Found · unverifiedNY DECFree

Pine Lake Primtive Tentsite [DEC #3630] (Pine Lake Primitive Area)

Drive-up · New York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation · NY · 43.84939, -74.24587

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: this is on the EASTERN shore of Pine Lake, reached on foot from the end of Chain Lakes Road South via a trail to the lake (the western-shore site is reserved for float-plane customers only and is not included here). It sits on Adirondack Forest Preserve in the Pine Lake Primitive Area (Essex Chain Lakes Complex, DEC Region 5). New York provides it at NO CHARGE -- the DEC page lists the unit as 'Fee: Free' and 'Open for recreation: Year-round'. Camping around the Essex Chain Lakes and nearby waters is allowed at DESIGNATED tent sites only, first-come, no reservations; no more than eight campers per site, and a free Forest-Ranger permit is required for stays over 3 nights. There are no hookups and no potable water at primitive sites -- bring or treat all water, pack out all trash, follow Leave No Trace and DEC fire rules, and store food from animals. This site is reached by a short hike from the end of Chain Lakes Road South. The town hopes you will stop in and spend a little locally while you are passing through. Rules and site status can change and we have not visited -- confirm current conditions on the DEC page (dec.ny.gov/places/essex-chain-lakes-complex) or with the DEC Region 5 office (Ray Brook) at (518) 897-1200 for the Adirondack units, or the DEC Region 5 Warrensburg sub-office / local Forest Ranger via (518) 897-1300; Forest Rangers in an emergency via 911 or 1-833-NYS-RANGERS (1-833-697-7264) before you go.

USGS topo — contours & terrain

USGS topographic map of Pine Lake Primtive Tentsite [DEC #3630] (Pine Lake Primitive Area)

Aerial — USGS / NAIP

Aerial image of Pine Lake Primtive Tentsite [DEC #3630] (Pine Lake Primitive Area)

Weather outlook

Loading the latest forecast…

Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 1,601 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

FFuel5 mi
@Mail5 mi
GGrocery5 mi
MMechanic5 mi
LLaundry5 mi
ShShower7 mi
OOutfitter10 mi
+Urgent care12 mi
RxPharmacy16 mi
DDump24 mi
HHardware24 mi
WWater25 mi
AAir-up50 mi

≤30 mi30–4545+water

The read: water is a real 25-mi drive, fuel & food sit about 5 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

1,601 ft

State

Coordinates

43.84939, -74.24587

Cost

Free

Nearby & resupply (OpenStreetMap)

Water featurePine Lake (water) · nearby
Nearest townIndian Lake · ~4.8 mi
Drinking waternone within 10 mi
FuelStewart's · ~4.7 mi
Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
Dump stationDump station · ~25.9 mi
GroceriesStewart's Shops · ~4.8 mi
PharmacyRite Aid Pharmacy · ~16.5 mi
Hospital / clinicNorth Creek Health Center · ~16.4 mi
HardwareCurtis Lumber Co., Inc. · ~24.4 mi

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

Highway rest areaHigh Peaks (North) · ~29.2 mi NE
Highway rest areaHigh Peaks (South) · ~29.3 mi NE

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 3630, GIS NAME verbatim 'Pine Lake Primtive Tentsite', ASSET='PRIMITIVE TENT SITE', PUBLICUSE='Y', ACCESSIBLE='N', FACILITY='Pine Lake Primitive Area'. DESCRIP=''; NOTES=''. Coordinate is DEC's own point geometry (WGS84), pulled 2026-07-26 via the layer's /query endpoint (outSR=4326, one paced bundled curl covering five facilities -- the DEC GIS host rate-blocks bursts). FREE confirmed on the DEC page dec.ny.gov/places/essex-chain-lakes-complex (Essex Chain Lakes Complex, read 2026-07-26): 'Fee: Free', 'Open for recreation: Year-round'. CONFIDENCE (HIGH): the DEC Essex Chain Lakes Complex page enumerates exactly two Pine Lake tent sites -- 'one on the western shore ... reserved for float plane customers only' and 'one on the eastern shore ... accessed by hiking the Chain Lakes Road South' -- GIS returns exactly two, and OSM independently maps a camp_site node 154 ft from this eastern point. LOCATION CORROBORATION: OSM node 5759412262 tourism=camp_site 154 ft away. ELEVATION ~1601 ft (USGS EPQS, 2026-07-26) -- an Adirondack Region 5 unit, far below any high-elevation camping restriction (the 3,500-ft Catskill ban does not apply). LAND/FEE (guardrail 2): Adirondack Forest Preserve (Wild Forest / Primitive Area) land; the only permit is a FREE Forest-Ranger permit for stays over 3 nights or groups of 10 or more. LEGALITY (guardrail 1): a DEC-DESIGNATED PUBLICUSE primitive tent site, camping explicitly allowed, per DEC State Land Camping Rules (dec.ny.gov/things-to-do/camping/state-land-rules). Ingest 2026-07-26.

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 →