Found · unverifiedNY DECFree

Stewart Lake Tent Site [DEC #6064] (Shaker Mountain Wild Forest)

Drive-up · New York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation · NY · 43.18400, -74.48036

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 at Stewart Lake in the Shaker Mountain Wild Forest of New York's southern ADIRONDACK Forest Preserve (DEC Region 5, in the Caroga / Bleecker / Arietta area of Fulton and Hamilton Counties). This is a DEC-designated primitive tent site ('Stewart Lake Tent Site [DEC #6064]'), and New York provides it at NO CHARGE: the DEC Shaker Mountain Wild Forest page lists the fee as 'Free' and the unit as open year-round, first-come first-served (no reservations). It is at Stewart Lake -- reach it on foot via the Stewart and Indian Lakes Trail; a wild-forest hike-in site. COUNT DISCLOSURE: the DEC unit page enumerates six designated primitive tent sites on this wild forest -- two at Pine Lake and one each at Indian, Stewart, Holmes and Chase Lakes -- plus a Holmes Lake and a Chase Lake lean-to (a separate structure not listed here). DEC's mapping data returns seven 'Primitive Tent Site' points: those six lake sites plus a Mud Lake Outlet site on the Northville-Placid Trail that the unit page does not separately enumerate. This batch ships six (the three lake sites verified on their OpenStreetMap shorelines at high confidence, plus Stewart Lake, the first Pine Lake site, and the Mud Lake Outlet site at medium confidence) and HOLDS the second Pine Lake point, whose coordinate sits about half a mile from Pine Lake with no water body at the pin, pending a shoreline coordinate. No pins were invented. This is free, first-come Adirondack Forest Preserve backcountry camping in the Shaker Mountain Wild Forest -- do NOT confuse it with a reservable fee campground; the nearest fee campgrounds are the SEPARATE Caroga Lake Campground and Northampton Beach Campground, both miles away, and neither charges to reach these sites. SEASON / ACCESS: DEC lists Shaker Mountain Wild Forest as open YEAR-ROUND and free, but every site here is reached on foot along a hiking trail -- trails can be wet, muddy, snow-covered or blowdown-blocked, so confirm current trail and site conditions with the DEC Region 5 Northville office (518-863-4545) or the unit page before you go, especially in winter or mud season. RULES: no reservation and no fee; camp only at a designated site (look for the round yellow DEC 'Camp Here' disc) or, elsewhere in the wild forest, more than 150 feet from any road, trail or water; a free Forest Ranger permit is required only if you stay more than 3 nights or camp with a group of 10 or more (arrange it through the DEC Region 5 Office in Northville at (518) 863-4545 (Forest Rangers via 911 or DEC dispatch 1-833-NYS-RANGERS)). This site is around 1974 feet elevation, well below any Adirondack high-elevation camping restriction. These are primitive sites: expect at most a fire ring -- no hookups, no showers and no potable water, so bring water or treat what you take from the lake. Pack out all trash, follow Leave No Trace and the DEC fire rules, and store food from bears (this is black-bear country). Confirm current rules, trail status and this site's status on the DEC page (dec.ny.gov/places/shaker-mountain-wild-forest) or with the Northville office (518-863-4545) before you go; we have not visited.

USGS topo — contours & terrain

USGS topographic map of Stewart Lake Tent Site [DEC #6064] (Shaker Mountain Wild Forest)

Aerial — USGS / NAIP

Aerial image of Stewart Lake Tent Site [DEC #6064] (Shaker Mountain Wild Forest)

Weather outlook

Loading the latest forecast…

Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 1,974 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

Straight-line miles · bearings approx · roads run longer

Nearest of each

FFuel3 mi
GGrocery3 mi
DDump4 mi
+Urgent care11 mi
LLaundry11 mi
@Mail11 mi
RxPharmacy11 mi
HHardware11 mi
MMechanic12 mi
OOutfitter12 mi
AAir-up13 mi
ShShower21 mi
WWater23 mi

≤30 mi30–4545+water

The read: water is a real 23-mi drive, fuel & food sit about 3 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

1,974 ft

State

Coordinates

43.18400, -74.48036

Cost

Free

Nearby & resupply (OpenStreetMap)

Water featurePrairie Lake (water) · nearby
Nearest townCanada Lake · ~1.7 mi
Drinking waternone within 10 mi
FuelStewart's · ~10.3 mi
Propane / LPGPropane · ~16.7 mi
Dump stationDump station · ~4.1 mi
GroceriesPrice Chopper · ~11.0 mi
PharmacyGloversville Pharmacy · ~11.4 mi
Hospital / clinicNathan Littauer Hospital · ~10.9 mi
HardwareAllen & Palmer True Value · ~15.8 mi

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

Highway rest areaParking/Rest Area · ~17.2 mi S
Highway rest areaParking/Rest Area · ~17.2 mi S
Highway rest areaIroquois Travel Plaza WB · ~19.9 mi SW
Highway rest areaIndian Castle Travel Plaza EB · ~20.1 mi SW

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

Likely — The record is good enough to put a pin on, but thin in places. Treat the details as a starting point, not gospel.

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 6064, NAME verbatim 'Stewart Lake', ASSET='PRIMITIVE TENT SITE', PUBLICUSE='Y', FACILITY='Shaker Mountain Wild Forest', REGION 5 (Northville office). DESCRIP=''; NOTES=''; ACCESSIBLE='N'. Coordinate is DEC's own point geometry (WGS84), pulled 2026-07-25 via the layer's /query endpoint (outSR=4326). FREE confirmed on dec.ny.gov/places/shaker-mountain-wild-forest (Shaker Mountain Wild Forest, read 2026-07-25): Fee='Free', open year-round, APSLMP class WILD FOREST; DEC Region 5 Northville 518-863-4545. COUNT DISCLOSURE: the DEC unit page enumerates six designated primitive tent sites on this wild forest -- two at Pine Lake and one each at Indian, Stewart, Holmes and Chase Lakes -- plus a Holmes Lake and a Chase Lake lean-to (a separate structure not listed here). DEC's mapping data returns seven 'Primitive Tent Site' points: those six lake sites plus a Mud Lake Outlet site on the Northville-Placid Trail that the unit page does not separately enumerate. This batch ships six (the three lake sites verified on their OpenStreetMap shorelines at high confidence, plus Stewart Lake, the first Pine Lake site, and the Mud Lake Outlet site at medium confidence) and HOLDS the second Pine Lake point, whose coordinate sits about half a mile from Pine Lake with no water body at the pin, pending a shoreline coordinate. No pins were invented. MED: OpenStreetMap has no polygon for Stewart Lake, but USGS GNIS independently confirms the lake 830 ft from the DEC pin and the DEC page names the site and routes to it via a trail the pin sits 401 ft from -- lake existence is confirmed but exact shore distance is unmeasured, so confirm the site on the ground or with DEC before relying on it ACCESS-COST CHECK (guardrail 2): the DEC page names no day-use, parking or access fee anywhere on the unit; NY has no statewide access pass; the only fees on the page are the separate Northampton Beach boat-launch fee and the Caroga Lake / Northampton Beach fee campgrounds offered as amenity alternatives, none of which gates this site; the only permit is the standard FREE Forest-Ranger permit for stays over 3 nights or groups of 10+. APSLMP CLASS = WILD FOREST. ELEVATION 1974 ft (USGS EPQS, 2026-07-25) -- far below any Adirondack high-elevation camping restriction. PAID-NEIGHBOUR GUARD: Caroga Lake Campground and Northampton Beach Campground fee areas (both 4+ mi away) bbox-guarded; this site passes. LIVE-CONDITIONS CHECK (DEC unit page, read 2026-07-25): no closure posted. MEASURED GEOMETRY (OpenStreetMap via the maps.mail.ru Overpass mirror, 2026-07-25, point-to-nearest-vertex on `out geom`; cross-checked against USGS GNIS and USGS EPQS): OpenStreetMap has no polygon for Stewart Lake, but USGS GNIS confirms the lake ~830 ft from the DEC point and the point is ~401 ft from the mapped Stewart and Indian Lake trail; the DEC page routes to it via the Stewart and Indian Lakes Trail. CORROBORATION: OpenStreetMap has no water polygon for Stewart Lake, but the AUTHORITATIVE USGS GNIS gazetteer lists Stewart Lake at 43.18627,-74.48059, ~830 ft from the DEC point, and the DEC point is ~401 ft from the mapped Stewart and Indian Lake trail (OSM way 1079825876) -- the same trail the DEC page routes to this site; the DEC unit page names a designated Stewart Lake tent site and DEC's GIS names this point 'Stewart Lake'. Lake existence and location are GNIS-confirmed; exact shore distance is unmeasured (no OSM polygon), so confidence is MED. Plus DEC State Land Camping Rules (dec.ny.gov/things-to-do/camping/state-land-rules): designated-site + 150-foot rule, free Forest Ranger permit for stays over 3 nights or 10+ people. Ingest 2026-07-25.

Field check

Not verified on the ground. Nobody from here has camped it. It stays at Likely 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.

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

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 →