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Union Falls Campsite (drive-in) (Taylor Pond Wild Forest)

Drive-up · New York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation · NY · 44.50697, -73.91509

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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 in the Taylor Pond Wild Forest, part of New York's Adirondack Forest Preserve (DEC Region 5, Clinton/Essex county country north of the High Peaks). This is a DEC-designated primitive tent site ('Union Falls Campsite', Union Falls Pond), and New York provides it at NO CHARGE: the DEC page lists the fee as 'Free' and the unit is open year-round. NEAR-DRIVE-UP: this site is about 28 feet from the Union Falls Boat Launch road, right on Union Falls Pond (~43 ft from the water). Note: one of the two sites near the Union Falls Boat Launch (the drive-in one). Do NOT confuse this free Wild Forest site with the nearby DEVELOPED, FEE state campgrounds the DEC page names -- the Taylor Pond Campground (its Taylor Pond tent sites and day-use launch charge a fee), Buck Pond and Ausable Point Campgrounds, and Macomb Reservation State Park -- which are separate facilities that charge; this designated Wild Forest site is free. RULES: this is a designated, first-come, free site -- no reservation and no fee. Standard Adirondack Forest Preserve rules apply: camp only at the designated site (marked with a yellow 'Camp Here' disc), and 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 Ray Brook Office at 518-897-1200 (Forest Rangers 518-897-1300)). DEC's page prints no other night limit for this unit, so plan around that statewide 3-night default and confirm on site. Note that DEC marks several Franklin Falls and Union Falls sites as usable for GROUP camping -- confirm a given site's status on the disc or with the Ray Brook office before relying on it. This is a primitive site: expect a fire ring and, at some sites, a nearby pit privy -- no hookups, no showers and no potable water, so bring water or treat what you take from the lake or river. 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 and this site's status on the DEC page (dec.ny.gov/places/taylor-pond-wild-forest) or with the Ray Brook office (518-897-1200) before you go; we have not visited.

Can I go now? — Union Falls Campsite (drive-in) (Taylor Pond Wild Forest) · New York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation · NY

Open today Year-round per the agency record.

New York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation record: “Year-round” Read against the calendar on 2026-09-17; with JavaScript your browser re-checks it against today.

USGS topo — contours & terrain

USGS topographic map of Union Falls Campsite (drive-in) (Taylor Pond Wild Forest)

Aerial — USGS / NAIP

Aerial image of Union Falls Campsite (drive-in) (Taylor Pond Wild Forest)

Weather outlook — at Union Falls Campsite (drive-in) (Taylor Pond Wild Forest)

Loading the latest forecast…

Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 1,414 ft.

Fire & smoke — around Union Falls Campsite (drive-in) (Taylor Pond 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 Union Falls Campsite (drive-in) (Taylor Pond Wild Forest) · New York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation · NY

Straight-line miles · bearings approx · roads run longer

Nearest of each

@Mail8 mi
FFuel9 mi
GGrocery9 mi
OOutfitter9 mi
WWater11 mi
DDump11 mi
ShShower11 mi
MMechanic12 mi
RxPharmacy15 mi
HHardware15 mi
EVEV fast charger15 mi
+Urgent care16 mi
LLaundry20 mi

≤30 mi30–4545+water

The read: water's a short hop out, fuel & food sit about 9 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 — Union Falls Campsite (drive-in) (Taylor Pond Wild Forest)

Access

Drive-up

Land

New York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation

Elevation

1,414 ft

State

Coordinates

44.50697, -73.91509

Cost

Free

Nearby & resupply — around Union Falls Campsite (drive-in) (Taylor Pond Wild Forest) · New York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation · NY (OpenStreetMap)

Water featureSaranac River (river) · nearby
Nearest townUnion Falls · ~0.1 mi
Drinking waternone within 10 mi
FuelMobil · ~9.6 mi
Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
Dump station~11.1 mi
GroceriesLittle Super Market · ~9.6 mi
PharmacyKinney Drugs · ~16.0 mi
Hospital / clinicAdirondack Medical Center · ~15.9 mi
HardwareAubuchon Hardware · ~15.2 mi

EV charging — from Union Falls Campsite (drive-in) (Taylor Pond Wild Forest) · New York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation · NY — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)

Nearest public DC fast charger15.4 mi straight-line S — Lake Placid, NY - Tesla Supercharger (at a shopping center) · Tesla · NACS (Tesla) · 8 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-06-18 · hours: 24 hours daily. NACS partner enabled. · directions
Public DC fast stations within reach19 within 25 mi · 59 within 50 · 138 within 100 · 343 within 150
Nearest listing CCS15.7 mi — GRANDVIEW HOTEL OLYMPIC 01, Lake Placid
Nearest listing CHAdeMO24.8 mi — EVolve NY Plattsburgh, Plattsburgh
Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)10.6 mi — WHITEFACE MT WHITEFACE 1, Wilmington, 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 — Mirror Lake Inn Resort, Lake Placid, 15.1 mi · J1772 · hours: 24 hours daily; customer use only
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 164170 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center

Nearby restrooms — around Union Falls Campsite (drive-in) (Taylor Pond Wild Forest) · New York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation · NY — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)

Highway rest areaValcour · ~21.9 mi E

Open Union Falls Campsite (drive-in) (Taylor Pond Wild Forest) elsewhere

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Other camps near Union Falls Campsite (drive-in) (Taylor Pond Wild Forest)

If this one is full, gated or washed out.

How we know this — Union Falls Campsite (drive-in) (Taylor Pond Wild Forest)

Open season

Year-round

Closures

None posted

Area rules

Camping is prohibited within 150 feet of any road, trail, spring, stream, pond or other body of water except at areas designated by a "Camp Here" disk.

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 12445, NAME verbatim 'Union Falls Campsite', ASSET='PRIMITIVE TENT SITE', PUBLICUSE='Y', FACILITY='Taylor Pond Wild Forest'; coordinate is DEC's own point geometry (WGS84), pulled 2026-07-24 via the layer's /query endpoint (outSR=4326). FREE confirmed on dec.ny.gov/places/taylor-pond-wild-forest (Taylor Pond Wild Forest, read 2026-07-24): Fee='Free', Open for Recreation='Year-round', designated first-come sites marked with a yellow 'Camp Here' disc; Clinton/Essex counties, DEC Region 5, 518-897-1200. HONESTY CATCH THIS FIRE: the same GIS layer's DESCRIP field marks Franklin Falls #2 (ASSET_UID 12433) 'Day Use Only', so that site was EXCLUDED (no camping) -- 13 GIS PTS -> 12 ingested. PAID-NEIGHBOUR GUARD (Debar rule): the page names developed FEE facilities (Taylor Pond Campground -- whose Taylor-Pond-shore tent sites and day-use launch charge a fee -- Buck Pond, Ausable Point, Macomb Reservation); their OSM bounding boxes were pulled (Nominatim 2026-07-24) and a point-in-box test confirms this site is inside NONE. ACCESS-COST CHECK (guardrail 2): the water-access sites use FREE launches (DEC Union Falls Flow page: 'informal beach/hand launch ... off of the Union Falls Road'; neither pond is on the DEC fee-launch lists). LIVE-CONDITIONS CHECK (DEC Backcountry Information for the Adirondack Park, read 2026-07-24, 'New this week (7/23/2026): No new updates'): no closure for this unit. MEASURED GEOMETRY (OpenStreetMap, 2026-07-24, point-to-segment): ~43 ft to the Union Falls Pond shoreline (OSM natural=water polygon), 15 ft to the nearest mapped foot trail, 28 ft to the nearest drivable road (the Union Falls Boat Launch road); access class 'drive-up'. No OSM camp_site nodes in the unit bbox, so DEC point geometry is the sole coordinate source. 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 2026-07-24.

Season

Read from the agency's own season / closure text in this record (data/conditions.py) and checked against the calendar. The words we read are printed under the verdict at the top of the page.

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 Union Falls Campsite (drive-in) (Taylor Pond 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
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 — Union Falls Campsite (drive-in) (Taylor Pond Wild Forest)

Camping near a reservoir →Finding water out here →Cold-weather camping →Reading the aerial →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 →