Paddling & Hiking Fun At Turtletown Pond & Oak Hill

PHOTO: Turtletown Pond is a 159 acre pond in Concord and the NH Fish & Game provides access to its waters for boating and fishing. The New Hampshire Fish & Game owns and maintains 142 public boat access sites around the state. Visit fishnh.com/access for a list or to find Fish and Game boat ramps by town. For more information, call Fish and Game Boat Access Coordinator Garret Graaskamp at (603) 271-1748. Becca Munroe Photo

by Amy Patenaude
Outdoor/Ski Writer

The used kayaks we bought earlier this summer are proving to be a ton of fun. We use the New Hampshire Fish & Game’s Boating and Fishing Public Access maps on their website: www.wildlife.state.nh.us/maps/. Using the website I have discovered many places not far from home to paddle. Boat ramps aren’t for swimming they are for launching boats only.
Becca and I met at Turtletown Pond in Concord. Becca has a cool kayak that she bought years ago from L.L. Bean. It fits right inside her Subaru SUV. The kayak is made up of three pieces that fit together and then snap tight. My kayak is 12 feet long and doesn’t fit in my car. I am lucky that my father allows me to borrow his pickup truck. I just toss it in the back and then strap it down so it doesn’t go flying out of the bed.
Turtletown Pond has a trailer ramp and there is a paved parking lot that is easy to access off of Oak Hill Road. There is even a porta-potty at the site.
No one else was at the ramp when we arrived so we didn’t feel any pressure to quickly unload our boats. When we were getting ready to float away a couple arrived with kayaks on their roof.

They told us that they had just purchased their kayaks and this was their maiden voyage. We wished them good luck and we paddled away.
We decided to circle the pond clockwise. The pond is mostly shallow, according to the map the deepest part is just 15 feet. There are many lily pads and grasses growing along the water’s edges and many of them had flowers blooming.
The communication towers on Oak Hill can be seen from the water but we couldn’t spy the fire tower. We hadn’t planned on it, but after talking about the fire tower we decided we should hike up to it after we were done paddling since we were nearby.
As we came around we could see the other couple were out on their boats and one of them had their dog standing on top at the front of their kayak.
We continued to paddle along the edge and look for turtles but we didn’t see any. The sun was bright and it was hot. I wore my wide brimmed hat and an oversized old white oxford shirt.
Becca wore a visor and of course we both had sunglasses to protect our eyes.
By the time we made it back to the boat ramp we noticed that the others had already left. We weren’t ready to quit paddling yet so we decided to go straight across the middle of the pond. A breeze had picked up and we paddled into a cooler headwind and it felt good. We were the only boats on the pond.

After we stowed our boats we drove a couple of miles further up Oak Hill Road to the fire tower road. The City of Concord has many nice trails and maps can be found on the city’s website.
The fire tower road is on the Loudon side of the hill. On the north side of the road there is a sign for Oak Hill at the beginning of a gated road. Right next to the road is a brand new driveway and a new beautiful stonewall. There is room for a couple of cars to park off the edge of pavement.
The sign reads 2.1 miles but that is the distance for a round trip not one way. It is just over a mile up hill to reach the fire tower. There is active logging on private land adjacent to the access road.
The Oak Hill Fire Tower’s cabin was rebuilt last year. The tower is only manned during times of high fire danger.
We were able to climb the stairs to just under the locked cabin. It was a little hazy but we could clearly see Pats Peak and Crotched Mountain. We looked but we weren’t able to see Turtletown Pond. The communication towers sharing the hilltop are much taller than the fire tower.
We enjoyed our morning of paddling on Turtletown Pond and the short hike up Oak Hill.
Have Fun.

Amy Patenaude is an avid skier/outdoor enthusiast from Henniker, N.H. Readers are welcome to send comments or suggestions to her at: amy@weirs.com.