Pawtuckaway State Park Hike

Thirteen GO members spent the day rambling around Pawtuckaway State Park!&nbsp Despite some errors on my part with meeting directions, we all met at Reservation Road near the trailhead for North Mountain. The back entrance is a little hard to find as the park sign was taken down at Reservation Road.

We parked on Reservation Road at another parking area before the official North Mountain Trail junction -junction #12 on the Pawtuckaway State Park map&nbspand&nbsphiked up to&nbspNorth Mountain just fine. The views from the top, although very limited, were pleasant. We snapped a few pics and started down in the direction of the Boulder Field.

On the descent we checked out the &quotDevil's Den&quot which I'm not exactly sure why it is named as such. We arrived at the Boulder Field (using the Boulder Trail) that consists of these huge glacial erratics that is usually full of rock climbers trying to scale them.

We continued along&nbspthe shore of a beautiful beaver pond. When we hit a road that was not near Round Pond, I became confused and thought we landed&nbspon the road south of Round Pond. So we banged a left and started going up which was odd.&nbspWe&nbsptook our lunch break and looking at Dave's GPS realized we were on the road north of&nbspRound Pond leading to Nottingham Road! We also ran into a couple heading the opposite direction whom&nbspreassured our location. Realizing&nbspthe mistake we did a 180 and headed back.&nbspThankfully did not add much more mileage to the hike.&nbsp&nbsp

We took a brief break at Round Pond at a place where Jon and I like to sunbathe and swim in the summer. We then followed the South Ridge Trail to the South Summit and the fire tower. We then descended to Tower Road (junction #6) where we had spotted my truck. I took&nbspthe drivers back to our starting point who returned to pick up the rest of the group.

Both north and south peaks have great ridgelines.&nbspThe leaves were pretty much off the trees so they got views &quotthrough&quot the trees. A great day to be in the woods. (First two photos below do not enlarge!)

This 7-mile hike loop hike includes North Mountain (1011') with Devils Den,&nbsphuge boulders in the Boulder Field, scenic Round Pond and a climb up the firetower at South Mountain (908').

Almost two hours from Boston, Pawtuckaway State Park offers some great hiking opportunities. Note that this park does NOT allow dogs.

The summits provide fantastic views of the ocean, White Mountains and the surrounding area.

Terrain: The climb up both North and South Mountain can be steep otherwise the hike is on moderate terrain sometimes using the park's gravel roads.

Meeting Place: Because the back entrance is difficult to locate, we will meet/carpool in Manchester, NH from the Burger King parking lot off Exit 9S from I-93 at 9:30AM. If you driving from the seacoast&nbsppark on the shoulder of the road at the intersection of Rte. 43 and 107 North at 10AM. I'll be driving a blue Toyota FJ Cruiser.

Time/Distance: Hike time is approximately 6 hours. Round-trip distance is 7 miles with about&nbsp1,000 feet total elevation gain. Overall this is a very relaxing walk in the woods and yet rewarding with awesome views.

Gear List: Click on the Gear List&nbspat the bottom of the website&nbspto find out what you need to bring.

Weather Note: Rain can cancel hike so if you sign-up, please keep in touch.&nbsp

Organizers: Mike and Jon