Agency-listedNY DECFree

William C. Whitney Campsite #15 (William C. Whitney Wilderness)

Drive-up · New York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation · NY · 44.01326, -74.63823

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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 (water-access canoe country -- many sites here are PADDLE-IN or boat-access, not drive-up). DEC-designated primitive tent site ('William C. Whitney Campsite #15') in the William C. Whitney Wilderness, part of New York's Adirondack Forest Preserve, in the central Adirondacks in the Town of Long Lake, Hamilton County (DEC Region 5, off NY Route 30 via the Sabattis and Lake Lila roads, near Little Tupper Lake). 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 (call the local Forest Ranger at 518-828-0236); group size is capped below the statewide 10-person threshold at this unit -- about 8 people at most sites and 9 at Lake Lila / in Round Lake Wilderness. 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 particular site is check the DEC unit page / DECinfo Locator for this site's access (drive-up vs paddle/hike-in). Rules and site status change -- confirm with the DEC unit page (dec.ny.gov/places/william-c-whitney-wilderness-and-round-lake-wilderness) or a regional DEC office before you go; we have not visited.

USGS topo — contours & terrain

USGS topographic map of William C. Whitney Campsite #15 (William C. Whitney Wilderness)

Aerial — USGS / NAIP

Aerial image of William C. Whitney Campsite #15 (William C. Whitney Wilderness)

Weather outlook — at William C. Whitney Campsite #15 (William C. Whitney Wilderness)

Loading the latest forecast…

Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 1,717 ft.

Fire & smoke — around William C. Whitney Campsite #15 (William C. Whitney Wilderness)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 William C. Whitney Campsite #15 (William C. Whitney Wilderness) · William C. Whitney Wilderness · NY

▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.

Nearest of each

FFuel10 mi
GGrocery11 mi
@Mail11 mi
+Urgent care12 mi
OOutfitter15 mi
HHardware17 mi
MMechanic17 mi
RxPharmacy18 mi
ShShower18 mi
LLaundry19 mi
WWater20 mi
DDump24 mi
EVEV fast charger24 mi

≤30 mi30–4545+water

The read: water's a short hop out, fuel & food sit about 10 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 — William C. Whitney Campsite #15 (William C. Whitney Wilderness)

Access

Drive-up

Land

New York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation

Elevation

1,717 ft

Nearest rail line

~5.1 mi · main line

State

Coordinates

44.01326, -74.63823

Cost

Free

Nearby & resupply — around William C. Whitney Campsite #15 (William C. Whitney Wilderness) · William C. Whitney Wilderness · NY (OpenStreetMap)

Water featureLittle Tupper Lake · under 0.1 mi · USGS: perennial lake or pond
Also mapped (OSM)Antediluvian Pond (water) · mapped within 1.6 mi
Nearest townSabattis · ~5.7 mi
Nearest rail line~5.1 mi · main line
Nearest highwayno interstate or US route within 10 mi
Drinking waternone within 10 mi
FuelKickerville Station · ~10.4 mi
Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
Dump station~23.8 mi
GroceriesNorthen Borne · ~11.1 mi
PharmacyKinney Drugs · ~17.5 mi
Hospital / clinicCamp Massawepie Health Lodge · ~17.5 mi
HardwareAce Hardware - Old Forge Department Store · ~26.7 mi

EV charging — from William C. Whitney Campsite #15 (William C. Whitney Wilderness) · William C. Whitney Wilderness · NY — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)

Nearest public DC fast charger24.5 mi straight-line SE — 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 reach1 within 25 mi · 17 within 50 · 224 within 100 · 439 within 150
Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)33.0 mi — ChargeSmart EV - Saranac Lake, Saranac Lake
Nearest listing CHAdeMO45.2 mi — EVolve NY North Hudson, North Hudson
Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)10.3 mi — Long View Lodge, Long Lake, NY · EV Connect · J1772 · 2 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 405740 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center

Nearby restrooms — around William C. Whitney Campsite #15 (William C. Whitney Wilderness) · William C. Whitney Wilderness · NY — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)

No mapped restroom within 30 miles — plan to pack it out.

Coming out here — William C. Whitney Campsite #15 (William C. Whitney Wilderness) · William C. Whitney Wilderness · NY

Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Little Tupper 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.
Rail line mapped ~5.1 mi from the pin — the national rail atlas classes it as a main line. The atlas also records tourist, museum or scenic passenger service on it. That is the FRA/BTS North American Rail Network (data updated Jul 21, 2026), which records that a line is there and what class of track it is. Whether anything runs on it, how often, and at what hour, it does not say, and nobody has checked this one for you.
No interstate or US route is mapped within 10 mi of the pin in the Census's TIGER/Line primary roads (TIGER/Line 2025, released Oct 2025). That file holds the divided, limited-access highways only — a state expressway or a two-lane US route near this camp would not be in 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 William C. Whitney Campsite #15 (William C. Whitney Wilderness) elsewhere

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

Other camps near William C. Whitney Campsite #15 (William C. Whitney Wilderness)

If this one is full, gated or washed out.

The unit that manages William C. Whitney Campsite #15 (William C. Whitney Wilderness)

William C. Whitney Campsite #15 is in William C. Whitney 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.

William C. Whitney Wilderness →

How we know this — William C. Whitney Campsite #15 (William C. Whitney Wilderness)

Permit

Forest Ranger permit needed for stays over 3 nights

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 6325, ASSET='PRIMITIVE TENT SITE', PUBLICUSE='Y', FACILITY='William C. Whitney Wilderness'; coordinate is DEC's own point geometry (WGS84), pulled 2026-07-23 via the layer's /find endpoint (the /query path is WAF-blocked). FREE confirmed by DEC's own place page (dec.ny.gov/places/william-c-whitney-wilderness-and-round-lake-wilderness, read 2026-07-23): Fee='Free', '60 designated primitive tent sites in the Whitney Wilderness (71 across the combined Whitney and Round Lake Wilderness)', 'Camping for more than 3 nights is prohibited, except under permit' (the standard FREE NYS Forest Ranger backcountry permit, Ranger 518-828-0236), first come first served / cannot be reserved; and DEC State Land Camping Rules (dec.ny.gov/things-to-do/camping/state-land-rules): backcountry/primitive camping allowed on Adirondack Forest Preserve, permit issued free of charge. Nearby Lake Eaton Campground is a SEPARATE paid DEC facility, not part of this pull. Ingest 2026-07-23.

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 William C. Whitney Campsite #15 (William C. Whitney 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
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 — William C. Whitney Campsite #15 (William C. Whitney Wilderness)

Finding water out here →Cold-weather camping →Fire rules & restrictions →Power off-grid →All field notes →

Is this page wrong about William C. Whitney Campsite #15 (William C. Whitney Wilderness)?

This page was built from a public land record, not from a visit. If you have actually pulled in here and it does not match, that is worth more than anything we can read off a map. Tell Dave what is off — it goes to him, not onto the page.

Anything else, in your own words (optional)Your email — optional, and only so Dave can ask you a follow-up. It does not go on a list, and nobody is promising you a reply.

A reader report is not a fact, and this one will not change a word of this page by itself. Dave reads it and checks it against the agency’s own record, because that record is what this site says. If reader reports are ever shown here they are labelled “reader report, unverified” with the date, and they are never merged into the agency fields.