Lake Champlain.
Lake Champlain forms the entire eastern boundary of the Adirondack Park — 120 miles of shoreline from Whitehall north to the Canadian border, with the bulk of the named bays, boat launches, and state campgrounds concentrated in the broader basin north of Ticonderoga. The lake holds every species you'd expect in a massive, deep, cold-water system: landlocked salmon, lake trout, bass, pike, walleye, and a seasonal run of steelhead in the Boquet and Saranac tributaries. Most Adirondack access is via the string of DEC launch sites and campgrounds along NY-9N and NY-22 — Crown Point, Westport, Willsboro Bay, and Point au Roche among them. On a clear day from the High Peaks, Champlain is the blue line on the eastern horizon; from the lake itself, the peaks are a fifty-mile wall of granite running south from Whiteface.
Lake Champlain has public access. Summits nearby include Split Rock Mountain and Phelps Rocks.
The water, surveyed.
Before you launch.
Seasonal pattern for this lake · live closures appear above
12 parking areas
Closest parking lots within range, ranked by walking distance. Accessibility flags come from Google verified-data and NYSDEC records; surface and capacity from NYSDEC and OpenStreetMap. Confirm hours and seasonal closures before you go.
- 01Peru Dock Boat Launch ParkingTrailhead5.2 mipavedDirections →
- 02Port Douglass Boat Launch Parking14.3 mipavedDirections →
- 03Willsboro Bay Boat Launch Parking20.1 mipavedDirections →
- 04Poke-O-Moonshine Rock Climber Parking20.3 miunpavedDirections →
- 05Poke-O-Moonshine Hiker Parking20.3 miunpavedDirections →
- 06Poke-O-Moonshne Fire Tower Parking Area21.3 miunpavedDirections →
- 07Webb-Royce Trail Parking Lot30.7 miunpavedDirections →
- 08Louis Clearing Bay Trail Parking31.6 miunpavedDirections →
+4 more on the map above
Lake Champlain.
From the people who’ve been here, plus what Google has on file.
What’s in the water.
NYSDEC has stocked this water across 13 recent seasons — the ledger below is the public record.
The stocking record.
Launch & supply.
Getting in, staying over.
On the water.
NOAA Electronic Navigational Charts — Federal chart data: buoys, lights, wrecks, obstructions, and depth contours.
OpenStreetMap seamarks — Community-charted markers, © OpenStreetMap contributors.
What the lake is doing today.
What rings this water.
The peaks.
Read before you launch.
Make a weekend of it.
Closest editorial picks for a meal, a scoop, a pint, a bed, and a sight worth your time.
Eat.
1— 22.6 mi to the nearest table out here; plan the drive to dinner.
Add to the record.
Free, takes thirty seconds. Yours forever.
Every page on this site gets better when readers contribute. Mark a peak you’ve climbed, drop a photo, file a field note, or flag a correction — every addition makes the next visitor’s page better.
Add a shot.
Sunrise on the dock, a cairn at the summit, a bend on the trail. Your camera roll, our archive.
Add a photo →File a report.
Trail conditions, water level, bug pressure, blowdown. The kind of detail that helps the next person plan.
Write a field note →Spot something off?
Wrong elevation, outdated access notes, a coordinate that's drifted. We'd rather hear it than miss it.
Suggest an edit →Frequently asked.
- Where is Lake Champlain located?Lake Champlain is a lake in the Keene region of the Adirondack Park in northern New York State.
- How big is Lake Champlain?Lake Champlain has a surface area of approximately 66,919 acres, a large lake by Adirondack standards.
- Is Lake Champlain open to the public?Yes, Lake Champlain has public access. See the listing page for current trailhead, parking, and boat-launch details, and check active DEC advisories before visiting.
- Can you camp at Lake Champlain?Within roughly seven miles of Lake Champlain: 197 designated campsites, 46 lean-tos or shelters, 1 listed campground. Permit and primitive-camping rules vary; check NYSDEC before you go.