Off season camping in DEC Campgrounds?

[Trail Boss]

What is the policy regarding camping in a DEC Campground during the off season?

The DEC's website indicates the official camping season begins May 21st but does not indicate what the policy is prior to that date. I dropped by the Meacham Lake campground; it is accessible (i.e. no closed gates or other barriers) and the sites are in great shape.

Does anyone know if it is illegal to camp in a DEC campground during the off season? I'm talking about low-impact camping in a tent for one or two nights and not 1-2 weeks in a trailer!

PS
I don't know what Meacham Lake is like during the regular season but it was peaceful and very pretty last Sunday (April 11th). My wife and I saw a female moose and her calf amble past the main gate and the shoreline was home to geese and animal tracks.

 

[Pete_Hickey]

During hunting season, hunters are allowed to camp at them.

 

[Trail Boss]

So if you're armed, you can sleep in a DEC Campground off-season?

 

[DSettahr]

It's not so much that they are armed, as it is that they probably have permits from the local forest ranger to maintain a hunting camp on state land, it's just that their camp happens to be in the closed campground.

Contacting the forest ranger who's patrol area your campground of interest lies in is probably your best bet to figure out how to legally camp there in the off season... the Forest Rangers are the law enforcement agents who patrol the campgrounds to begin with.

 

[DSettahr]

Here's a link to a DEC webpage with links to the Forest Ranger Rosters and each rangers patrol area by Region:

http://www.dec.ny.gov/about/50303.html

 

[JoeCedar]

DEC may not want off-season camping in the campgrounds because of the problem of human waste disposal. Many campgrounds have toilets/septic systems, which would not be available off-season. Those sites with privys wouldn't matter.

Are you planning to carry it out?

 

[Trail Boss]

This morning I called the Ray Brook office (518 897-1303) and was informed that off-season camping is not permitted at DEC campgrounds.

I also wanted to learn if Backcountry camping along the trail to Debar is permitted but the appropriate person was not in the office. I'll try again later.

 

[DSettahr]

This morning I called the Ray Brook office (518 897-1303) and was informed that off-season camping is not permitted at DEC campgrounds.

I also wanted to learn if Backcountry camping along the trail to Debar is permitted but the appropriate person was not in the office. I'll try again later.

Backcountry camping on the trail to Debar is permitted. Once you get beyond the Meacham Lake Campground, you're in the Debar Wild Forest, where the regular 150 foot/designated campsite rules apply. There is also a lean-to on the trail up Debar. Like the lean-tos on Poke-o-moonshine in the eastern Adirondacks, and Bear Mountain at Cranberry Lake, the Debar Mountain Lean-to gets a lot of day hiker traffic from people at the campground hiking up Debar Mountain, but very few people spend nights there.