Pawtuckaway State Park to kick off our 2021 camping season!
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Spring in New England is, well, unpredictable—to say the least. So when G and I spied one of those summer-like weekends ahead in the forecast in early April (yep, I’m a few weeks behind in posting), we jumped at the chance to take Tedda (our Winnebago Travato) out and camp. Most campgrounds in New Hampshire wouldn’t be open for a few weeks or more, but a FB post from the New Hampshire State Parks announced “soft” openings. For Pawtuckaway State Park, that meant no water and limited (if any) facilities, but that was fine with us. We jumped online and snagged what looked like a fantastic site—and it was! We had such an incredible time that we booked another site for a single-night stay two weeks later!
Site #43 on Horse Island at Pawtuckaway State Park
G and I were a little bit ashamed that we had never visited Pawtuckaway after all these years living in New Hampshire and having this gem of a park so close. In fact, from everywhere we’ve ever lived in the state, Pawtuckaway SP has never been more than 25 miles away. And yet, we had never visited.
With 192 sites, miles of hiking trails and a fire tower, and a gorgeous lake for fishing or paddling, Pawtuckaway offers so, so much—and, as you might imagine, the sites (at least the ones we’d want, on the water) fill up quickly. Now, we know, and we’ll be sure to book this one early for next year. And in case you’re wondering how NH parks do their reservations, you can book sites 11 months in advance. So, needless to say, we’ll have to start thinking about next spring and summer NOW!
For our first visit, we booked site #43 on Horse Island (the other sections of the park, Neals Cove and Big Island were not yet open for the season), and we think this might be one of the very best sites—on the water, gorgeous sunsets, and plenty of fantastic trees perfect for hammocking. Throughout the park are tons of large boulders—glacial erratics that are remnants of the Ice Age. The site was also pretty large; we had a ton of privacy, as there were so few other campers, so I’m not sure how our weekends compare to high/summer season.
Pawtuckaway SP is a gorgeous park—and I know we barely scratched the surface in terms of exploring. However, I made sure to maximize the beauty as backdrops for my toy photography—a new passion of mine since embarking on a 365 photo project. In addition to packing the typical gear for our camping trips, I now have to complicate matters by deciding which toys I’m bringing along! Here’s a sample of how I spent some of my afternoon/evening time…who knew a campfire would make such a cool backdrop!
Our second overnight to Pawtuckaway, just two weeks later, had us enjoying much cooler weather but another fantastic site and gorgeous views. For that night, we had booked another waterfront site on Horse Island, #56. The cooler temps gave me a chance to try out my new Kammok Double Roo hammock, which I purchased with my REI dividend, and my new hammock underquilt. I’m sure I’ll write up a separate post soon, but let me just say this: both totally rock.
As this second visit was much cooler and windy, we decided to skip the fire and instead enjoy our dinner (takeout from nearby Wrap City, which we had picked up on the way to the park) from inside the (much warmer) van. But of course, I still managed a quick photoshoot with my favorite crooning amphibian. While I wish we had camped the whole weekend, we opted for a single Friday night, as I was due to have my second COVID vaccination shot on Saturday (yay!!) and wasn’t sure how I’d be feeling—better to err on the side of caution…(though I felt fine and experienced no side effects at all). Here’s to our first state park of the season, and the first of MANY more trip reports!
