primitive tent site' ships MED (real DEC-mapped PUBLICUSE tent site, camping allowed unit-wide, but NOT certifiable as one of the 24 designated -- honest floor, not HIGH). IDENTITY/LOCATION CORROBORATION: measured against OpenStreetMap this point is a trailside forest site (nearest water about 706 feet away); nearest trail is the Phoenicia-East Branch Trail 21 ft (OSM `out geom`, overpass.kumi.systems, 2026-07-25, point-to-nearest-vertex). CLUSTER: Phoenicia-East Branch Trail single (~3,072 ft, below the 3,500-ft Catskill ban). ELEVATION ~3072 ft (USGS EPQS, 2026-07-25); the Catskill 3,500-ft camping ban applies unit-wide and every one of the 23 GIS points is below it (highest = Burroughs #7 at 3,466 ft) -- ZERO elevation kills this unit. ACCESS-COST CHECK (guardrail 2): NY has no statewide access pass; no day-use/parking/permit fee on the unit page; the Woodland Valley and Kenneth L. Wilson DEC campgrounds are separate developed FEE facilities >1 mi off (no site within 1 mi of Woodland Valley). LEGALITY (guardrail 1): DEC-mapped, publicly-usable primitive tent site (PUBLICUSE='Y') in a Wilderness where the page confirms both designated and at-large primitive camping are allowed; legality rests on DEC-mapped established-site (Windham-Blackhead basis), not per-site designation. No closure posted for the unit (checked 2026-07-25). Plus DEC State Land Camping Rules (dec.ny.gov/things-to-do/camping/state-land-rules): camp 150+ ft from road/trail/water unless at a marked designated site; free Forest Ranger permit for stays over 3 nights or groups of 10+; NO camping or fires above 3,500 ft in the Catskills. 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 →