Agency-listedUSFSFree
Ranger Cabins
Drive-up · U.S. Forest Service · NY · 42.01307, -78.82988
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 →U.S. Forest Service lists this site. On most of their ground you can camp away from developed sites pretty much anywhere — so treat this as a known-good spot, not the only one allowed. The unit sets stay limits and how far off road and water you must be. What changes is conditions — roads, gates, closures, fire rules. Check those with the unit before you commit to the drive.
Nearest road on the Forest Service MVUM — Ranger Cabins · U.S. Forest Service · NY
No MVUM road within 1 mi of the pin; access may be a county road or unmapped.
From the Forest Service's own Motor Vehicle Use Map roads layer (EDW, Clearinghouse refresh Aug 30, 2026), straight-line from the pin to the nearest mapped segment. The nearest segment is not necessarily the way in, a maintenance level is the agency's class and not a report on today, and a road's season is the road's — it is not a campground order. What the levels mean → What an MVUM is →
What the record says about the site — Ranger Cabins · U.S. Forest Service · NY
- Reservation required
- No tent camping
- No trailers or RVs
- Toilet on site
- No showers
From the OpenStreetMap contributors listing for this site — their words, not our visit. Records go stale; treat it as a starting point and confirm anything your trip depends on.
USGS topo — contours & terrain
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Weather outlook — at Ranger Cabins
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 1,502 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Ranger CabinsNIFC · 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 Ranger Cabins · U.S. Forest Service · NY
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- WWater0 mi
- DDump2 mi
- FFuel6 mi
- LLaundry7 mi
- ShShower7 mi
- PPropane9 mi
- GGrocery9 mi
- AAir-up9 mi
- HHardware10 mi
- MMechanic10 mi
- +Urgent care10 mi
- @Mail10 mi
- RxPharmacy10 mi
- OOutfitter10 mi
- EVEV fast charger11 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water is basically at camp, fuel & food sit about 6 mi out.
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 — Ranger Cabins
Access
Drive-up
Land
U.S. Forest Service
Elevation
1,502 ft
Ground slope
9.5% · noticeable
Nearest rail line
~6.9 mi · main line
Nearest highway
~6.0 mi · Interstate 86
State
NY
Coordinates
42.01307, -78.82988
Cost
Free · dispersed public land, no fee in any source
Nearby & resupply — around Ranger Cabins · U.S. Forest Service · NY (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureQuaker Run · ~0.1 mi · USGS: perennial stream
- Also mapped (OSM)English Creek (stream) · mapped within 1.6 mi
- Nearest townStickney · ~3.7 mi
- Nearest rail line~6.9 mi · main line
- Nearest highway~6.0 mi · Interstate 86
- Drinking waterDrinking water · ~0.0 mi
- FuelExxon · ~10.2 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- Dump station~1.9 mi
- GroceriesRed House General Store · ~6.9 mi
- PharmacyGNC Vitamins · ~19.1 mi
- Hospital / clinicBradford Regional Medical Center · ~9.5 mi
- HardwareAce Hardware · ~9.5 mi
EV charging — from Ranger Cabins · U.S. Forest Service · NY — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger10.6 mi straight-line NE — Salamanca, NY - Tesla Supercharger (at a hotel) · Tesla · NACS (Tesla) · 8 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-06-18 · hours: 24 hours daily. Open to Teslas only. · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach10 within 25 mi · 32 within 50 · 188 within 100 · 465 within 150
- Nearest listing CCS19.5 mi — EVolve NY Olean, Olean
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO19.5 mi — EVolve NY Olean, Olean
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)11.8 mi — Salamanca City Hall (at a municipal building) · Non-Networked · J1772 · 1 Level 2 port listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2024-03-14 · hours: 24 hours daily
- Pricing at the fast chargernot listed
- 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 117729 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Ranger Cabins · U.S. Forest Service · NY — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Flush restroomWillow Bay Rec Area · ~4.8 mi W · USFS
- Flush restroomTracy Ridge Rec Area · ~5.4 mi SW · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletHooks Brook Boat To · ~6.8 mi SW · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletWebbs Ferry Boat Launch · ~6.9 mi W · USFS
Coming out here — Ranger Cabins · U.S. Forest Service · NY
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Quaker Run as a perennial stream, ~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 9.5% — noticeable. 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.
- Rail line mapped ~6.9 mi from the pin — the national rail atlas classes it as a main line. That is the FRA/BTS North American Rail Network (data updated Jul 21, 2026), which records that a line is there and what class of track it is. Whether anything runs on it, how often, and at what hour, it does not say, and nobody has checked this one for you.
- Interstate 86 is mapped ~6.0 mi from the pin. Straight-line, from the Census's TIGER/Line primary roads (TIGER/Line 2025, released Oct 2025) — the divided, limited-access highways, which is why a state expressway or a two-lane US route near this camp would not appear here.
- 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 Ranger Cabins elsewhere
Other camps near Ranger Cabins
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Willow Bay Rec Area~4.8 mi · fee
- Tracy Ridge Rec Area~5.4 mi · fee
- Nct-Tracy Run North Shelter~5.7 mi
- Hooks Brook Boat To~6.8 mi · fee
Who holds the land at Ranger Cabins
USGS’s Protected Areas Database (PAD-US 4.1, queried 2026-09-23) lists the ground at this pin as Allegany State Park, manager on record: NYS Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation (state). Our own record names USFS as the manager. The two sources disagree, and we have not checked which is right. That names who holds the land — it is not a statement that camping is permitted here.
How we know this — Ranger Cabins
Source
OpenStreetMap contributors
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
auto: drive (road/trail right there)
Site details
The OpenStreetMap contributors listing's own fields for this site (site type, whether tents or trailers fit, capacity, toilet, water, campfires, reservations). Printed as the record states them, unchecked by us, and never used to make a cost claim -- the cost verdict above is decided separately and audited before every deploy.
Nearest MVUM road
US Forest Service Motor Vehicle Use Map roads layer (EDW_MVUM_01, layer 1), Clearinghouse refresh Aug 30, 2026. Straight-line distance from the pin to the nearest mapped segment within 1 mi; surface type, maintenance level and open dates are the agency's own values for that segment, expanded from its codes and otherwise unedited. Nothing here says which road reaches the site.
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 Ranger Cabins
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 — Ranger Cabins
Finding water out here →What “dispersed” means here →Cold-weather camping →How to read this page →All field notes →