Best Dispersed Camping near St. Johnsville, NY

You have to work a bit to find info on the Whaupaunaucau state forest as a camping destination, but for primitive campers that is part of the appeal! This is a relatively unknown oasis outside of the county, but this state forest has a network of miles of trails for both hiking and criss country skiing. There is an offifical lean-to shelter and developed campsite on trail 20 (see map) but there are several primitive sites with tent site and stine fireplace, plus dispersed leave-no-trace camping is allowed anywhere in the state forest, and the possibilities are endless. Lovely hilly vistas, pondside glens, and lots of clearings near clear streams deep in this old stately forest. A great place to get away from it all for hiking and camping but it is also a fantastic place to go if you enjoy botanizing or birding, lots of unusual species to see. Just beware of ticks, they are invading the region

Highly Reccomend! The directions in the app are accurate -but do keep in mind that the campsite is down a dirt road which is well hidden from the main road if you aren’t paying close attention. There is no service at all.

This site is campsite 6 and very private (I believe there must be others located close by). The site has it’s own private road. A car is not reccomended. Possible to turn around but you definitley need a smaller suv. There is a firepit at the site and plenty of space for multiple tents, ground may look flat but when sleeping-definitely is not. Plenty of trees for hammocks etc. You can hear cars from the site but the cars can’t see you-loved this! The sound of the cars from the main highway is something I got used to quick. The site is mostly shaded-the sun shines through a bit but not much.

There is a river down the hill from the campsite which helps keep it fairly cool at night. The bugs were terrible.

After driving unpaved dirt road for a while, we arrived a surprisingly well maintained beautiful campsites. The pond is small so the mosquitos were not too bad. So few people passed by and very unknown quite and we just loved the experience. Just be careful driving in the sometimes rough conditions.

Love to camp here all year long have been coming to the area for a couple of decades now. Remote. Sometimes you never see anyone. Sometimes you see some people. You camp on the stream. There is a couple of spots

I live near this campground. I'm about a mile away and I pass it every day. It is rather remote, but it is right along West kill road. There's a stream alongside it, a fire pit, and a town about 8 mi away. It's a small town, with just a gas station store. I would not recommend this for large trailers. The site is fairly small, but it's in state park, and there's tons of walking that can be done.

Decent site right off of the “main” road. “Main” because it was quiet. Easy to access via a short dirt road, but also easy to miss. We only saw sites 3 and 6 marked and took #6. There was a fire ring and access to the river down a semi-steep bank. Beautiful to listen to at night. Site was big enough to pull our mid-size SUV down and unfold rooftop-tent, but we did have to back out in the morning; not enough room to turn around. Felt private despite the road.