Best Trails in Pawtuckaway State Park

Great trail, I’m a beginner and the last 0.6 of the trail to the top was some serious exercise! Beginning mile or so had some muddy spots. Great views from the top! Some trails at the top could use a little better marking, but other than that great! LOTS of black flies, bring bug spray or black fly repellent!

Hiked today on Mother’s Day and the weather was perfect. Started a bit overcast but it burned off quickly. We parked in the main lot by the gate, but could have knocked off the road walk in, and out, by driving to the trail head to park. The trail was mostly dry, with a few pockets of mud. Bugs were only bothersome at the summit as you really aren’t above tree line. Its good to remember that it is in proximity to marshes and ponds, so you’re going to have bugs. It’s a solid hike and marked fairly well, but could use a few more blazes at the top. Some decent views at the top. I’d do it again.

A friend and I decided to go for a hike here after we were in the area for an hour class of Goat Yoga...Theres a parking lot first thing to your right next to the check-in building (which has some basic necessities like Tylenol, bugspray, shirts, etc for sale). We checked in for the day ($5). All though now I'm wondering if it was really for campground visitors

Beautiful walk! We took a shorter version of the trail which ended up being 3 mike. We took our two dogs (one 8-year-old who is not so fit and one 1-year-old with boundless energy). They both did great. There are plenty of places to take pictures in marshland and with giant boulders. We only saw one other person on the trail. Definitely planning to hike it again and follow up to North Mountain.

Did this trail yesterday, beautiful views and a really nice time. Lots of bugs though so be prepared. Favorite part was that I only saw about 5 other people the whole day.

Tons of signs and blazes, very easy trail to follow, a little steep and rocky in some spots with slippery wet rocks but we are not pros and didn’t have any difficulty. A great way to start up our hiking season, it probably took us about 4 hours with lots of looking around and some lunch. The boulders were awesome to see !

Wonderful hike! Views were amazing! It’s amazing to be so close to the city yet feel like you are in the middle of nowhere. Besides the beauty of nature....we saw kids learning how to rock climb, horseback riders, and more advanced kids rock climbing. Saw beautiful ponds and huge boulders with caves. What a great day! Will definitely be back to try out some other trails.

Not the greatest views but a nice maintenanced trail

This trail was not well marked but it was a gorgeous hike!

Did the out and back trip back on March 6th. Great conditions that day. Someone has been up there in the past few months, as I found the trail had been re-blazed. No way anyone can get lost now. Anyone been up there in the past week or so? If so, any snow/ice left? Looking to do an out and back again.

Great hike! Virtually no ice but lots of mud. Normal for this time of year. Easy start leading into a slightly more challenging end at the summit. Great view from the fire tower. I will definitely do this one again.

This is actually the 2nd time I walk this trail. It’s easy and if you just want to get out for a walk in the woods it’s perfect! Perfect for dog walkers.

Really great trail. Loved the views and boulders. Was slippery coming down the mountain. Lots of ice even though it was 72 degrees out. Easy to follow, well marked.

Nice short winter hike. Snowmobile tracks ran the entire trail. We used microspikes as there was still the need for traction. Saw two snowmobilers, but no other folks out that day.

Gently rolling hills for the first two miles. Nothing that special, but not boring. Most of the elevation is gained in the last 0.5 miles, which is surprisingly steep for such a small mountain. I didn’t climb the fire tower due to the fact that some wasps had made a nest up there. However, some more courageous people climbed it without getting stung. There were some decent views to the north and northwest from ledges around the summit.

A fairly standard hike through the woods. There were a few tiny scrambles, but nothing too difficult. There were periodic ledges with nice views, but mostly just a lot of woods.

Great Day!

Crisp day. Gorgeous area. Trails not well blazed but easy to see where others have tramped through the woods. Amazing rock areas with numerous climbers that day.

Took me 2 hrs 15 min to complete loop. After storm there were lots of trees down. First half of loop (going clockwise) is a bit more challenging to find footing. Second half easy walking on old road. Lots of leaves on ground in fall made it a bit slippery. Boulder field at the far end of the loop.

The full loop took 5.5 hours with some resting and a quick lunch. The rest was hiked at a relatively brisk pace. Careful during winter. We started at 1:15 and by 6:30 it was pitch black. Bring headlamps in winter. Went through 2L of water. Many people on this trail, and scenery was nice but nothing to write home about. Would have preferred fewer people. We did this one for the exercise. Great smells abound and silence is soothing during the pockets of time when no one is close by.

BEAUTIFUL, well marked trail with challenging terrain. One of my favorite trails to date.

Great hike. The boulders are amazing!!!

You definitely need to take a map with you AND use this map if going up to the summit. We had to reroute at least three times thanks to the app gps!
Also, there isn’t really a “view” at the top... you won’t miss it- it has the rocks sculpture; that’s where the highest point is.
Other than above, it was a great hike!! We and I ur dogs loved it!

Wonderful trail, but quite trafficated on weekends. Pets are allowed but you cannot access the trail from the main park entrance. Use Reservoir Rd. I posted an alternative loop with pets that is about 4mi and easy.

Great trail loop around north mtn. Did it with my dog and she had fun climbing up the boulders. Some places aren't particularly well marked but overall a great place to wander.

Great short hike with kids, plenty of places to fish, plenty of ways to extend the hike with additional trails.

fun, challenging trail! Wear insect repellant. and check the state park map to be sure of which trails you're taking! the trail was well marked and easy to follow.

this was a good first hike and the views were beautiful

Hard to know where the summits it's not marked. Trails are all marked with the same markings got a little off track... AllTrails works great!!!

Lovely trail. The markings were not the greatest, but with my All Trails maps downloaded, I was able to navigate quite easily. Only one real viewpoint, but it was beautiful. We really enjoyed ourselves. Would definitely go again and maybe do even more!