Rules on State Land · 7 min
The High Peaks rules, and why they are different
Why this matters
If you guide in the Adirondacks you will end up in the High Peaks, and the rules there are stricter than anywhere else in the Forest Preserve. They also come up constantly on the exam because they are the clearest numeric rules the state has.
By the end of this lesson you will be able to
- State the Eastern High Peaks Zone group-size limits for day use and for camping
- List the Eastern High Peaks prohibitions a guide must enforce
- Compare the Western High Peaks Zone fire rules to the Eastern
6 NYCRR 190.13 governs Wilderness areas in the Adirondack Park, and it singles out the High Peaks Wilderness for the heaviest use in the Preserve.
Group size, Eastern and Western High Peaks Zones
| Trip type | Regulation wording | Largest lawful party |
|---|---|---|
| Day use | No person shall be part of a day use group containing 16 or more people | 15, guide included |
| Camping | No person shall camp as part of a group including nine or more people | 8, guide included |
Note how the regulation is phrased. It does not permit a party of 15; it forbids being part of a group of 16. The practical effect is the same, and the phrasing is exactly the kind of thing an exam turns into a question. No oversized-group permit is available in the High Peaks, so a booking of nine campers has to become two parties, two guides, camping and travelling separately, or it does not happen.
The Eastern High Peaks Zone list
- No campfires, anywhere in the zone, for any purpose. Carry a stove or eat cold
- Bear-resistant canisters are required from 1 April to 30 November for all food, food containers, garbage and toiletries. Toiletries counts: toothpaste and sunscreen go in the can
- No glass containers, except glass needed to store prescribed medicine
- Pets must be leashed on trails, at primitive tent sites, at lean-to sites, above 4,000 feet and anywhere the public congregates. Licensed hunting dogs actively hunting in season are excepted
- No camping between 3,500 and 4,000 feet except at a designated primitive tent site, on top of the flat 4,000-foot prohibition above
The Western zone differs on fire
In the Western High Peaks Zone campfires are prohibited above 4,000 feet, and below that they are prohibited within 150 feet of any road, trail, spring, stream, pond or other body of water, except at a primitive tent site or lean-to site. That last exception is the difference to hold on to: in the East there is no exception at all, and in the West the designated sites are where fire is still legal.
Why a guide should like these rules
They make your job easier to sell. "Eight of us, no fire, canisters, everything out" is a clear brief given to clients in advance, and it prevents the two arguments that ruin trips: the client who wanted a campfire and the client who brought a bottle of wine. Put the rules in the booking confirmation, not in the trailhead parking lot.
From the field
A corporate client wants a twelve-person overnight in the Eastern High Peaks. There is no lawful version of that trip: the cap is eight including you, and no permit exists to exceed it. The honest sale is two separate parties on separate itineraries with a second licensed guide, or a Wild Forest tract where 190.4's nine-person threshold and a Ranger permit can accommodate them.
This lesson is part of the NYS Licensed Guide Exam course. Open it in the course to answer the retrieval checks that go with it, track what you have read, and quiz the whole unit. Lessons, quizzes and the glossary are free.