Found · unverifiedNY DECFree

Round Lake Campsite #10 (Round Lake Wilderness)

Drive-up · New York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation · NY · 44.06348, -74.59705
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 backcountry primitive camping (WATER-ACCESS -- this is Round Lake canoe country: most designated sites line the Round Lake / Little Tupper shoreline and are reached by paddle from the Round Lake waterway access site into the Little Tupper Lake outlet, not drive-up). DEC-designated primitive tent site ('Round Lake Campsite #10') in the Round Lake Wilderness, part of New York's Adirondack Forest Preserve, in the central Adirondacks in Hamilton County (Town of Long Lake; DEC Region 5), the Round Lake / Little Tupper Lake canoe country. New York's Forest Preserve allows backcountry camping at these designated sites at NO CHARGE (the DEC unit page lists the fee as 'Free'), first-come/first-served -- these backcountry sites cannot be reserved. Camping for more than 3 nights in one spot requires a FREE New York State Forest Ranger permit; the overnight group size may be up to nine people in the Round Lake Wilderness (the place page's stricter local cap; a free permit is otherwise the statewide rule for groups of 10 or more). Arrange any permit in advance through the local DEC Region 5 Forest Ranger at (518) 828-0236. Camp only at the marked site (look for the yellow 'Camp Here' disc). This is a primitive site: no hookups, no potable water, pack out all trash, follow Leave No Trace and the DEC fire rules. This particular site is a paddle-in shoreline site on Round Lake -- reached by canoe/kayak from the Round Lake waterway access site into the Little Tupper Lake outlet (not drive-up); confirm the launch, route and distance on the DEC unit page / DECinfo Locator. Rules and site status change -- confirm with the DEC unit page (dec.ny.gov/places/william-c-whitney-wilderness-and-round-lake-wilderness) or a regional DEC office before you go; we have not visited.

USGS topo — contours & terrain
USGS topographic map of Round Lake Campsite #10 (Round Lake Wilderness)
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Aerial image of Round Lake Campsite #10 (Round Lake Wilderness)
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Weather outlook
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Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 1,719 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

15 MI30 MI60 MIYOUR CAMPN ↑Water · 19 miWDump · 20 miDKickerville Station · Fuel · 10 miFNorthen Borne · Grocery · 11 miGKinney Drugs · Pharmacy · 14 miRxAubuchon Hardware · Hardware · 13 miHLuke’s Tire and Auto Repair · Mechanic · 13 miMLaundry · 23 miLShower · 19 miShUrgent care · 11 mi+Raquette River Outfitters · Outfitter · 11 miOMail · 11 mi@
Straight-line miles · bearings approx · roads run longer
Nearest of each
  • FFuel10 mi
  • GGrocery11 mi
  • @Mail11 mi
  • +Urgent care11 mi
  • OOutfitter11 mi
  • HHardware13 mi
  • MMechanic13 mi
  • RxPharmacy14 mi
  • ShShower19 mi
  • WWater19 mi
  • DDump20 mi
  • LLaundry23 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water

The read: water's a short hop out, fuel & food sit about 10 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
1,719 ft
State
NY
Coordinates
44.06348, -74.59705
Cost
Free

Nearby & resupply (OpenStreetMap)

  • Water featureRound Lake (water) · nearby
  • Nearest townHorseshoe · ~5.2 mi
  • Drinking waternone within 10 mi
  • FuelKickerville Station · ~10.0 mi
  • Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
  • Dump stationDump station · ~19.8 mi
  • GroceriesNorthen Borne · ~10.7 mi
  • PharmacyKinney Drugs · ~13.5 mi
  • Hospital / clinicCamp Massawepie Health Lodge · ~14.2 mi
  • HardwareSturdy Supply & Rental · ~29.5 mi

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

Open this spot elsewhere

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 6196, ASSET='PRIMITIVE TENT SITE', PUBLICUSE='Y', FACILITY='Round Lake Wilderness'; coordinate is DEC's own point geometry (WGS84), pulled 2026-07-23 via the layer's /find endpoint (the /query path is WAF-blocked). FREE confirmed by DEC's own place page (dec.ny.gov/places/william-c-whitney-wilderness-and-round-lake-wilderness, read 2026-07-23): Fee='Free', '11 designated primitive tent sites in the Round Lake Wilderness', 'All designated primitive tents sites and lean-tos are available on a first come - first served basis and cannot be reserved'; and DEC State Land Camping Rules (dec.ny.gov/things-to-do/camping/state-land-rules): backcountry/primitive camping allowed on Adirondack Forest Preserve, a free permit only for >3 nights or groups of 10+, issued free of charge by the local DEC Region 5 Forest Ranger at (518) 828-0236. NOTE: the GIS also tags 3 'Bog River Primitive Campsite' points to this FACILITY, but the place page counts only the 11 Round Lake sites and lists the Bog River Complex separately, so those 3 are deliberately NOT ingested here. Ingest 2026-07-23.
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.

Before you go

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 →