pawtuckaway state park

We have been to this park with our family twice now. Our first time, it rained and rained. We got lost on a hike during a thunderstorm. (We kept calling the ranger station for help, but they could't hear us well and hung up on us!) We ended up leaving early. So the next year, we came back again. We arrived the Sunday before the 4th of July. We were in the inland part of the park, which was almost empty. Our campsite was a bit on the small side but otherwise wooded and reasonably private. We rented a canoe and a kayak and spent two days boating from island to island, picnicking and swimming. It was a blast! We also hiked to the fire tower, which was a hot but beautiful hike. It took us about 3 hours there and back. But we had a terrible experience during our second night (Monday night). At 2:30 a.m., my husband and I woke up because we heard a raucous party going on. We were so surprised, because there had been no one around when we went to bed. But it was crazy loud and we could not go back to sleep. I finally got out of the tent and walked over to the party site. There were at least 20 people there and at least as many liquor bottles on the picnic table. I asked them to please quiet down, because they were disturbing our family. They thanked me for coming over to ask them nicely instead of calling the police, said that they were sorry, and that they were sorry that they were going to continue partying! Wow! I went back to the tent to try to sleep, thinking that someone would have to come tell them to stop, but that didn't happen. At 4:30 in the morning, the party had gotten even wilder. I looked in the bathroom and in our paperwork to see if there was any number to call. I called the park office but there was no answer and no information about what to do after hours. So I finally called 911 and was transferred to the Nottingham police. They said they would come but I don't think they ever did. The next morning, I spoke to the park rangers, who told me that no one was even registered at that campsite. Eventually, someone apparently asked them to leave (they had told me that they were planning to leave anyway). But how disturbing that a huge group of people can just sneak into a park, drink and party all night long, and no one does anything about it! Certainly makes you concerned about security! Too bad, because it is such a beautiful park. Oh, one more thing, as others have mentioned, there was a bacteria alert at the beach. We were disappointed at first, but going out on a boat and finding clean spots to swim is much better than staying at the dirty beach!

Went with a group of friends over the long weekend and tent camped lakeside. Set up the tents on one site and everything else on the other, worked out great! Awesome sites (I'll never tell!) with easy access to bathrooms and water. We were not overly quiet but it was the last weekend camping is open and it was more than half deserted. We respected quiet hours but did not run into any staff all weekend. Slept in until at least 9 each morning so a quiet-ish group all around (tip: always bring earplugs!). Sites are clean, there was a good amount of sticks around to gather up for fire starting. Bathrooms are in good condition -- multiple flush stall, cold water sinks with soap and paper towels plus a hot shower if you need it. There are chipmunks and some small birds around, plus the never-ending call of the eerie lake Loons day and night. Tie up your food while you're away from camp, no doubt there's some scavengers around. For hiking: Parked at the Burnt Marsh Lot and and did the Fundy to Split Rock to Shaw to Fundy Loop -- took about 2 hours at a moderate pace with a 20 minute break. Lots of buried rocks and roots along the way for tricky traversing. You need to watch where you're walking most of the hike. Mostly shaded with great forest views and some house sized boulders along the way you can explore.I hear the Pawtuckaway Tavern and Butchery is a nice break from the woods if you need some civilization. I'd love to come back in the summer and camp lakeside so I can just tie up a float and sit on the water all afternoon!

Columbus day weekend. Site 37 on horse island . This time of the year it's much quieter than the middle of the summer I am sure. Horse island sites are large , a lot of them lakeside and some in small groups. The front office staff, the Store staff and any maintenance people u ran into were very pleasant and helpful. Bathroom shower facilities older but generally clean for a campground . I will be back

My husband and I camped here for three nights recently and thought the place was all in all pretty good. It was pretty deserted so we had the toilet/shower houses all to ourselves. Speaking of, it may behoove the staff to spray some bleach/water in those nasty shower stalls on the floor. I would NEVER go barefoot in there. Shower curtain missing some rings too. It would have been helpful to have a place to wash our dishes but we managed. We stayed on the Big Island on site #111 and it was a very nice site overlooking the lake. We heard loons all the time, which was just lovely. Racoons visited us on our third night but we had all our food put away. Maybe we didn't plan our trip very well, but we couldn't find much to do around the area. Did take a nice drive around Lake Winnipesaukee. We were there the third week of September so it was VERY quiet, no partiers in sight. I would return if I just wanted to laze around the campsite.

Pawtuckaway is conveniently located to major NH and MA population centers and offers a variety of activities including hiking, swimming, boating, camping, xc skiing and snowshoeing, and (unfortunately) snowmobiling. The area around the beach is very crowded on a hot summer day but, if you have a kayak or canoe, it's easy to paddle away to quieter parts of the lake. Hiking can be on fairly flat terrain for the family or one can head up any or all of the 3 small mountains within the park. Trails are well marked for the most part.

We recently went camping for three days/two nights for the second year in a row. This year we stayed on Neals Cove (stayed on Horse Island last year). We found the campsite to be very small/cramped compared to the site we had on Horse Island a year ago. All campsites have a grill over the campfire pit and a picnic table. While we realize that this is camping, we chose to stay here because it was not the middle-of-nowhere type campground. So, keeping that in mind, we were disappointed by the bathroom facilities, which were disgusting and not well kept at all. The staff member working when we checked in was very slow and didn't seem interested in helping any campers. While we were out and about around the park, things were great. We rented a kayak on the first day and a canoe on the second day ($40 per day). We enjoyed rowing to the different, smaller islands, and even spent a day picnicking and relaxing on one. Great trails for hiking, and the beach was well-kept. The campground store had a variety of items, and the staff was friendly and helpful. For the most part, Pawtuckaway truly is a great place to camp and spend time hiking, canoeing, kayaking, and swimming.

One of the best state parks I've been to! The camp sites options were awesome and beautiful! You can hike in the park, go to the park store, rent canoes/kayaks! Next time I want to check out their cabins you can rent. The staff was nice but mostly young, aside from the girl working in the store (8-14-14 a.m.) but we all run into young bratty summer workers here and there. The bathrooms were decent and picked up but can use some updating. I will definitely go back!

I bought my first tent and stayed on Neil's cove. Read my novel via headlamp next to my fire, while also taking in the view of the sunset on Pawtuckaway Lake. It was beautiful weather and I slept like a baby. I will definitely return!

we camp a lot with our kids and close friends and family. So far this campground has nailed it in our camping expectations.On our way we came across toll booth. They took the necessary fee and as simple as that asked us to select our campsite. We bought firewood and went on our way.One thing to notice, the campground is approx 2 mile in from the entrance. So it was quite unbelievable especially during dark.Anyways we pulled over @ site 94 and rest is not enough to explain.Park has beautiful beach and a very big lake. We rented a canoe and a kayak. We did this first time and took us a while to adapt how to paddle in right direction. Noticed some folks stopped aside small islands in the lake and picking something. Upon inquiring we learned they were picking wild blue berries. A tip, if you decide to kayak or canoe, ensure to take a container for collecting blue berries. It was so delicious and flavorful, my kids kept savoring for non stop 30 minutes.Beach area has big playground for kids 5 and above. Lot of fun activities for them.Beach area has plenty of picnic tables and charcoal grill placed everywhere.You can buy necessary stuff for grilling and other items from a nearby store at the beach.Beach has bathhouse and change room.Lifeguards are there and so is first aid.Make sure to bring your floaters. IF you forgot don't worry, you can buy one from the store.Keep looking for blue berries on the road side too. especially by the beautiful bog on the approach road for the campground.Some campsites are right next to lake, but they are through reservation only.Cabins are also available through reservation.Some campsites are on island accessed through wood bridge.Plenty of trails and rocks.We did not got chance to explore trails though. May be next year.No alcohol permitted on beach area or any day activity area for example picnic area, beaches.There is access fee for non campers too, whether you are visiting your friends in camp ground or simply accessing beach/lake. Fishing is allowed. Licence provided through main office which closes at 7 PM.Restrooms have flush toilets and well lit. Each restroom has one shower. And the park employees do their best in maintaining the cleanliness of the restrooms.I would recommend to visit this place for at least a week. For next year we will be reserving this place in advance.You will definitely make some great memories and leave happy and relaxed after exploring this gem in NH.

I have to prefact this by saying that if you have very small children or a baby and you want to go to bed at 7pm every night with the crickets and stars...great place. Anything else? Not so much. We were at site #23 this weekend and were staying in a camper with my husband's cousins. There were 12 or us total, on 5 different sites and we ate dinner and kayaked at a site on the water. Starting at 6PM! We were told we were bding too loud and would be kicked out. The noise curfew is 10pm-7am...We were not playing loud music or yelling and even while whispering at the fire, we were visited by the "night security" through out the night. They would creep up behind trees and hide in the dark watching us. I have been camping my whole life and never experienced this. It is not more beautiful than any place I have been so I don't think it's worth the harassment. We would never return.

We spent the night at site #114 on the big island. Upon arriving, it was late so finding the site clean was a huge plus. The park was also clean. We woke up with the sun and enjoyed a walk throughout the park as nature was waking up. All of the smells of pine was refreshing. The only draw back was the mosquitoes. Take plenty of spray this time of year.

Just got back from an overnight at Pawtuckaway. Unfortunately, we didn't realize that not having a waterside campsite meant _no_ water access at all, except at the day-use beach, which was very crowded and unappealing (we went for an hour then left due to the chaos).I'd imagine having a waterside site would be wonderful, and a lot of fun, but being just across the road was completely landlocked and we might as well have been in the woods.I would give Pawtuckaway another try, but only if I were able to book a waterside site.

I would highly recommend a watersite on Horse Island. Sites both here and on on the main island are very spacious and well spaced. Neil's cove has some nice sites on the water, but it's more crowded and is a dirt road so when it rains it gets pretty mucky. One thing I didn't realize is that the entire lake wasn't a state park, their are houses around parts of the lake and many of them own speed boats. We stayed in site 77 with our pop-up which was awesome, it's on the quiet side of Horse Island in a no wake zone so no loud speedboats zooming by. Also no views of houses. It's not far from the bridge which is the gateway between the two parts of this HUGE lake. You're far enough away that it's no bothersome, but on the weekend traffic can really pick-up as they rent boats at the park beach. As for site selection, even if you can't get a water site there are many places to launch your kayak, canoe or speed boat so everyone has plenty of access to the water.Highlight of our trip was exploring all the little islands scattered throughout the lake. Lots of people would anchor at an island to swim, read or have lunch. Makes for fun paddling. We were also able to paddle to the camp store in less than 10 minutes which was a unique experience.I have heard being outside the city that it can tend to be a party campground, but we went the end of June and found it to be very quiet. Everyone around us followed the 10pm quiet hours. They sell bagged dry hardwood which is a plus as we've stayed at places before where it's been very green wet pine making for a very smoky fire. They also sell bags of kindling which is pretty cool. Great staff throughout the park as well. Found everyone to be friendly and helpful.

I've been camping here since I was young for about 15 years now! My boyfriend loves it. I love it! Loved my campsite(going to keep it a secret,) the staff is Incredibly helpful. I can't say enough good things about the park. We booked an RV site and had so much room for activities! We had a four person tent, two person tent, two cars, and we were able to play horsehoes without feeling cramped.Wish the wood bundles were less expensive but at the same time we had to keep buying more wood because of the rain and we had to keep the fire going (we cook on the open fire.) Looking forward to going back in August and October!

Nice picnic area and beach. Water looked very clean. Restroom facilities clean. Handicapped accessible.