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Best Tent Camping near Keene Valley, NY

724 Reviews

The Adirondack High Peaks region surrounding Keene Valley, New York offers numerous primitive tent camping options ranging from established campgrounds to remote backcountry sites. Wilderness Campground at Heart Lake provides designated tent sites with nearby access to major hiking trails, while backcountry locations like Marcy Dam, Feldspar Lean-to, and Lake Colden offer more secluded tent camping experiences. The area features several hike-in tent sites that serve as bases for accessing popular peaks including Mount Marcy, Algonquin, and the Great Range.

Most primitive tent campsites in this region require proper bear-resistant food storage containers, as black bear activity is common. Campfires are prohibited at most backcountry tent sites in the High Peaks Wilderness, including Feldspar, Sno-Bird, and Lake Colden areas, requiring campers to bring camp stoves for cooking. Tent sites at higher elevations like Sno-Bird experience colder temperatures and stronger winds than valley locations. Vault toilets or pit privies are available at most designated camping areas, though toilet paper is not provided. Water sources are generally available near campsites but require filtration or treatment.

The backcountry tent camping experience near Keene Valley offers exceptional solitude, particularly on weekdays. Many tent sites are positioned near water sources, including the numerous sites along Lake Colden's shoreline and Feldspar's proximity to flowing water. Sites fill quickly during summer weekends, particularly at popular areas like Marcy Dam and Heart Lake. Winter tent camping is possible at many locations, with lean-tos providing alternative shelter during harsh weather. Several sites serve as strategic overnight points for multi-day backpacking trips through the High Peaks region. According to one visitor, "Marcy Dam is conveniently located near the trails for Mt. Marcy, Mt. Colden, and Avalanche Pass, but don't expect facilities – this is backcountry camping."

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Best Tent Sites Near Keene Valley, New York (42)

    1. Wilderness Campground at Heart Lake

    9 Reviews
    Lake Placid, NY
    9 miles
    Website
    +1 (518) 523-3441

    $25 - $55 / night

    "There’s no explaining the views around here. The mountains are beautiful, Lake Placid is beautiful, and this campsite is amazing."

    "Rode in on a motorcycle late at night expecting to not be able to get in, but you can take a parking pass and drop an envelope with your fee at the entrance booth. $15 for a full day $8 after 1PM."

    2. Feldspar Lean-to

    3 Reviews
    Keene Valley, NY
    10 miles

    "One lean-to and 3 campsites.

    2 near the lean-to across the bridge.

    1 on the other side.

    There's also a privy.

    It's far out and the only way to access is by hiking."

    "If you’re coming from Marcy Dam by way of Lake Colden, this campsite is a great spot to stop for the night on the way to Mt. Marcy."

    3. Saranac Lake Islands Adirondack Preserve Campground

    15 Reviews
    Saranac Lake, NY
    21 miles
    Website
    +1 (518) 891-2841

    $22 - $40 / night

    "You'll need a boat or canoe (rentals available in Saranac Lake). Sites have tables, fire rings, and outhouses. You'll need a tent, bag, pad, cooking equipment, etc."

    "All campsites have picnic tables, firepits/grills, and privies. Saranac Lake Marina has great rental boats. I even think the dogs look forward to these camping trips."

    4. Marcy Dam Backcountry Campsites

    2 Reviews
    Keene Valley, NY
    8 miles
    Website

    "This campground is conveniently located near the trails for Mt. Marcy, Mt. Colden, and Avalanche Pass. Everything is first come first serve."

    "The scenery was gorgeous and there were lots of nice hikes around."

    5. Flowed Lands

    3 Reviews
    Keene Valley, NY
    12 miles
    Website

    "The view of the lake is stunning, and there's a quick walk down to the edge of the lake."

    "The lake is gorgeous, although it wasn't as big as I thought it was going to be. I went late August, so I beat the initial summer rush, but there was still a good amount of people there."

    6. Sno-Bird

    2 Reviews
    Keene Valley, NY
    7 miles
    Website
    +1 (518) 897-1200

    "There is a small stream for filtering water ~50' down trail from the campsite that will likely be running all year. Snowbird is the only campsite that is above 4000' in the park."

    7. Bushnelle Falls Campsite

    1 Review
    Keene Valley, NY
    6 miles

    $10 / night

    "Lots of tent sites and 2 lean-to.

    2 privy.

    Near the river and a huge falls too.

    Campsite is FREE (but entry is 10$ day)"

    8. Lake Colden

    2 Reviews
    Keene Valley, NY
    11 miles

    $30 - $60 / night

    "First and foremost, I had a black bear encounter at this location. Make sure that you remain bear aware and are taking the appropriate safety measures. "

    "Lake Colden camping area is a spread out collection of campsites lean-tos surrounding the south side of Lake Colden in the High Peaks Wildnerness in Adirondack Park."

    9. Lillian brook campground

    1 Review
    Keene Valley, NY
    9 miles
    Website
    +1 (518) 897-1200

    "You have the Lillian brook flowing right next to it.

    Clear water with big rock pool to swim in (COLD)

    You can collect the water but use a filter or tabs to be safe."

    10. MacIntyre Brook Falls campground

    1 Review
    Lake Placid, NY
    9 miles
    Website
    +1 (518) 897-1200

    "It's on a side trail (left side).

    Bear canisters required."

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Recent Tent Camping Photos near Keene Valley, NY

71 Photos of 42 Keene Valley Campgrounds

Tent Camping Reviews near Keene Valley, NY

724 Reviews of 42 Keene Valley Campgrounds

  • Amber A.
    Jul. 25, 2016

    Ausable Point Campground

    Ranger Review: Crazy Creek Air Chair Plus at Ausable Point Campground

    Campground Review: Lakeshore camping! Beautiful little peninsula where you can watch the sunrise/set. Lovely in autumn. Good birding, water activities, sunsets, geology/gorge, short easy forest hikes, beach walking, all the good stuff you expect from this part of New York. Most of the site is off limits because of wildlife preserve, still a lot to explore. Good as base camp for a few days in the area. Get the tents sites near the lake! Popular for day use area (picnics, birthday parties, etc). Stay here and you can say you camped in Peru! (Lots of upstate NY towns are named for countries.)

    Gear Review: As a The Dyrt Ranger I receive products to test and review. I won the Crazy Creek Air Chair Plus in a campground review contest in June 2016. I had been thinking of purchasing both a camp chair (for camping) and an air mattress (for camping & backpacking), as on my last few trips I got pretty sick of sitting on my closed-cell foam mat and a recent knee injury was making me rethink my open-cell foam ultralight sleeping pad. Well, this Crazy Creek Air Chair Plus does both and does them both well. It starts out as a camp chair (adjustable angle, typical back height) and flips open to a full size air pad made by Klymit. Sounds great right? I flew to NY for a whirlwind family/business/camping trip soon after receiving the chair and had ample opportunities to try it sleeping on friends’ floors and in tents. The chair portion was super comfortable, way better than any simple camp chairs I’d used. I was nervous about sitting on more rugged surfaces (I’m just paranoid about inflatables!) but so far so good. You can also flip open the bed part while you're sitting and have an extended leg rest to protect against hot sand or dirt. The conversion to the sleeping pad was simple. It inflates fairly easily, but at high altitude after a long day of hiking you might be a little annoyed puffing it all up. Sleeping on it was great: my knee and back were happier than with my open-cell foam mats (similar to the typical Thermarest). The one issue I had was that there’s a big dip/joint where the mattress flips out in the conversion from chair to bed---it’s not really that intrusive but I guess my side-sleeping and height (5’4”) conspired to annoy me a bit. Also the R value is very low (it’s not insulting) just like every other air pad but in the summer that’s fine with me. All the other aspects of sleeping on it were similar to other pads I’ve used (it’s kind of narrow, your bag will slide around a bit, etc). Doesn’t pack down too small & isn’t ultralight, but you could remove the chair aspect to help with that. In sleeping mode it’s 20” wide, 70” long, 2.5” thick, 2 lb 13 oz (according to packaging). So while this is my very first camp chair and air mattress, I’m really happy with it after 7 nights sleeping on it and many hours in the chair. It’s not gimmicky at all!

    PS: Can you tell I’m way more picky about gear than campsites? :)

  • Craig F.
    Jul. 23, 2018

    North Beach Campground

    Amazing Location!

    We thoroughly enjoyed our stay at North Beach Campground.

    We spent 4 days in a full hookup site. The site was spacious, tree covered, and hard packed grass/dirt. Overall the site was very level with good water pressure. The water/electric sites in the middle of the campground were a bit snug. The campground is a city operated campground and we were impressed with the upkeep, maintenance and friendly service during our stay. The camp office is small, but has information on area attractions, Ice, and fire wood. The bathhouse/restrooms were well kept during our stay even with the volume of campers at the site.

    Location, Location, Location is the main reason to stay at North Beach. The campground is literally along the Island Line bike/walking trail and had direct access to the beach on Lake Champlain (life guards, snack bar, and patio bar). The city center of Burlington is only 1.5 miles along the bike path from the campground. Most days we either walked or biked into town (which has ample bike racks to park your bike).

    While we stayed in our camper, as a former die-hard tent camper, I was impressed with the number of tent friendly sites, because most campgrounds see tenters as “second class”. The tent sites were spacious, level, and not located in some obscure location.  

    We loved North Beach and plan to camp here in the future!

  • Matthew D.
    Oct. 10, 2018

    Cedar River Entrance Camping

    Cedar River Campground

    Stayed at site number 5, I think. It was by the water in the woods just a little bit. Picnic table, fire ring and several outhouses nearby. Beautiful surroundings. There is a small landing to launch kayaks or canoes. A dam with some additional sites on the other side. Town is about 20-30 minutes away. Several trails nearby. Would recommend.  

    Also would recommend traveling further in if you are looking for more sites.

  • Kate K.
    Aug. 1, 2019

    Camel's Hump State Park — Camels Hump State Park

    Amazing Hike! Great Campground

    This is a short and sweet hike to one of the higher points in Vermont. It is a beautiful scenic (somewhat strenuous) hike to the summit. The views are pretty epic though. The designated primitive camping area is about 1.5 miles into the hike. If I recall it had about 10-12 sites. The area had a host who was there 24/7 and a shared area for eating and food storage (I guess Bear’s are a problem there). We hiked all day, so we didn’t have a fire and to be honest I can’t remember if there was a shared spot for them or not. Either way, this hike was gorgeous and so was the camping. I would love to go back!

  • Maribeth W.
    Aug. 30, 2016

    Lake Harris Campground

    Wet but beautiful!

    We got rained out!! Our site did have good drainage and ample tree cover so that helped. Easy access to buy firewood on the road into the campground.

  • Lauren S.
    Jul. 27, 2020

    Moosalamoo Campground

    Hidden Gem

    Tucked down a gravel road in the Green Mountain National Forest is this hidden treasure. Large sites, friendly campground host, the moosalamoo trailhead right next to campground. The trail connects to many others. You will pass several trailheads on your way up to the campground. Many of the sites are reservable, others are first come first serve. You will find a pay station as you enter the campsite. The camp host is at site 1. Surprisingly clean vault toilets. No showers. There are dumpsters on the way out for trash and recycling. I saw bear storage lockers but I did not use them as I had my bear keg with me. Behind the parking spur at the site there is gravel with picnic table and fire pit. Beyond that in the trees was a spot for the tent. I didn’t experience many bugs, no mosquitoes, what I saw the most of were caterpillars. But If you needed bug spray or forgot anything back in town a few miles Ripton grocery has you covered.

  • Natalie N.
    Jul. 25, 2018

    Draper’s Acres

    Campground with options

    Great campground with secluded sites most with woods behind each site, especially the tent area. The RV and tent camping is well separated and there are different kinds of RV space available as well. The showers are a bit gross, but free. The cabins look nice but a little close together. They don’t pick up the phone right away so call a few times to get ahold of someone. We had water/electric for a trailer at $35 a night in perfect location between Keene Valley and Lake Placid. Sites were clean and the fire pits were beautiful! We camped in site 45 and were pleasantly left alone.

  • Lee D.The Dyrt PRO User
    Oct. 8, 2019

    AuSable Chasm Campground

    Closest campground to Ausable Chasm

    We travel in a 17-foot camper van, but no one ever believes that we are no bigger than a standard cargo van and can easily fit in a regular size parking space. Upon arrival at Ausable Chasm, we were told we had to take a site with water and electric since we had a camper van. These sites were $13 more per night and we really did not need the hookups. We were finally able to convince the staff that we could take a standard tent site, which was more than big enough. 

    The road through the campground is dirt and rutted but the speed limit is 5 mph, so it wasn’t that bad, but it would be a mess if it was raining. 

    Bathrooms and shower rooms are individual rooms, but the doors are not labeled so it’s a game of “what’s behind door number 1?”  There was no light in the shower room that I looked at so a night shower would be out of the question. The bathrooms were clean and had soap, paper towels, a garbage receptacle, and a mirror in each. 

    Lots of ant hills throughout the campground so be cautious where you set up a tent. Each site has a picnic table and a fire ring. Large and nice-looking playground, pool, volleyball net, disc golf and mountain biking/hiking trails. It also looked like there were cross country ski trails but not sure if the campground or cabins would be open in the winter. 

    Biggest advantage is that Ausable Chasm(a separate business) is directly across the street from the campground and it is very close to the ferry that will take you to Burlington, VT, our next destination.

  • Linsey S.
    Sep. 6, 2021

    Lake Placid/Whiteface Mountain KOA Holiday

    Great Campground, Full Amenities

    Spent 3 days, 2 nights here from a Wednesday-Friday. Very large and busy campground, close to Lake Placid and other cool activities to take in. Pros- hot showers, convenient laundromat, you are guided to your site by staff on golf carts. Cons- tent sites aren’t given much privacy, on the days we stayed we were put very close to the main building when we requested a spot near the back away from the busy area, kids allowed to run and yelling and screaming WELL after quiet hours.

Guide to Keene Valley

The Adirondack High Peaks region surrounding Keene Valley sits at elevations ranging from 1,000 to 5,000+ feet, creating distinctive microclimates that affect tent camping conditions. Winter temperatures regularly drop below 0°F, while summer nights often dip into the 40s even when daytime temperatures reach the 80s. Campers in this area must contend with the region's 60+ inches of annual precipitation, which can turn trails into muddy challenges quickly.

What to do

Summit Mount Skylight: From Lake Colden campsites, tackle this challenging 4,926-foot peak for exceptional views. "From Lake Colden, if you'd like to bag some peaks you can hike Mt. Colden, Mt. Skyline, the backside of Mt. Marcy, or Algonquin Peak. A word of caution, I'm in relatively good shape and I found some of these hikes quite strenuous," notes Ethan A.

Lake swimming: Tent sites at Saranac Lake Islands offer direct water access. "Huge sites, a lot of privacy (nearest campsite in most cases is not even visible). We kayaked before, and found the biggest drawback was impossible to bring a lot of food and a cooler. Bought a small aluminum boat with a motor and now can bring a lot more gear," shares Kelly H.

Rock jumping: Several natural swimming spots have jump rocks for more adventurous visitors. "Great swimming from site. Found a great rock to jump from. Lots of loons, toads and fish," reports Angela about Saranac Lake Islands.

Winter camping options: The Wilderness Campground at Heart Lake operates year-round with heated facilities for cold-weather tent camping. "My boyfriend and I visited in late March when there was still a decent amount of snow on the site. Despite the lake being frozen over, the views just steps away from our lean to were gorgeous. The staff were really friendly and someone is available 24/7 in case you run into issues," says Kayla M.

What campers like

Strategic positioning for peak-bagging: Feldspar Lean-to serves as an ideal staging point for hiking multiple mountains. "If you're coming from Marcy Dam by way of Lake Colden, this campsite is a great spot to stop for the night on the way to Mt. Marcy. There's a good water flow for water that is safe to drink (suggest bringing iodine just in case)," advises Seth K.

Privacy between sites: Many tent campers appreciate the thoughtful layout. "Despite a rather high density of sites they are well designed and the campground is quiet and dark at night for good rest," notes Tigan W. about Wilderness Campground at Heart Lake.

Water access for filtering: Lillian Brook Campground provides reliable water sources year-round. "You have the Lillian brook flowing right next to it. Clear water with big rock pool to swim in (COLD). You can collect the water but use a filter or tabs to be safe," explains Alex R.

Island camping experiences: The isolation of water-access-only tent sites creates a unique experience. "Love this place! There's something novelty about getting in a boat and paddling to your island for the week! We went off season so camping was free! Brought our dog and he had a blast exploring the island at his own whim," shares Molly G. about Saranac Lake Islands.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is the most popular tent campsite near Keene Valley, NY?

According to TheDyrt.com, the most popular tent campground near Keene Valley, NY is Wilderness Campground at Heart Lake with a 5-star rating from 9 reviews.

What is the best site to find tent camping near Keene Valley, NY?

TheDyrt.com has all 42 tent camping locations near Keene Valley, NY, with real photos and reviews from campers.

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