American Adventurer
Found · unverifiedNY DECFree

St. Regis Pond Site 11 (Saint Regis Canoe Area)

Drive-up · New York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation · NY · 44.37843, -74.30488
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 primitive camping (Adirondack canoe country -- most sites here are PADDLE-IN, reached by canoe with short carries between ponds, not drive-up). DEC-designated primitive tent site ('St. Regis Pond Site 11') in the Saint Regis Canoe Area, part of New York's Adirondack Forest Preserve, in the northern Adirondacks northwest of Saranac Lake -- the Towns of Santa Clara and Brighton in Franklin County (DEC Region 5), a 20-pond paddling network reached off NY Route 30 / Route 186 near Paul Smiths and the Saranac Inn area. New York provides these designated primitive tent sites at NO CHARGE (the DEC unit page lists the fee as 'Free' and describes 70 designated primitive tent sites across roughly 20 ponds); sites are first-come and cannot be reserved. This is a WATER-ACCESS (paddle-in) site in the Saint Regis Canoe Area -- reach it by canoe or kayak, typically with one or more short carries (portages) between ponds; a few pondside sites also have foot access, so confirm the route on the DEC unit page before you go. DON'T CONFUSE THESE FREE SITES WITH THE NEARBY PAID CAMPGROUNDS: the DEC-operated Fish Creek Pond Campground and Rollins Pond Campground on the southern edge of the canoe area -- developed, reservable, fee-based public campgrounds that charge a fee and take reservations -- these primitive sites are the free ones. Camping for more than 3 nights in one spot requires a FREE New York State Forest Ranger permit; 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 page sets no stricter local threshold, so the statewide rule governs). Arrange any permit in advance through the DEC Region 5 Ray Brook Office (Mon-Fri 8:30 AM-4:45 PM) at (518) 897-1200. Camp only at the marked site (look for the yellow 'Camp Here' disc), keep camp 150 feet from water and trails unless the site is otherwise designated, and follow the posted canoe-area rules. These are primitive sites -- typically only a fire ring and a pit privy, no hookups and no potable water; pack out all trash and follow Leave No Trace and the DEC fire rules. The canoe area is open year-round, but winter access is on ice/ski -- confirm conditions, and the current rules and this site's access, with the DEC unit page (dec.ny.gov/places/saint-regis-canoe-area) or the Region 5 Ray Brook office before you go; we have not visited.

USGS topo — contours & terrain
USGS topographic map of St. Regis Pond Site 11 (Saint Regis Canoe Area)
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Aerial image of St. Regis Pond Site 11 (Saint Regis Canoe Area)
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Weather outlook
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 1,640 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 · 7 miWDump · 6 miDFuel · 6 miFGrocery · 6 miGKinney Drugs · Pharmacy · 8 miRxAubuchon Hardware · Hardware · 9 miHHeath’s Auto Repair · Mechanic · 9 miMPotsdam Laundry & Dry cleaners · Laundry · 39 miLShower · 7 miShMountain Medical Urgent Care · Urgent care · 9 mi+Woods and Waters · Outfitter · 9 miOMail · 4 mi@
Straight-line miles · bearings approx · roads run longer
Nearest of each
  • @Mail4 mi
  • FFuel6 mi
  • GGrocery6 mi
  • DDump6 mi
  • ShShower7 mi
  • WWater7 mi
  • RxPharmacy8 mi
  • +Urgent care9 mi
  • HHardware9 mi
  • OOutfitter9 mi
  • MMechanic9 mi
  • LLaundry39 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water

The read: water's a short hop out, fuel & food sit about 6 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
1,640 ft
State
NY
Coordinates
44.37843, -74.30488
Cost
Free

Nearby & resupply (OpenStreetMap)

  • Water featureGreen Pond (water) · nearby
  • Nearest townUpper Saint Regis · ~2.2 mi
  • Drinking waterDrinking water · ~6.8 mi
  • FuelFuel · ~6.0 mi
  • Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
  • Dump stationDump station · ~6.3 mi
  • GroceriesStore · ~6.0 mi
  • PharmacyKinney Drugs · ~8.5 mi
  • Hospital / clinicAdirondack Medical Center · ~8.3 mi
  • HardwareSturdy Supply & Rental · ~9.2 mi

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

Open this spot elsewhere

Google satellite →Gaia GPS →CalTopo →Back to the map →

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 13526, ASSET='PRIMITIVE TENT SITE', PUBLICUSE='Y', FACILITY='Saint Regis Canoe Area'; coordinate is DEC's own point geometry (WGS84), pulled 2026-07-23 via the layer's /find endpoint (which honours sr=4326; /query returns projected UTM). FREE confirmed by DEC's own place page (dec.ny.gov/places/saint-regis-canoe-area, read 2026-07-23): Fee='Free', 70 designated primitive tent sites across roughly 20 ponds, primitive tent sites first-come and cannot be reserved, camping year-round; plus DEC State Land Camping Rules (dec.ny.gov/things-to-do/camping/state-land-rules): backcountry/primitive camping allowed on the Adirondack Forest Preserve (a Canoe Area is a category where it is allowed), a free permit only for >3 nights or groups of 10+, arranged via the DEC Region 5 Ray Brook Office (Mon-Fri 8:30 AM-4:45 PM) at (518) 897-1200. PAID NEIGHBOURS CLEARED: all 63 GIS records carry FACILITY='Saint Regis Canoe Area' -- the DEC-operated Fish Creek Pond Campground and Rollins Pond Campground on the southern edge of the canoe area -- developed, reservable, fee-based public campgrounds are separate DEC FACILITIES and return 0 records here. COUNT: DEC page states 70 sites; /find returns 63 records (63 distinct ASSET_UIDs), all this exact facility, all PRIMITIVE TENT SITE / PUBLICUSE=Y -- GIS < page, so a subset (the gap is lean-tos/unmapped sites the page counts but the point layer does not); all qualify, none held, no pin invented. Access classified as 'water'. 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

Your first dispersed night →Fire rules & restrictions →Getting unstuck →Power off-grid →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 →