★ Field-verified · Dave's ownPublic land · dispersedFree
Schuyler County
Drive-up · public land · Schuyler County, NY · 42.39018, -77.00309
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 →Dave's been here. A spot from Dave's own travels on public land — free to camp. Conditions still change, so confirm access, stay limits and fire rules before you go.
This is a great location for boondocking near Watkins Glen State Park. This is a clearing next to the road designated for vehicle-based camping. It is at the entrance to Sugar Hill Recreation Area, which features a fire tower, restrooms, and more free camping during the warm season. It is an equestrian destination. Enough room for multiple vehicles. Some cell service. Highly recommended.
A night on record
Dave slept here on 15 January 2018. No agency publishes a season for this site, so that night is the only season evidence we have — what the site was then, not a forecast for this year.
USGS topo — contours & terrain
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Weather outlook — at Schuyler County
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 2,008 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Schuyler CountyNIFC · 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 Schuyler County · public land · NY
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- @Mail3 mi
- FFuel6 mi
- WWater6 mi
- ShShower6 mi
- GGrocery7 mi
- AAir-up7 mi
- EVEV fast charger7 mi
- +Urgent care8 mi
- RxPharmacy8 mi
- HHardware15 mi
- DDump16 mi
- MMechanic16 mi
- LLaundry17 mi
- OOutfitter18 mi
- PPropane56 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 — Schuyler County
Access
Drive-up
Land
public land · dispersed
Elevation
2,008 ft
Ground slope
1.6% · flat
Nearest rail line
~4.8 mi · main line
County
Schuyler County, NY
Coordinates
42.39018, -77.00309
Cost
Free
Nearby & resupply — around Schuyler County · public land · NY (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureSpencer Pond (water) · mapped within 1.6 mi
- USGS NHDno named surface water within 1 mi
- Nearest townPine Creek · ~2.9 mi
- Nearest rail line~4.8 mi · main line
- Nearest highwayno interstate or US route within 10 mi
- Drinking waterDrinking water · ~0.2 mi
- FuelSunoco · ~5.8 mi
- Propane / LPGSuburban Propane · ~18.1 mi
- Dump station~15.8 mi
- GroceriesTops · ~7.1 mi
- PharmacyQuinlan’s Pharmacy · ~8.4 mi
- Hospital / clinicSchuyler Hospital Pain Clinic · ~7.7 mi
- HardwareBranchport Hardware · ~16.3 mi
From the field — what Dave saw, in person
Cell service
Had a signal
Getting there
Any vehicle managed it
Fire ring
No
Toilet on site
Yes
Tent friendly
Yes
Verdict
Highly recommended
EV charging — from Schuyler County · public land · NY — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger7.4 mi straight-line E — EVolve NY Watkins Glen · Electrify America · CCS · 4 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach22 within 25 mi · 72 within 50 · 278 within 100 · 456 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)16.1 mi — Erwin, NY - Tesla Supercharger, Painted Post
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO11.3 mi — SSFLX STATION 1, Hammondsport
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)5.7 mi — Lakewood Vineyards, Watkins Glen, NY (at a hotel) · EVOKE · J1772 · 10 Level 2 ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · 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 371884 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Schuyler County · public land · NY — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- RestroomFinger Lakes Trail Shelter · ~10.4 mi E · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletBackbone Horse Camp · ~11.9 mi NE · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletBlueberry Patch · ~12.2 mi NE · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletBlueberry Patch Day Use · ~12.3 mi NE · USFS
Coming out here — Schuyler County · public land · NY
- Surface water mapped nearby: Spencer Pond (water). That is wash water at best, and nobody has checked it for you — a creek can be dry and a tank can be mud. Filter or boil anything you drink. USGS maps no named surface water within 1 mi of the pin (National Hydrography Dataset, data refreshed October 2022).
- Ground slope around the pin: about 1.6% — flat. 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 ~4.8 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.
- No interstate or US route is mapped within 10 mi of the pin in the Census's TIGER/Line primary roads (TIGER/Line 2025, released Oct 2025). That file holds the divided, limited-access highways only — a state expressway or a two-lane US route near this camp would not be in it.
- Assume no services at all. Most dispersed camping in a national forest has none: no tap, no power, no dump, often no toilet. Everything you need, you bring.
- 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 Schuyler County elsewhere
Other camps near Schuyler County
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Finger Lakes Trail Shelter~10.4 mi
- Backbone Horse Camp~11.9 mi · fee
- Blueberry Patch~12.2 mi · fee
- Backbone Horse Campground~13.9 mi
Who holds the land at Schuyler County
USGS’s Protected Areas Database (PAD-US 4.1, queried 2026-09-23) lists the ground at this pin as Sugar Hill State Forest, manager on record: NYS Department of Environmental Conservation (state). That names who holds the land — it is not a statement that camping is permitted here.
How we know this — Schuyler County
Source
Dave's own travels
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
FIELD VERIFIED by Dave Lalande -- he has stood on this site. Coordinates are his own GPX track point, not a geocode. County and state confirmed against the FCC Census Block API (Schuyler County, NY). Everything under 'From the field' is a direct observation; nothing here is inferred from a land record.
A night on record
Dave's own GPS diary, 2017–2020: the date of the waypoint he saved here. The timestamp is UTC, so an entry saved in the evening carries the next morning's date. An observation of one night, never a forecast.
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
Verified on the ground. Dave has stood on this one. He camped here on 15 January 2018. Conditions still change — confirm before you commit.
What we don’t know about Schuyler County
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.
- How many rigs actually fit
- 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