In another edition of the local hikes I have been doing with the Anytime Fitness in Northwood we found ourselves in Pawtuckaway state park. This park is in Nottingham NH and is a hugely popular rock climbing location due to the large boulders that are gathered here. Many folks practice their skills on these rocks. There are also 3 small mountains in the park. They are North mountain or Mount Pawtuckawy, Middle mountain, and South mountain. South Mountain has a fire look out tower on its summit and was our destination for the day. It was very hot out as we made out for the roughly 4 mile journey starting out around the round pond trail. Unfortunately Pawtuckaway does not allow dogs so no Patton today. This is the reason why I do not make it out here often even though it is in my back yard. We entered the park from Nottingham rd where there is an old access road that will bring you to the back side of Round pond. Once you get around round pond there is some decent elevation gain for a smaller mountain. There are many off shoot trails on the South ridge trail, but the trail is the fastest way to the fire tower from the north so we did not deviate. It was a very hot outside and it made for a sweaty hike. I brought 2 liters of water and was out by the finish of this hike. It was very hot. There were a couple of other groups that were there to greet us on the summit but it was a pretty slow day for the park due to the fact it was wednesday.

  I would say this is a great hike for anyone who is interested in getting into hiking and were wondering what their level was. This is a great beginner mountain. I would say the hike took us about 3 hours with about a 45 break at the summit. Check out the pictures Here. The views were great from southern NH and it was a great midweek hike. For more information on Pawtuckaway check here.