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Rock Pond Campsite (Siamese Ponds Wilderness)

Drive-up · New York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation · NY · 43.62940, -74.29866
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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 primitive camping in the 114,010-acre Siamese Ponds Wilderness, part of New York's Adirondack Forest Preserve, in the east-central Adirondacks between Indian Lake and North Creek -- Towns of Johnsburg and Thurman in Warren County and Towns of Indian Lake, Lake Pleasant and Wells in Hamilton County (DEC Region 5), reached from NY 8, NY 30 and the Thirteenth Lake / Old Farm Clearing roads off NY 28. DEC-designated primitive tent site ('Rock Pond Campsite'). New York provides these designated primitive tent sites at NO CHARGE (the DEC unit page lists the fee as 'Free'); sites are first-come and cannot be reserved. This is a HIKE-IN backcountry site. DEC's page routes it from the John Mack trailhead or the Cisco Brook trailhead via the John Mack Pond and Long Pond Trails. For orientation, the nearest DEC-published trailhead or parking coordinate is the Cisco Brook trailhead at the end of Elm Lake Road, about 1.8 miles away in a straight line -- trail mileage will be longer. ONE ACCESS COST TO KNOW ABOUT (the camping itself is still free): DEC's page routes this site from EITHER the John Mack trailhead, which sits on the Indian Lake shoreline and is reached by boat from the DEC Indian Lake boat launch, OR the Cisco Brook trailhead at the end of Elm Lake Road, which you drive to. The Indian Lake boat launch charges a launch fee while the Indian Lake Islands Campground is open (roughly the weekend before Memorial Day through Columbus Day weekend) and is free the rest of the year -- so if you want to spend nothing at all, walk in from Cisco Brook. PERMITS: a free New York State Forest Ranger permit is required for any stay of more than three nights at one spot, or for a group of ten or more (the DEC unit page sets no stricter local threshold, so the statewide rule governs). Arrange any permit in advance through the DEC Region 5 Warrensburg Office at 518-623-1200 (Mon-Fri, 8:30 to 4:45). Camp only at the marked site (look for the yellow 'Camp Here' disc) -- elsewhere on the Forest Preserve, camping is prohibited within 150 feet of any road, trail, spring, stream, pond or other water. These are primitive sites: typically just a fire ring, no hookups and no potable water, and designated TENT sites are for tents only. Pack out all trash, follow Leave No Trace and the DEC fire rules, and store food away from black bears. The unit is open year-round, but winter access is on ski or snowshoe and several stream crossings here have no bridge -- confirm current conditions, closures and this site's access with the DEC unit page (dec.ny.gov/places/siamese-ponds-wilderness) or the Warrensburg office before you go; we have not visited.

Can I go now? — Rock Pond Campsite (Siamese Ponds Wilderness) · New York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation · NY
Open today Year-round per the agency record.
New York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation record: “Year-round” Read against the calendar on 2026-09-17; with JavaScript your browser re-checks it against today.
USGS topo — contours & terrain
USGS topographic map of Rock Pond Campsite (Siamese Ponds Wilderness)
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Aerial image of Rock Pond Campsite (Siamese Ponds Wilderness)
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Weather outlook — at Rock Pond Campsite (Siamese Ponds Wilderness)
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 1,884 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Rock Pond Campsite (Siamese Ponds Wilderness)NIFC · 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 Rock Pond Campsite (Siamese Ponds Wilderness) · New York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation · NY

15 MI30 MI60 MIYOUR CAMPN ↑Water · 10 miWDump · 11 miDSpeculator Gas Station · Fuel · 10 miFCharlie Johns · Grocery · 9 miGRite Aid Pharmacy · Pharmacy · 16 miRxAce Hardware · Hardware · 26 miHThe Shop · Mechanic · 11 miMLaundromat · Laundry · 10 miLShower · 5 miShAir-up · 40 miAInfirmary · Urgent care · 10 mi+Cloud-Splitter Outfitters · Outfitter · 25 miOSpeculator Post Office · Mail · 9 mi@Indian Lake - Welcome Center · EV fast charger · 11 miEV
Straight-line miles · bearings approx · roads run longer
Nearest of each
  • ShShower5 mi
  • GGrocery9 mi
  • @Mail9 mi
  • FFuel10 mi
  • WWater10 mi
  • LLaundry10 mi
  • +Urgent care10 mi
  • MMechanic11 mi
  • EVEV fast charger11 mi
  • DDump11 mi
  • RxPharmacy16 mi
  • OOutfitter25 mi
  • HHardware26 mi
  • AAir-up40 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water

The read: water's a short hop out, fuel & food sit about 9 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); the EV fast charger from the US DOE station locator. Open in Google Maps ↗

The site — Rock Pond Campsite (Siamese Ponds Wilderness)

Access
Drive-up
Land
New York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation
Elevation
1,884 ft
State
NY
Coordinates
43.62940, -74.29866
Cost
Free

Nearby & resupply — around Rock Pond Campsite (Siamese Ponds Wilderness) · New York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation · NY (OpenStreetMap)

  • Water featureRock Pond (water) · nearby
  • Nearest townSabael · ~6.6 mi
  • Drinking waterDrinking water · ~5.0 mi
  • FuelStewart's · ~10.7 mi
  • Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
  • Dump station~10.8 mi
  • GroceriesCharlie Johns · ~9.3 mi
  • PharmacyRite Aid Pharmacy · ~16.3 mi
  • Hospital / clinicNorth Creek Health Center · ~16.1 mi
  • HardwareBraley Noxon Hardware · ~27.0 mi

EV charging — from Rock Pond Campsite (Siamese Ponds Wilderness) · New York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation · NY — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)

Nearby restrooms — around Rock Pond Campsite (Siamese Ponds Wilderness) · New York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation · NY — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)

Open Rock Pond Campsite (Siamese Ponds Wilderness) elsewhere

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Other camps near Rock Pond Campsite (Siamese Ponds Wilderness)

If this one is full, gated or washed out.

How we know this — Rock Pond Campsite (Siamese Ponds Wilderness)

Open season
Year-round
Permit
Free permit needed only for stays over 3 nights or groups of 10 or more
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 5519, ASSET='PRIMITIVE TENT SITE', PUBLICUSE='Y', FACILITY='Siamese Ponds Wilderness'; coordinate is DEC's own point geometry (WGS84), pulled 2026-07-23 via the layer's /find endpoint (honours sr=4326; /query returns projected UTM). FREE confirmed by DEC's own place page (dec.ny.gov/places/siamese-ponds-wilderness, read 2026-07-23): Fee='Free', 'Open for recreation: Year-round', "There are 39 primitive tent sites and four lean-tos located in the Siamese Pond Wilderness", all first-come and not reservable; plus DEC State Land Camping Rules (dec.ny.gov/things-to-do/camping/state-land-rules, re-read 2026-07-23): primitive camping is allowed on the Adirondack Forest Preserve (Wilderness is a category where it is allowed), with a free permit only for stays over 3 nights or groups of 10+, arranged via the DEC Region 5 Warrensburg Office at 518-623-1200 (Mon-Fri, 8:30 to 4:45). COUNT: GIS returns 42 records vs the page's stated 39 tent sites -- no foreign unit is dragged in (all 42 carry this FACILITY and Siamese-Ponds-region names); one record covers four sites ('13Th Lake Campsite 1, 11, 12, 13') and the page's prose list is not exhaustive. EXCLUDED as PAID: the 20 Indian Lake shoreline sites, which the page says are part of the DEC Indian Lake Islands Campground and require a paid reservation in season -- they are absent from this GIS layer (no 'Indian Lake' facility) and no site here is on that shoreline. Access classified as 'hike'; nearest DEC-published access point the Cisco Brook trailhead at the end of Elm Lake Road, 1.78 mi straight-line. Ingest 2026-07-23.
Season
Read from the agency's own season / closure text in this record (data/conditions.py) and checked against the calendar. The words we read are printed under the verdict at the top of the page.
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 Rock Pond Campsite (Siamese Ponds Wilderness)

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.

Before you go — Rock Pond Campsite (Siamese Ponds Wilderness)

Camping near a reservoir →Finding water out here →Cold-weather camping →Camping with a dog →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 →