The Adirondack Camping Challenge

I’m not a peak bagger. I camp out of my kayak, or, on an occasion, I backpack several miles in to camp. But I don’t have a 46-item list to check off. And I’ve noticed that I’ve been stuck in a rut – often camping in the same areas. I must have camped a dozen times each on Stillwater Reservoir, Cranberry Lake and Indian Lake over the past 10 years.

So how about a challenge that I could actually care about? I’ve come up with a challenge for myself to camp in every Wilderness and Wild Forest unit within the blue line. I did not include Primitive Areas because these are often small and transitional in nature. My rules are that camping can be in a tent, lean-to, hammock or under the stars. It does not have to be at a designated campsite – it could be following the rules of camping 150 ft away from waterbody, trail and road. Regular DEC campgrounds on lands designated as intensive use do not count.

A few of the Adirondack units have very few designated campsites listed, and three of the wildernesses, Little Moose Mountain, Jay Mountain and Hoffman Notch have no designated campsites or lean-tos.

So here is my list of 47 such units - which is 1 more than 46! I only list one campsite per unit where I have camped at least once. I have 20 checked off - I am not even half way there. But I’m hoping this will get me to explore more areas of the park.

Code:

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Unit Name                      Campsite Location

1. Aldrich Pond Wild Forest

2. Black River Wild Forest                  South Lake

3. Blue Mountain Wild Forest                  Lake Durrant

4. Blue Ridge Wilderness

5. Chazy Highlands Wild Forest

6. Cranberry Lake Wild Forest          Cranberry Lake #43

7. Debar Mountain Wild Forest          Lake Kushaqua

8. Ferris Lake Wild Forest                  G Lake

9. Five Ponds Wilderness                  Stillwater Res #23

10. Fulton Chain Wild Forest

11. Giant Mountain Wilderness

12. Grass River Wild Forest

13. Ha-De-Ron-Dah Wilderness

14. Hammond Pond Wild Forest

15. High Peaks Wilderness                  Raq Riv LT near Stoney Pds

16. Hoffman Notch Wilderness

17. Horseshoe Lake Wild Forest

18. Hudson Gorge Wilderness

19. Hurricane Mountain Wilderness

20. Independence River Wild Forest      Stillwater Res #45

21. Jay Mountain Wilderness

22. Jessup River Wild Forest                Fawn Lake

23. Lake George Wild Forest

24. Little Moose Mountain Wilderness

25. McKenzie Mtn Wilderness                Moose Pond (s shore)

26. Moose River Plains Wild Forest        Moose River Plains CS

27. Pepperbox Wilderness                    Mossier Reservoir

28. Pharaoh Lake Wilderness                Crane Pond

29. Pigeon Lake Wilderness                  Lower Sister Lake

30. Raquette River Wild Forest

31. Round Lake Wilderness

32. Saint Regis Canoe Area

33. Saranac Lakes Wild Forest                Floodwood Pond

34. Sargent Ponds Wild Forest                Raq Lk at Marion River

35. Sentinel Range Wilderness

36. Shaker Mountain Wild Forest

37. Siamese Ponds Wilderness                Indian Lake CS 51

38. Silver Lake Wilderness                      Spy Lake

39. Split Rock Mt Wild Forest

40. Taylor Pond Wild Forest

41. Vanderwhacker Mountain Wild Forest

42. Watson's East Triangle Wild Forest

43. West Canada Lake Wilderness            CRF CS #5

44. White Hill Wild Forest

45. Wilcox Lake Wild Forest                    Garnet Lake

46. William C. Whitney Wilderness

47. Wilmington Wild Forest


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