Agency-listedNY DECFree
Spectacle Lake #3 (Ferris Lake Wild Forest)
Drive-up · New York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation · NY · 43.23702, -74.57581
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 →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. DEC-designated primitive tent site ('Spectacle Lake #3') in the Ferris Lake Wild Forest, part of New York's Adirondack Forest Preserve, in the southern Adirondacks in Fulton, Hamilton and Herkimer County (DEC Region 5, near Stratford, Caroga and Arietta). 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. A FREE New York State Forest Ranger permit is required ONLY if you stay more than 3 nights in one spot or camp in a group of 10 or more; otherwise no permit and no fee. 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 site is named for a pond/lake/creek, so it may require a short hike or a paddle to reach; confirm access on the DEC unit page. Rules and site status change -- confirm with the DEC unit page (dec.ny.gov/places/ferris-lake-wild-forest) or a regional DEC office before you go; we have not visited.
USGS topo — contours & terrain
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Weather outlook — at Spectacle Lake #3 (Ferris Lake Wild Forest)
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 1,736 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Spectacle Lake #3 (Ferris Lake Wild Forest)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 Spectacle Lake #3 (Ferris Lake Wild Forest) · Ferris Lake Wild Forest · NY
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- GGrocery8 mi
- FFuel8 mi
- DDump9 mi
- HHardware13 mi
- RxPharmacy14 mi
- @Mail14 mi
- +Urgent care17 mi
- LLaundry17 mi
- MMechanic17 mi
- OOutfitter18 mi
- EVEV fast charger19 mi
- AAir-up19 mi
- ShShower19 mi
- WWater21 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water is a real 21-mi drive, fuel & food sit about 8 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 — Spectacle Lake #3 (Ferris Lake Wild Forest)
Access
Drive-up
Land
New York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation
Elevation
1,736 ft
Ground slope
1.2% · flat
State
NY
Coordinates
43.23702, -74.57581
Cost
Free
Nearby & resupply — around Spectacle Lake #3 (Ferris Lake Wild Forest) · Ferris Lake Wild Forest · NY (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureSpectacle Lake · under 0.1 mi · USGS: perennial lake or pond
- Also mapped (OSM)Dry Lake (water) · mapped within 1.6 mi
- Nearest townArietta · ~3.0 mi
- Rail & highwaynone mapped within 10 mi
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- FuelStewart's · ~16.1 mi
- Propane / LPGPropane · ~22.0 mi
- Dump station~9.4 mi
- GroceriesPrice Chopper · ~17.0 mi
- PharmacyKinney Drugs · ~13.5 mi
- Hospital / clinicNathan Littauer Hospital · ~16.9 mi
- HardwareAllen & Palmer True Value · ~20.3 mi
EV charging — from Spectacle Lake #3 (Ferris Lake Wild Forest) · Ferris Lake Wild Forest · NY — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger18.6 mi straight-line SE — Aldi Johnstown TUL 110 (at a public site) · RED_E · CCS, NACS (Tesla) · 8 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: not listed · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach7 within 25 mi · 72 within 50 · 277 within 100 · 732 within 150
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO19.0 mi — Iroquois Travel Plaza, Little Falls
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)17.2 mi — Gloversville City Hall · VIALYNK · J1772 · 4 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 451463 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Spectacle Lake #3 (Ferris Lake Wild Forest) · Ferris Lake Wild Forest · NY — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Highway rest areaIroquois Travel Plaza WB · ~19.0 mi SW
- Highway rest areaIndian Castle Travel Plaza EB · ~19.2 mi SW
- Highway rest areaParking/Rest Area · ~22.2 mi SE
- Highway rest areaParking/Rest Area · ~22.2 mi SE
Coming out here — Spectacle Lake #3 (Ferris Lake Wild Forest) · Ferris Lake Wild Forest · NY
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Spectacle Lake 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 1.2% — 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.
- 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 Spectacle Lake #3 (Ferris Lake Wild Forest) elsewhere
Other camps near Spectacle Lake #3 (Ferris Lake Wild Forest)
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Spectacle Lake #2 (Ferris Lake Wild Forest)~0.4 mi
- Spectacle Lake #4 (Ferris Lake Wild Forest)~0.4 mi
- Spectacle Lake #5 (Ferris Lake Wild Forest)~0.6 mi
- Third Lake #2 (Ferris Lake Wild Forest)~1.0 mi
The unit that manages Spectacle Lake #3 (Ferris Lake Wild Forest)
Spectacle Lake #3 is in Ferris Lake Wild Forest, a wild forest 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 — Spectacle Lake #3 (Ferris Lake Wild Forest)
Permit
Forest Ranger permit needed 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 6495, ASSET='PRIMITIVE TENT SITE', PUBLICUSE='Y', FACILITY='Ferris Lake Wild Forest'; coordinate is DEC's own point geometry (WGS84), pulled 2026-07-22 via the layer's /find endpoint (the /query path is WAF-blocked). FREE confirmed by DEC's own place page (dec.ny.gov/places/ferris-lake-wild-forest, read 2026-07-22): Fee='Free', '97 designated primitive campsites', 'Camping for more than three nights or in a group of ten or more requires a permit from a Forest Ranger' (the standard FREE NYS Forest Ranger backcountry permit); and DEC State Land Camping Rules (dec.ny.gov/things-to-do/camping/state-land-rules): backcountry/primitive camping allowed on Adirondack Forest Preserve, first-come, cannot be reserved. Ingest 2026-07-22.
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 Spectacle Lake #3 (Ferris Lake Wild Forest)
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 — Spectacle Lake #3 (Ferris Lake Wild Forest)
Camping near a reservoir →Finding water out here →Cold-weather camping →Reading the aerial →All field notes →