Hassle FREE camping Daks...

going to the Keene Valley area for a good part of August... looking for dirtbag central if it exists in this area... any suggestions?

The meadows just outside of the High Peaks Loj has plenty of free camping sites, but it's a little ways out of Keene. Another place to try is right were tick river crosses under the rt 73 near malfunction junction. It's not too far from the beer walls and offers a pretty nice tenting area. If nothing else, just hike in a few yards on one of the numerous trail heads in the area and set up camp. If you need any more information don't hesitate to PM me.

There's free camping in Chapel Pond pass. 14 day limit. There's a small dirt road right across from the entrance to the spiders web. It's kind of like a parking lot/ dirt campground. More sights up the hill in the woods. Puts you with in walking distance to the pond, Spiders Web, Beer Walls, slabs, and all of the washbowl cliffs...

E thatcher wrote:There's free camping in Chapel Pond pass. 14 day limit. There's a small dirt road right across from the entrance to the spiders web. It's kind of like a parking lot/ dirt campground. More sights up the hill in the woods. Puts you with in walking distance to the pond, Spiders Web, Beer Walls, slabs, and all of the washbowl cliffs...

+1
If you stay there, you can climb different routes and crags for at least a week without even having to move your car.

Thanks everybody.

The chapel pond area works pretty well, just be careful about which set of trees you camp around. The closest I've ever come to being killed on a climbing trip came from camping in that area when a wind storm came through, luckily we just got out of it with a totaled car, deformed cooking pots, and other assorted trashed gear.

My advice, bring a chainsaw.

Michael Dupont wrote:The chapel pond area works pretty well, just be careful about which set of trees you camp around. The closest I've ever come to being killed on a climbing trip came from camping in that area when a wind storm came through, luckily we just got out of it with a totaled car, deformed cooking pots, and other assorted trashed gear. My advice, bring a chainsaw.

That made me giggle a bit. Not for your loss, but for the matter of fact way you posted this. :p

+2 for Chapel Pond pass area. In the latest Rock and Ice they even mention the couple camping spots directly below the slab area, which we've recently used and thought of as a special kind of spot. The drawback with those particular locations are the night climbers who do the slab by headlamp. Generally they're quiet but the communications on the slab is easily heard and can keep you up... and the road noise... and the possible drunk campers nearby...

There's camping along Route 73 between the Route 9N intersection and Chapel Pond. Look for dirt roads and turn offs.

Sadly none of this is a secret anymore, there's even a map somewhere on the DEC site with all the camping areas marked for certain parts of the park. [so I don't want to receive hatemail for posting ANY of this, got it?? these things are no longer word of mouth secrets!]

example document: esf.edu/nywild/publications…

example internet beta: adkforum.com/showthread.php…

There is also was marked primitive camping on the South side (North way side) of the Stone Bridge over the Bouquet River on Rte 73, at least two sites. One used to be almost drive up, but Irene took care of that. The pull off faces South and runs back towards the bridge.