Siamese Ponds Site 5 (Siamese Ponds Wilderness)
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 ('Siamese Ponds Site 5'). 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 Eleventh Mountain trailhead on NY 8 via the East Branch Trail and the Siamese Ponds Trail -- roughly 4 to 6 miles in, so this is a real backcountry walk. For orientation, the nearest DEC-published trailhead or parking coordinate is the East Branch Gorge trailhead parking area on NY 8, about 4.7 miles away in a straight line -- trail mileage will be longer. 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.
Everything you need — measured from Siamese Ponds Site 5 (Siamese Ponds Wilderness) · Siamese Ponds Wilderness · NY
- @Mail11 mi
- ShShower11 mi
- +Urgent care11 mi
- GGrocery11 mi
- FFuel11 mi
- RxPharmacy11 mi
- LLaundry11 mi
- MMechanic12 mi
- EVEV fast charger12 mi
- WWater13 mi
- DDump14 mi
- HHardware21 mi
- OOutfitter24 mi
- AAir-up36 mi
The read: water's a short hop out, fuel & food sit about 11 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 — Siamese Ponds Site 5 (Siamese Ponds Wilderness)
Nearby & resupply — around Siamese Ponds Site 5 (Siamese Ponds Wilderness) · Siamese Ponds Wilderness · NY (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureSiamese Ponds · under 0.1 mi · USGS: perennial lake or pond
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- FuelStewart's Shop · ~11.3 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- Dump station~14.0 mi
- GroceriesStewart's Shops · ~11.1 mi
- PharmacyRite Aid Pharmacy · ~11.3 mi
- Hospital / clinicNorth Creek Health Center · ~11.0 mi
- HardwareBraley Noxon Hardware · ~21.1 mi
- Rail & highwaynone mapped within 10 mi
EV charging — from Siamese Ponds Site 5 (Siamese Ponds Wilderness) · Siamese Ponds Wilderness · NY — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger12.2 mi straight-line N — Indian Lake - Welcome Center · VIALYNK · CCS · 4 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach3 within 25 mi · 41 within 50 · 273 within 100 · 642 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)20.0 mi — Chestertown, NY - Tesla Supercharger, Chestertown
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO32.1 mi — EVolve NY North Hudson, North Hudson
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)7.6 mi — GARNET HILL LOG HOUSE #1, North River, NY · ChargePoint Network · J1772 · 2 Level 2 ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily
- Also listed, not counted aboveLevel 2, restricted access — North Creek Heads in Beds, North Creek, 11.1 mi · J1772, NEMA 5-20 · hours: 10am-10pm daily; for guest use only; Drivers must bring their own J1772 cordset for Level 1 charging · AFDC lists it “Free”
- 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 405740 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Siamese Ponds Site 5 (Siamese Ponds Wilderness) · Siamese Ponds Wilderness · NY — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- No mapped restroom within 30 miles — plan to pack it out.
Coming out here — Siamese Ponds Site 5 (Siamese Ponds Wilderness) · Siamese Ponds Wilderness · NY
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Siamese Ponds as a perennial lake or pond, under 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 6.7% — gentle. 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.
- No rail line and no interstate or US route is mapped within 10 mi of the pin. Checked against the FRA/BTS North American Rail Network (data updated Jul 21, 2026) and the Census's TIGER/Line primary roads (TIGER/Line 2025, released Oct 2025). Both are national files and both are maps of what is built, not counts of what moves on it.
- 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 Siamese Ponds Site 5 (Siamese Ponds Wilderness) elsewhere
Other camps near Siamese Ponds Site 5 (Siamese Ponds Wilderness)
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Siamese Ponds Site 4 (Siamese Ponds Wilderness)~0.2 mi
- Siamese Ponds Site 3 (Siamese Ponds Wilderness)~0.3 mi
- Siamese Ponds Site 2 (Siamese Ponds Wilderness)~0.4 mi
- Siamese Ponds Site 1 (Siamese Ponds Wilderness)~0.5 mi
The unit that manages Siamese Ponds Site 5 (Siamese Ponds Wilderness)
Siamese Ponds Site 5 is in Siamese Ponds Wilderness, a wilderness managed by NY DEC. Stay limits, permits, road closures and fire restrictions are set there, not at the campsite — check before you go. Its page maps every camp in it.
How we know this — Siamese Ponds Site 5 (Siamese Ponds Wilderness)
What we don’t know about Siamese Ponds Site 5 (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.
- Road surface & last-mile access
- How many rigs actually fit
- Cell coverage by carrier
- 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