Pine Hill West Branch Trail Primitive Campsite [DEC #228721] (Big Indian Wilderness)
Drive-up · New York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation · NY · 42.08499, -74.49452
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 first-come primitive camping at the Pine Hill West Branch Trail Primitive Campsite, a DEC-designated tent site along the Pine Hill - West Branch Trail toward the northern (Pine Hill / Big Indian) end of the wilderness in the Big Indian Wilderness (Ulster County, central Catskill Park, DEC Region 3). New York provides it at NO CHARGE: the DEC page lists the unit as 'Free' and open year-round, and says designated campsites are 'marked with a yellow "Camp Here" disc' (plus at-large primitive camping is allowed). This is a remote backcountry site reached on foot from a free DEC trailhead -- no reservation, no fee, and no facilities (no hookups, no showers, no potable water). CONFIDENCE / RULES NOTE -- please read: this is MEDIUM confidence. The DEC page confirms designated marked sites exist and at-large camping is allowed but does NOT publish a count of the tent sites, so treat this as an established, DEC-mapped designated site rather than a certified specific one; on the ground, camp only where you see a round yellow DEC 'Camp Here' disc, and keep any at-large camp at least 150 feet from the trail, road, or water. 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 New Paltz Office at (845) 256-3076 (Forest Rangers via 911 or 1-833-NYS-RANGERS / 1-833-697-7264)). Bring or treat all water, 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 Catskill access and conditions vary by season and trail/lean-to status can change (a Rider Hollow lean-to was recently removed) -- confirm current conditions and this site's status on the DEC page (dec.ny.gov/places/big-indian-wilderness) or with the DEC Region 3 office (845-256-3076) before you go; we have not visited.
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 228721, NAME verbatim 'Pine Hill West Branch Trail Primitive Campsite', ASSET='PRIMITIVE TENT SITE', PUBLICUSE='Y', ACCESSIBLE='N', FACILITY='Big Indian Wilderness', DEC Region 3, WMU 3A. DESCRIP=''; NOTES=''. Coordinate is DEC's own point geometry (WGS84), pulled 2026-07-26 via the layer's /query endpoint (outSR=4326, one paced curl request -- the DEC GIS host rate-blocks bursts). FREE confirmed on dec.ny.gov/places/big-indian-wilderness (Big Indian Wilderness, read 2026-07-26): 'Fee: Free', open year-round, Towns of Denning, Shandaken and Hardenburgh, Ulster County, DEC Region 3 New Paltz Office (845) 256-3076; the page states 'There are five lean-tos located trailside throughout the area... Other designated campsites are marked with a yellow "Camp Here" disc. In addition, primitive camping is allowed. Campsites must be at least 150 feet away from the nearest road, trail, or body of water. Camping for more than three nights or in groups of ten or more requires a permit from a Forest Ranger.' CONFIDENCE (MED): the page COUNTS the lean-tos (five) but does NOT enumerate a count of the designated tent/primitive campsites, so this is the COUNT-only / at-large basis (Blue Mountain / Slide Mountain / Sargent Ponds / Willowemoc lesson) -- the point is an established DEC-designated tent site but cannot be certified 1:1 against a page slot, so it ships at the honest MEDIUM floor, not HIGH. IDENTITY/LOCATION CORROBORATION: no OSM camp_site node exists for either site (an Overpass sweep of both site areas returned zero tourism=camp_site/wilderness_hut nodes); corroboration is the named OSM way 290539470 'Pine Hill - West Branch Trail' (the long N-S trail through the wilderness), which runs ~477 ft from this point (`out geom`, overpass.kumi.systems, 2026-07-26); the DEC NAME matches the geography (Biscuit Brook drainage / Pine Hill-West Branch Trail namesake). ELEVATION ~3032 ft (USGS EPQS, 2026-07-26) -- below the 3,500-ft Catskill camping ban; no elevation restriction applies. PAID-NEIGHBOUR (guardrail 2): DEC's Woodland Valley and Kenneth L. Wilson developed fee campgrounds are separate facilities several miles away; access is via free DEC trailheads, so no access/day-use/permit fee attaches to this backcountry site. NOTE: a page banner (read 2026-07-25/26) reports the Rider Hollow lean-to removed for structural damage -- a lean-to, not this tent site, but confirm current conditions. LEGALITY (guardrail 1): DEC-designated, publicly-usable, first-come, no-reservation, per DEC State Land Camping Rules (dec.ny.gov/things-to-do/camping/state-land-rules). Ingest 2026-07-26.
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
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.
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 →
![USGS topographic map of Pine Hill West Branch Trail Primitive Campsite [DEC #228721] (Big Indian Wilderness)](img/pine-hill-west-branch-trail-primitive-campsite-d-ny-42085n74495w-topo.png)
![Aerial image of Pine Hill West Branch Trail Primitive Campsite [DEC #228721] (Big Indian Wilderness)](img/pine-hill-west-branch-trail-primitive-campsite-d-ny-42085n74495w-aerial.jpg)