Patuckaway State Park - New Hampshire Division of Parks and Recreation Reviews

I have been going hear all my childhood and have made many, many amazing memories. Greenfield is better though

I live nearby this State Park and I never get tired of visiting it.

First off, I sometimes drive to Fundy Boat Launch (at the north end of the park) to go kayaking for 1-3 hours on the lake. No fees are charged here.

I also do training and evening hikes from Round Pond Road (also at the north end of the park). The 3 main peaks within Pawtuckaway are all just under 1,000 feet in elevation with some elevation gains that are only larger on Monadnock or in the Whites. This makes certain trips quite fun.

The North Pawtuckaway Mountain trail is very much like a White Mountain trail and can be done in a 6-mile loop. There are some decent views on the ridge to the north and south. You can also add Middle Pawtuckaway Mtn. (no views) and/or South Pawtuckaway Mtn. (which has a nice fire tower and views) for some loop hikes up to 11 miles.

Since the mountains ranges here are arranged in a circle (because they are part of an ancient volcano that was originally 15,000 feet high - called a ring dyke) you can get confused hiking in this area without a map. So bring one. Cell reception is fine here too.

I love 5 minutes from this park and go almost every weekend. It's a good little park and has some nice short hikes. If you are looking for something more intense head further north.

Wonderful campground with clean facilities and plenty for the grandkids to do. Can't wait to go back.

Beautiful place but getting very crowded and loud in the summer

We needed a nice cabin to stay in, and it provided what we needed.

I love how beautiful and peaceful this location is. There are some hiking trails, the beach area to swim at(they do have life guards at some times in the day-then its swim at your own risk), kayak and stand board rentals, a small convienent store, bathrooms and picnic areas that in some spots do have a small grill. There is a very nice playground near the beach area as well. They take pride in keeping the park clean and ask for you to take your trash out with you. They also take the time to test the water regularly to make sure there is nothing harmful for animals and/or people to swim in. LOVE Pawtuckaway!

Never gets old. Always amazes me and learn new things plus find new spots everytime!! A few friends with climbing gear or just for a simple hike will always be fun!

I went online, looking for a PET FREINDLY state park, and Pawtuckaway State Park came up. Thinking that this would be a great place to take the dog(they have the word paw in their name), but when I got to the main gate there is a sign--NO PETS

Love it! Clean and a great place to bring the family

Awesome park and campgrounds! Great staff! Nice beach, Beautiful sightseeing, clean restrooms and showers. Great prices for rentals. Kayaks, cables, etc....

I haven't been to pawtuckaway in years, but it's even better than I remembered. The park is clean, the beach is great, and the staff are friendly.

I've been going camping here for a few years now. It's a beautiful park!

We come here every year and always have a great experience. The lake, the hiking the trails are all beautiful. I's also like to call out the staff and park rangers. They go above and beyond. This year our waterfront site had a thick overgrowth of algae which was totally smelly and gross. Since we had kayaks, having to slosh through that would have been quite unpleasant. We brought it to the attention of the maintenance crew and the following day, 3 of them came with buckets to remove as much of it as they could. Who else would do that?? We were very grateful.
In addition to that upon our day of departure, one of our car batteries died and we had no jumper cables. They came down with a portable unit and helped us get the car started.

Big campsites and spacing. Very reasonable prices and the lake is incredible

Best stay in a state park ever..with so many things to do.. Or just relax on the big island by the shore or by your fire.. 2 thumbs up

Great in winter, icy and free entry. Also dog friendly then too. White trail makers not ideal in winter but great in summer. Great signage otherwise.

Lightly dense walking trails with good breathable air.

A great place to spend the day at the beach, stay overnight at a campsite, or hike the many trails with the fire tower and the Boulder Field.

A great place to camp and hike with family and friends with pristine woods, bodies of water, and land.

I went camping for 2 nights over a weekend with a couple of my friends. There were plenty of camp sites to choose from, though if you want one by the water then you'll need to book it in advance. There are bundles of wood available at the main office for $6/each if you want to have a camp fire. The place is kid friendly, I saw many kids of all ages playing and riding their bikes. That being said the camp grounds are also adult friendly. We stayed in the walk-in sites which had some good distance from others and as we stayed up late we didn't seem to bother anyone.

The park also has some great hikes. I'd recommend hiking up to the tower. Be careful because the maps which are provided are hard to follow and not always correct. We found ourselves lost at one point even after continuing to follow a marked pathway for which the symbols didn't change. Thankfully we ran into a kind hiker who knew the trails well. If you are unfamiliar with the park he suggested getting a guide book and taking any opportunity to review your planned hike with an official. Make sure you take extra water and food in case your hike is a few hours longer than intended. And leave early!

Great lake beach not far from Manchester. My son had a blast. The beach was big enough that a camp had one end very busy but the end we were on still felt quiet.

Great place to paddle around on a paddleboard, kayak, or canoe. Has many no wake zones. The abundant wildlife should be given wide berth.

One of my favorite hikes in southern NH. Highly recommend doing north and south mountains for a 6.5 mile loop.

Clear, clean water. But the sand it too rough and hurt my feet

the park was nice but there was a sign that said "stop at park office" so i did because it seemed like the right thing to do and the girl charged us $5 a person just to walk around for an hour. a beautiful park, but you're kidding right? $10 for me to hike at your park for an hour before dusk? get out of here. just don't stop and continue through the park until you get to the big lower parking lot, through the orange gates

I thought that I saw bigfoot here once but it was just a man in a chewbacca mask.

Beautiful kayaking location, with clear water and not too many motorboats. Nice beach for wading and picnic area with a playground for kids. It costs $5 to get in.

The campground was close but for 10$ the night we coulg sleep in a tent for a rock climbing trip. Finally the guy found we look bad with our tent and decided to lend us his own RV for free the two nights! A really nice guy!

Clean with great hiking trails and a nice beach. Don't forget the bug spray though, there's a huge mosquito population on the mountain trails

Beautiful and we'll maintained state park! The trails were well marked. We walked the Fundy Trail which is ~4 miles long. I can't wait to go back and walk the other trails!

My girlfriend and I reserved 1 day parking passes to visit for the first time and the staff were so friendly and helpful, it was unbelievable. We went up the Fire tower watch trail, round trip took about 3 hours to hike.

really great day trip and the staff again were incredibly kind and professional

I love this place every year we go and get amazing sites on the water

Very nice place with clean and easily available bathrooms, and enough signs to find the spots

Great spot to hike and rock climb. Do not forget your bug spray though, if you do you may be in for a terrible time

First time out on the lake saw a bald eagle
All kinds of services and rentals
Snake bar grocerey store meet all the needs

Quiet place and friendly staff. Park Service Kyle Harrison this young man was very thorough in cleaning cabin beside us as we watched. Friendly wave and very personable answered our questions, he was very pleasant and very knowledgeable. We d come visit again you should too.

There are several very nice hiking trails. They charge entrance fees.

Wow! Had quite the hike here. Good trails that we're challenging. View from the Fire Tower was worth the hike.

Disclaimer: I am by no means a hiker & have been known to be allergic to breaking a sweat
This place is Sooooo Gorgeous & So Much Fun that I barely felt like I was also getting a pretty good Cardio workout. I repeat, Barely. A couple of times I wanted to quit the hike up bc my thighs felt like they were on but a good hiking buddy encouraged me
The hike was Absolutely Worth it! The view was Totally Stunning! People were respectful of space, wore masks & all around there was a really cool & peaceful vibe.
Amazing Reminder Of How Beautiful Our Planet Is & How We Should All Help Protect It! #SaveOurPlanet
#NatureLoverForLife

Awesome natural resource. Water, hills, trails, and just far enough off the beaten path

Great bike trails and lovely scenery when their isn't trash.

Great place to camp go hiking on trails so stop leaving your trash in the park or they will close it for good

Hiked the fire tower trail from reservation Road and it was surprisingly only 1.1 miles loop. This was because pets aren't allowed at the main gate.

This is a great place to go camping and to enjoy nature. Staff were very friendly and helpful.

Beautiful park & lake. Perfect place for a family day out. Grills, tables, boats, & warm clean water. Couldn't be happier.

Gorgeous place for a nature walk. Swimming, hiking, bouldering et cetera. Views are gorgeous and it is remote enough that the wildlife are, well, wild and lively. Can get crowded on a nice day, and often smells suspiciously like cannabis in a few spots, but hey, that's the great outdoors these days.

Fantastic flat-water for kayaking. The bolders in the water and all the islands just give it more class. Had an amazing time kayaking in the lake.

It's easy to get to, lots of trails and some small mountains, interesting sights you done see very often, like Boulder field. There's also a secluded pond for fishing or peaceful nature walking

A really nice quiet park with a great lake to swim at

Nice area, but need to take dogs in the back way of it. Won't let dogs in at the front of the park for some reason

I went kayaking here with my boyfriend and it was beautiful. We'll definitely be back.

Trails open for hiking. Due to Covid-19 you have to make a reservation ahead of time. We made our reservation at 9a the day we wanted to go and had no issues at all. Trails were clean and very little trash.

Lots of different experience levels, but very little flat trails. I took my five year old with me and he was able to make it to the firehouse, but with a few rest breaks. Good for someone looking for a bit of a challenge.

It is a good weekend getaway for southern new Hampshire residents. It has nice camp grounds and a small lake beach. Though not maintained very well, but it is still worth visiting. Kids enjoy a lot as water is not deep and still. There is kayaking and canoeing also available so overall good activity spot for families.

Bring bug spray the mosquitoes are insane this year and also bees. We weren't told at checkin that they weren't taking cash at the store or boat rentals right now and didn't have a card on us. Beach is much cleaner this year, last year it was covered in goose poop. The bathrooms on both neals cove and horse island are almost always dirty and the toilets barely flush

This is always a fun hike. Expect about 3 hours and change if you take the shortest route. It's a fairly easy trail at the beginning and it gets moderate at the end. You may not need hiking gear but bring water!