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Camping Areas in Southern Adirondacks

Camping Areas in Southern Adirondacks ⛺

East Branch of Sacanadaga River, NY 8 – Roughly 10 campsites along NY 8. These are easily accessed throughout the year, as the road is plowed except when the snow banks are high during the winter. East Branch is not good for fishing due to wide variance in water levels, however there are some nice pools in sections of river for summer swimming. Lots of road noise. Some of the sites have cell service. Nearby locations include Cod Pond, East Branch Trail and Kibby Pond Trail.

Edick Road – There are a handful of very hidden campsites off of Edick Road. This road may be closed to vehicles due to wash outs autumn 2019, but worth a walk to explore this area.

Fawn Lake – A 1/2 mile hike back to a scenic lake ringed by primitive campsites outside of Lake Pleasant. Two miles beyond it is the scenic Willis Vly, which doesn’t have developed campsites but it’s remote wilderness where you might see a Moose or other wildlife.

Garnet Lake – Tent sites, some with drive-up access along the lake. No cell service, much of the upper road here is not maintained in the winter. Popular in the summer, no cell service.

Good Luck Lake – Scenic lake off of the West Branch Sacanadaga River that is ringed with tent sites that can be walked in from the Good Luck Lake parking area area or paddled in.

Hope Falls Road – Two or three campsites along the end of Hope Falls Road, some are drive-in only tent sites. Near the Tenant Creek Falls Trail. No cell service. Open June to autumn snowfall.

Harrisburg Road – There is a set of very rustic designated campsites along the rough Harrisburg Road past Harrisburg Lake. Somewhat near Crane Mountain, a couple mile hike to and Wilcox Lake. No cell service.

Lester Flow and Cheney Pond – Scenic lake that is popular for paddling. The 1/2 mile road down from Boreas Road as of June 2020 is closed due to washouts. Tent sites exist along the lake, along with one drive-to site on the road down there.

Mason Lake – Small lake located about 10 miles north of Speculator and 5 miles south of Lewey Lake that has several tent and drive-in campsites along it’s shore. Good to fair cell service here. Nice to hear loons, one of the best bass ponds in the area.

North Lake Reservoir – There are roughly 15 campsites on the east shore of North Lake Reservoir. Popular place in the summer, regularly staffed by conservation students. Noise from motorboats. No cell service. Nice if you want to camp right on water, hear loons at night..

Northwood Club Road – In Minerva, this road crosses the Boreas River and has several roadside campsites, and passes by Huntley Pond, the NL Tahawus Railroad (which can be hiked to the Boreas River at Hudson River), and the Blue Ledges on the Hudson tailhead.

Perkins Clearing – Conservation easement lands. Good to fair cell service here. Great place for hunting and wildlife observation as it’s mixed timber country. Near Mason Lake, Speculator, Pillsbury Mountain and Cedar Lakes.

Piseco-Powley Road – A dozen campsites along a 13 mile road with short hikes including Big Alderbed, House Pond, Sand Lake and the popular Potholers/Brayhouse Brook waterfall for swimming. As of June 2020, road is closed in Stratford/Fulton County portion, road is open north of Potholers/Brayhouse Brook (access via Piseco). Very limited cell service here.

Pumpkin Hollow Road – Three campsites above Willis Lake. Remote country except for the site on Willis Lake, no cell service. On the Willis – Wilcox Lake Trail. Very quiet area. Open June to autumn snowfall. No cell service here.

Rockwood State Forest – Three campsites along the end of Church Road which can be accessed by driving past the cemetery in the hamlet. Scenic lake, good fishing. Cell service available, but bring a trash bucket and gloves as litter can be a problem. Nice trails to stroll around in the old Rockwood Estate.

Stewart Landing – There are four campsites on a rough road that loops off of Stewart Landing Road. Popular area in the summer, Canada Lake is great for paddling and informal swimming. Also consider hiking back to Hilderbrandt Vly and Glassgow Lake from here. Moderate to poor cell service here.

Vanderwhacker Road -Five or six campsites exist along Vanderwhacker Road, which can be muddy in the spring and icy in late autumn. Additional designates campsites exist near where NY 28N crosses the Vanderwhacker River. Near the trail to the Vanderwhacker Firetower, No cell service.

White House, Wells – A grouping of 5 or 6 campsites at the end of White House in West River Road. Scenic area, old camp, with fields and a chimney. Campsites are kind of close together, not a wilderness experience. Near the North Country Placid Trail, lots of blueberries in mid-summer. No cell service. Open June to autumn snowfall.

Woodhull Lake Reservoir – Off of NY 28 in McKeevers, about 10 miles south of Old Forge. Not only is this beautiful reservoir to paddle, there are some campsites along the shore, with drive-to campsites along Wolf Lake Landing Road which leads to it. Part of Wolf Lake Landing Road is erroded, but other parts are fresh stone-dust. It’s remote wilderness but there good cell service in mcuh of the area.

August 5, 2019 Morning

Good morning! Happy Work Like a Dog Day 🐩! Well for me, it’s drill, baby drill into my cavity day then into work. I survived the first part, I think. It didn’t hurt much although my gum is still a bit num. Honestly getting bit on the lip by the deer fly at Moose River Plains was much more obnoxious. Next Monday is Last Sunset After 8 PM 🌆. Sunny and 76 degrees as I take the bus to work. 🌞 Calm wind. The dew point is 54 degrees.

So many tooth cavity is patched. ☺ I was thinking this was my first filling but I think after the procedure 💭 I may have had a cavity filled as a child. 👶 It didn’t hurt much, as I noted that deer fly bite on my lips 💋 at Moose River Plains or the previous week at Perkins Clearing was much worse.

The weekend that was wasn’t bad although it passed by much too quickly. ⛺ Pisceo Powley Road was nice, pretty quiet and I enjoyed my hike back to Big Alderbed. It was kind of nice to just hang out at camp and leave the truck parked on Saturday although I wish I had spent more time at the Potholers cooling off as they were the perfect 👌 temperature and water 💦 flow. Maybe the air temperature could been a bit warmer up north but it’s hard to complain.

Today will be sunny 🌞, with a high of 83 degrees at 3pm. One degree above normal, which is similar to a typical day around July 26th. Kind of like those summer days gone past minus the humidity. Maximum dew point of 56 at 6pm. Light and variable wind. Should be nice a nice day. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies. It was humid. The high last year was 90 degrees. The record high of 99 was set in 1955.

The sun will set at 8:10 pm with dusk around 8:41 pm, which is one minute and 16 seconds earlier than yesterday. 🌇 At sunset, look for clear skies 🌄 and temperatures around 75 degrees. The dew point will be 57 degrees. There will be a calm wind. Today will have 14 hours and 18 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 19 seconds over yesterday.

I need to go grocery shopping tonight although it might wait until tomorrow. I think I have something I can make for dinner and breakfast for the next few days but I probably should go shopping soon. 🍎🍉🍖 I’m going to need to get garbage bags as I used a lot of them up camping for the bucket shitter 💩 and just because in the summer I take out the trash more. 🔥

Tonight will be mostly clear 🌃, with a low of 60 degrees at 5am. One degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical night around August 14th. Maximum dew point of 59 at 6am. Light south wind. In 2018, we had mostly clear skies. It was very sticky. It got down to 69 degrees. The record low of 45 occurred back in 1994.

I have kind of a busy week on tap. 😅 More work on the Pine Bush stuff over the next few days 🌲plus I have stuff scheduled for Tuesday and Thursday I’ll be over at John Wolcott house. 🔍Friday I might head out camping. I just see summer fading away so quickly as it’s already August.

Cool but definitely sunny and pleasant this weekend. 😎 Saturday, mostly sunny, with a high near 75. Maximum dew point of 57 at 7am. Sunday, sunny, with a high near 79. Maximum dew point of 57 at 4pm. Typical average high for the weekend is 81 degrees.

Not sure what my weekend plans will be 🗻 but I think hiking might be fun in the cool and sunny weather. 🚶 Maybe if I decide to head out of town, it will be down to the Western Catskills. Maybe do some of the Mine Kill pool 🏊 although it might be a bit cool for swimming.

I heard Dave Orapello from High School passed away. 😔 He was always a kind of odd character, I used to hang out with him a lot in High School along with some of the aggies. 🚜 Smart kid, valedictorian, but he kind of drifted around after High School getting various degrees and working many odd jobs. I’m actually surprised he stayed locally and didn’t move out west but maybe he liked the more suburban life of Upstate. I had been meaning to get a hot dog 🐶 from his family business by the Capitol but he hadn’t worked there in recent summers, so I never stopped about. I didn’t hear anything about it until mom showed me the obituary. 📰 I haven’t seen anything on social media, I’m debating about going to his celebration of life event – I probably should go but I’ll end up missing more work.

I am continuing to work on my software for parsing the local tax rolls into useful spreadsheets that I can import into my GIS program. 🌐There is so many interesting uses of that data and I’m continuing to parse it for more data. Geocoding is one of many uses. All of the local tax rolls are in the same format so what works for Albany also works for Birdsall in Allegany County. 🐦 Property valuation is an interesting topic as is figuring out people’s tax bills and how they compare.

As previously noted, next Monday is Last Sunset After 8 PM 🌆 when the sun will be setting at 8:01 pm with dusk at 8:31 pm. On that day in 2018, we had humid weather, partly sunny and temperatures between 79 and 67 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 81 degrees. We hit a record high of 99 back in 1944.

Washbowl Reflects

September 16, 2017 12 PM Update

Good afternoon! Mostly sunny and 77 degrees on our way up to 82  degrees at Moss Island in Little Falls. Calm wind. The dew point is 65 degrees. The muggy weather ends tomorrow around noontime. Feels like a summer afternoon here at Moss Island. 

Tonight will be mostly clear, with a low of 59 degrees at 5am. Eight degrees above normal. Maximum dew point of 66 at 6pm. West wind around 6 mph becoming north after midnight. In 2016, we had partly cloudy skies. It got down to 55 degrees. The record low of 32 occurred back in 1959.

The sun will set at 7:06 pm with dusk around 7:34 pm, which is one minute and 49 seconds earlier than yesterday. At sunset, look for mostly clear conditions and 75 degrees. The dew point will be 65 degrees. There will be a west breeze at 5 mph. Today will have 12 hours and 25 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 54 seconds over yesterday.

Tomorrow will have patchy fog before 9am. Otherwise, sunny, with a high of 83 degrees at 3pm. 11 degrees above normal. Maximum dew point of 63 at 11am. Southeast wind 3 to 5 mph. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies. The high last year was 78 degrees. The record high of 89 was set in 1942.

Rather amazing how quickly it warmed up this morning, although with temperatures expected to reach into the mid 80s by afternoon, I guess it’s really not all that surprising in the grand scheme of things. Really feels and looks like a muggy summer day here on Moss Island. 

Last night was really nice by the campfire, even though it meant setting up in the dark, and the nights were long. I still stayed up to 11 PM, which seems a lot later now that the sun is setting at 7 PM.

A few times last night the low voltage relay kicked in but I thought it was from the voltage drop from all the lights I had connected before I had the propane lantern on. Turns out that the accessory battery is no longer charging in the truck. I thought maybe the crimp connector was lose on the switch in the truck — I disconnected it and twisted it in with a second wire to power the CB radio relay last week, so I replaced that crimp connector. Took 30 seconds to do. Nope. Not sure what the issue is but I’m thinking now that the issue might that the in rush current that we’re caused by laptop charger hooked to the relay caused the fuse to blow between the starting and accessory battery. I am going to need the voltage meter and possibly the socket set to replace the fuse if neccessary. I’m toying with the idea of replacing the fuse with a breaker, as I’ve blown too many fuses over the years due to occasional in rush currents. I’m not going to be able to fix that until I get home on Sunday though, so my truck cap will be dark and my campsite will have to use the lantern with no Christmas or other lights. But’s fine. It’s more of a wilderness experience. Lantern is working fine, despite accidentally dropping it yesterday.

The colors are changing a bit up on Piseco-Powley Road but little change down here in Little Falls. That’s fine, I didn’t expect much color in the valley right now. Saw a hunter with a 22 heading back on the Big Alderbed Trail, inevitably in search of squrriels. I think this time of year, you would be better off with a shotgun and even seven shot, but I guess not everybody likes breaking their teeth on leadshot.

This morning I looked under my truck and saw something hanging down from it. I thought it was a stick but looking more carefully it looked like a rather thick, but old looking wire. Upon closer inspection, I discovered it was a snaking, hanging out from the frame. I wonder if it came all the way from Delmar. I touched it and then tried to get a picture but by the time I got my cellphone out it was gone. Oh, well, too bad.

All I can say is it is definitely a nice morning here at Moss Island. Just starting to explore it on foot now, will put the kayak in at the lower boat launch and paddle around later. Assuming I have enough time I want to visit the Potholers this afternoon, although I do need time to gather firewood when I get back and want to go for an evening paddle on the East Branch. I guess we will see how time goes. 

Looking ahead, there are 7 weeks until Beaver Moon when the sun will be setting at 5:46 pm with dusk at 6:16 pm. On that day in 2016, we had mostly sunny skies and temperatures between 53 and 31 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 53 degrees. We hit a record high of 76 back in 1994.

August 16, 2015 evening

Good evening, on this hot and sticky Sunday evening. 77 degrees and pretty sticky. Going to be warm evening tonight, only getting down to 66 degrees. Tommorow will be a scorcher, with temperatures expected to reach 92 degrees in the city by mid-afternoon. Lots of humidity to make the weather feel even warmer, with dewpoints pushing 70.

I ended up deciding to go to Piseco Powley Road this weekend with the temperatures expected to reach 90 degrees and preferring the increased shade and Potholers over camping at White House and driving into Wells in the daytime to fish and swim. I’d rather be in the deep Adirondack woods in this weather.

Friday night driving up to the Adirondacks was not too bad with traffic being light leaving the city but once I got to NY 5 near Rectors it started to pour and it was almost tricky driving at times. The rain mostly stopped by the time I got to St. Johnsville, and I stopped at Stewart’s to buy worms and firewood. Gathering and trying to burn wet wood is no fun. I then had to stop at Price Chopper in Johnstown to buy salsa which I forgot to buy and plates and forks to replace the ones I left home. The Hefty-brand Styrofoam plates are much more durable then the Walmart ones, you don’t end up needing to double up the plates, which ends up reducing the number you use. And they help the garbage burn just fine.

The rain had stopped by the time I got to camp but I set up a tarp to be safe. It didn’t rain at all after I got set up but the trees were shedding rain all evening. A group of people were fishing off Powley Bridge until almost 11 p.m. so I kept the music down and didn’t spend the time I would have liked staring at the stars on the bridge. Later on it didn’t matter much for the stars as it was pretty cloudy, so the stars were either really soft or non existent. Plus by then I was a pretty drunk.

The next morning was cloudy. I made up a nice breakfast of eggs and all the fixings on the grill. It was pretty good. All morning though it looked like it was going to pour. I was a bit hung over from the night before, so I didn’t get much of an early start – plus why drive all the way to Piseco if you think it’s going to rain. I saw some hunters head back to Big Alderbed. They were in camo and had shotguns slung on their backs. Struck me as unusual, but then I realized, they’re probably our looking for buck scrapes and many hunters carry long guns in NY because not everyone has a pistol permit in our fine state.

Went up to Piseco but it looked like the swimming beach at Poplar Point Campground was closed. I probably should have stopped and asked the attendant, but I figured it was getting late and I’d rather spend my afternoon paddling Big Bay off of NY 10. Piseco Lake is kind of big and choppy for kayaking and you’d have to watch for power boats. It was really a bit too chilly for swimming on Saturday with clouds and a breeze making it seem cooler than what the mercury said.

Big Bay was nice but didn’t catch any fish. I could only use the artificial lures that I had because I was out of fish hooks again. I did buy worms but without hooks they were pretty useless. Big Bay is a nice paddle, however it is shallow in many places and you will bottom out your canoe or kayak quite easily. The pointy Irondequoit Mountain on the north-side of the lake adds visual interest, as does Mud Lake Mountain and Three Sisters Mountain to the east. You can paddle Big Bay up through the narrows on the west end until it turns north, heading up to Piseco Lake. At that point boulders block the way. If the lake level was higher, you still wouldn’t be able to reach Piseco Lake as there is a small dam at the end of Piseco Lake. Campsite 3 at the end of the narrows looked quite nice. For details, see the map of Big Bay on the blog .

Got back to camp a little before 5 pm. It was kind of hot and it looked like a storm was about to come through. Got the charcoal fired up and started getting dinner set up. Discovered that I left the hamburger home. Fortunately, I packed Italian sausage from last week and had some rice to go with it along with freshly grilled mushrooms and broccoli that I got at the farmers market of Friday to go with it. Had a brief rain shower, but with the tarp up it was no big deal. Probably was over in 5 minutes.

Read some more of the Gun Guys book until well after dark. They were back fishing on the bridge but quit around 9:30 p.m., so I could once again crank up the music. The fire started good then kind of burnt out while I was reading. Found some tinder and with a quick squirt of lighter fluid was burning brightly again. Stayed up to 11 PM when I was exhausted and ready for bed.

Had another great grilled breakfast on Sunday, the same thing that I had Saturday. Eggs with all the fixings. It was a beautiful sunny morning, not too hot or humid, at least in the Adirondacks. Had a couple of cups of coffee then took down camp. Did a little shooting, until the shotgun magazine tube jammed. I got the shotgun unjammed and managed to get dirt in the muzzle after removing it and proceeding to accidentally stick it in the dirt. I wasn’t able to clean it because the solvent leaked out in my truck and I was out of solvent. Fine, I was done shooting for the weekend.

Paddled about the 1/2 mile stretch of the East Canada Creek between the beaver dams. The water level was a foot lower than last time so if I wanted to go beyond the first beaver dam downstream I would have to get out of the kayak and portage it. I hate portaging beaver dams so I skipped that and headed back. It was fine, I was running somewhat late.

Get the kayak mostly loaded up and the ropes tied, and I start tying the final bungees and rachet straps and I fall from the side of the cap step onto the ground. It’s only a two foot fall but there is a small drainage ditch somebody has dug there for a potholes in the can driveway – and I hear a loud crack – my left ankle. Sitting in the mud, I know I have a problem. I didn’t cuss or scream but I could have. Using my upper body, I pull myself into my truck seat and sit. I’m fucked I tell myself. I guess I can flag down a few passing motorist and get help tying that last set of bungees and rachet straps to the truck. After a few minutes I can put a little weight on the ankle and decide I can pull my body up to at least do the rachet strap and the bungees. I manage to get up there mostly on one foot and tie it on. I didn’t think I could do the front ropes but they are mostly for my peace of mind and to keep an eye on the kayak while driving.

I leave the campsite not doing a final sweep to look for things left behind. At the time I just didn’t have the strength to do much walking. Tightening up that final rope was tough. But by the time I got to the Potholers, by not using my foot it seemed better. I limped out of the truck, and climbed up one last time to get the front rope hooked up. I was able to climb up there one more time with my one leg and hands. I then limped down to the Potholers, and proceeded to spend some time there. I had to walk back to my truck (1/4 mile away) to get the sunscreen. I was okay, but in a little bit of pain and doing a lot of limping. The sore foot didn’t help the cooling off much. The potholers were low, and I was kind of afraid of slipping and falling on granite, being that I was doing so much limping. The water was refreshing but it’s fun when there is a bit more water going over the falls.

I drove back to the campsite and did a visual inspection to make sure I had everything. I didn’t really get out of the truck but the campsite looked fine with nothing left behind, and I knew I had my keys, and a few other critical and relatively expensive or important things in my truck. I drove home barefoot, not stopping once. My foot didn’t bother me much on the way home.

I got home and was able to again climb up with my hands to get to the roof to untie the kayak. Dropping the kayak off the roof wasn’t too difficult once I got the ropes off, I could do it by leaning against the truck and gravity doing most of the work. I didn’t actually drop it, but carefully lowered it with my hands. Granted, that’s not a good way to do it with my back, but I wanted it off because if the sprain sets in overnight, I might otherwise be stuck with the kayak on my roof for a while. Certainly you have to be tall and nimble to get it on and off.

I got things cleaned up and put away in about two hours which is longer then usual, but I was limping around. I wanted to make sure I didn’t leave out any dirty dishes or food, because again, I’m unsure of how bad the ankle will be in the morning. The stairs were mostly crawled up and down, because I could only put minimal weight on the ankle before it started to hurt like a mother.

Dad picked me up for Sunday dinner so I wouldn’t have to climb into Big Red on Monday. I could probably do it but if my ankle is really bad, it could be very difficult. After dinner it started to set up a little more and become more sore, but hopefully it will only last a couple of days. Tommorow I will go to the doctor and get an x-ray and the ankle checked out. Hopefully I will be feeling good enough to take a trip on Thursday through Sunday next week, but at this point I’m skeptical. WebMD says it only will last a few days, but it hurts something awful right now.