Stealth camping at Lily Pond in New York’s Harriman State Park. Easy access if you bring both a car and a bike!
It’s Friday night, so grab your backpack and go!
Note: This post contains information on stealth camping in Harriman State Park. Stealth camping, by definition, is the practice of using sites that are not permitted according to park regulations.
Lily Pond (GPS: 41.21634 N, 74.11139 W)
Lovely Lily Pond is located just off Lake Welch Drive, in Harriman State Park. It’s not along any major trails, but is in a great spot if you don’t want to hike your stuff in for miles — .3 of a mile from the road, and you’re there. The pond is a long, open field of lily pads tucked under a hillside.
There’s no parking for your car near this (unsanctioned!) campsite, so you’ll need to either hike in from another trail, or — better yet — throw a bike in the back of your car, dump your gear off at the gated entrance to the trailhead on the Old Turnpike, and then drive to an overnight parking spot two miles away at Lake Sebago Boat Launch, on Seven Lakes Drive. You can leave your car there, and bike to the trailhead, then chain your bike underneath one of those nice fluffy pine trees standing near the gate, in the meadow. Hike the rest of the way in, following the dashed line shown on the map below. You’ll see the trail where it starts from the gate; it’s a rough, grassy deer path that leaves to the right, past a pine tree, up a little hill that follows a stone wall on the right.
Fire ring in the middle of a stealth camping site, at Harriman State Park’s Lily Pond, in New York.
Follow this trail to the edge of the pond. Keep going, until a .3 mile from the start, you’ll see an opening in the barberry thicket on the left of the trail, The rough campsite’s down below.
This is a nice level campsite with a grassy floor, a fire ring, and trees close enough to hang a hammock.
The area is surrounded by tall oaks and maples, and lots of blueberry. The Lily Pond is choked with pads late in the year, but in early summer it’s probably a good place for bass fishing.
A stream feeds the pond at its western end, where fresh water is available but should be filtered.
The Old Turnpike crosses a small meadow with fluffy pine trees and whispering grasses.
Get There:
Get to the unofficial campsite by taking the Palisades Parkway north to exit 14. Take the exit and turn left off the ramp onto Route 98. Follow 98 for a mile or so, then stay to the left when it merges with Rte. 106. Stay on Rte 106 as it crosses Lake Welch, and then keep an eye out for St. John’s Road on the left. Turn left onto St. John’s Road, take it to the end, and then turn left onto Lake Welch Drive. At a little over half a mile, you’ll see a gated road across a grassy meadow. That’s the Old Turnpike, and the start of the trail you’ll take to get to the Lily Pond campsite. (note: There is no sign to tell you that you’re looking at the Old Turnpike.)
Map:
Park where the Old Turnpike meets Lake Welch Drive. Following the dashed line, hike .3 miles to a break in the barberry hedge on the left side of the trail. (Ignore those other red pins on the map!)
Thanks so much for the tip! We cycled up from Manhattan and stayed here last night. It was totally beautiful.. http://cl.ly/image/201R462r312j
We even found your fire pit! 🙂
Thanks again.
JB
Outstanding! Pond’s looking good in the fall, too!
Motorcycle, or bicycle? Just curious…
Thanks for the comment. :0)
We came up on touring bicycles – that hill was a lot nicer on the way down 🙂 If it was you that left the sealed bottled water – thanks!
Do you have any more ninja stealth camping spots for us to find? 🙂
It was not me!
I’ll post more stealth spots. The park is really full of them, with fire rings and clearings everywhere. If you are hammocking, the areas north of Little Long Pond (on the Ramapo Dunderberg trail, the White Bar Trail, and that whole area around Island Pond (but away from the pond, as that tends to get busy) are characterized by lots of “balds” and clearings where you can set up a fire ring on the rocks (if there isn’t one already).
One of the sweetest places to camp is at the north end of Island Pond, where a grassy clearing sort of juts out towards the water. Probably not a good place on the weekend in the summer but after the vacations end you might get it to yourself. The GPS location is 41 15.622, -74 8.373. This is one your could almost ride your bike to. There’s a little gated road off Arden Valley Road that goes right down to the boat launch. On the map, it’s the road just east of the Crooked Road.
That’s a long bike ride!
Was there. Filled a bag with previous visitor’s beer and soda bottles, fire damaged clothes, broken sandel. Honestly, you should carry out your own junk. Keep this park pristine. I recommend bringing bear spray since it’s in the middle of a berry patch (bears love berry patches), and the fire pit is near a tree that has a large amount of deep bark damage from bear rub markings. Lots of bear scat everywhere. I saw only one bear and soon as we saw each other the bear took off. This site must be well known. When I was in my tent at night I heard a nearby barking dog. Seemed some evening hikers wanted to camp in the site as well. Overall a very lovely site. Clear pond water for filter drinking.
Why does everyone feel they need a fire? I simply use a small stove.
Hey John, I just did this tour a week ago on a fully loaded bike. It really kicked my ass! I almost gave up. Were you guys fully loaded as well? I didn’t really train but was in shape otherwise, but once I hit those hills I felt like a weakling 🙂
ha ha! Yep – fully loaded. My friend actually fell backwards off his bike it was so steep 🙂 Planning on doing it again soon, but this time gonna get the train up to Brewster then cycle across. See you out there!
In you experience, do these areas generally require a hammock, or are there any flat/clear spots for a small tent?
Hi, WBS: There are lots of spots for both hammocks and tents, even higher up.
I just want to point out that if you build a fire, you’re not practicing “leave no trace” camping.
I’ve often ‘stealth camped” in Harriman, I think if one is going to break the rules, then at least bring a backpacker stove and forgoe the campfire. It might get My homemade alcohol stove setup weighs less than a half pound, fuel included, and there are many gas stoves that weigh in at about a pound.
Bonus is you stay so much cleaner and you don’t reek of woodsmoke on the train ride home !!
Thanks for that, Rob. I’m going to review the website and take down information that breaks too many of the rules, as well. (I’ve never had an alcohol stove but saw one in one of the larger camp stores recently. A first. I’d like to try this.)
In my youth, I was told by quite a few elderly folk that Lily Pond was originally an old onion or corn field dammed up in the late 1700s or early 1800s by my great, great grandfather. As a young girl, I remember apple trees on the north hill weighing heavily with fruit. In the spring, the sweet aroma of lilacs filled the area around the old stone wall. In the summer, that same stone wall would be encased in briars tempting one to pick the berries they produced but diligently protected. Along the water’s edge on the north side, about midway of the pond, old rusted remnants of the horse barn can probably still be found by someone determined enough to spend the time looking for them. I’ve been told that the harsh winter of ’39 froze the pond completely, killing all the fish and the resident beavers. It is a lovely pond where many years ago my grandparents often took me to fish and to enjoy nature. I remember it well.
m. The winter of ’39 was particularly devastating to area residents stone wall stostone wall would be encased in briars
There is a spot on the northern hillside where an early 1900s home once stood. I have pictures of this old home and some of its residents, but the house itself was long gone prior to my birth. Oblivious to the warnings of my grandparents of snakes, spiders and other unfriendly critters, on our many fishing outings I often ran ahead of them in order to play inside what we believed to be the root cellar of that house. Quite dilapidated with its stone walls falling in and no roof overhead, that tiny space afforded me (and my imagination) hours of “pretend” time.
Lily Pond once had an abundance of large pickerel, bony but delicious. The immense beaver lodge on the south side of the pond was inaccessible during most of the year because of bushes, briars and trees. In the dead of winter, I could skate across the ice to reach it, but only after my grandfather hatcheted through the ice to make sure it was safe for me to cross. A trip or two across the pond and back would always convince me it was time for home and hot chocolate.
The east end of Lily Pond was swamp, but the west end where the beavers maintained the dam always held an ample supply of brilliant sunfish. In the south they’re bream. As usual, I would toss in some of the dirt from my worm can to attract the fish. Then it was down to business with my cane pole, old thick black braid line and a safety pin hook. Given our tackle 60 years ago, I’m still amazed that we often caught enough fish for a good evening’s supper. But we did and I enjoyed every minute we had a chance to go there.
Hey Suzy…I’m glad I came across this site!
I’m going to be solo-bike touring (ultralight, meaning less than 15 pounds on the bike) to the Catskills from the Bronx for the first time in a matter of, oh, 2 weeks…I’m looking for a cozy spot to pitch overnight, off the beaten path that would be relatively secure, meaning any spot not so popular, etc.. Any general suggestions?
I’m sorry…but this type of “sharing” is why every place that used to be pristine is now overrun, crowded, and littered..people, if you find a nice spot enjoy it, alone or with friends..but dont tell the world..please