You Are Here: Pillsbury State Park

I will be off the trails for the next couple of weekends due to family commitments, and my company had Friday off as a holiday, so I wanted to take advantage of the beautiful weather and potentially quieter trails and get in a decent hike. I'm dealing with a few medical issues at the moment, so I didn't want to do anything too strenuous just to be safe, but I was feeling like getting in some decent mileage. Pillsbury State Park is on the AMC South Trail Guide redlining spreadsheet, so I opted to head that way and do some exploring. Thankfully now that pandemic restrictions are easing, the State Parks are open again, so I was able to pay my fee and drive into the park, instead of having to park outside the gate and do a road walk. Parking is just over a mile from the main office in a designated area behind the playground. I was the first car there today, though several of the surrounding campsites were occupied. I geared up and headed down a gravel road from the parking area to a gate. The Balanced Rock Trail heads to the left just before the gate, the 5 Summers Trail heads on beyond the gate. The 5 Summers Trail for the most part is a snowmobile trail, so wide and moderate. I followed for 0.5 mile then took the right onto Bear Pond Trail. Also a snowmobile trail, this one was a little damp in places and a bit more rocky. You get a peekaboo view of Bear Pond as you head around and climb reasonably moderately up to join the Monadnock-Sunapee Greenway. This was my favorite part of the day. I signed in at the trail register and headed off towards Mt Sunapee, though I was only going as far as Lucia's Lookout. This section of trail was smooth and beautiful passing through trees that were mesmerizing. The footing did get a little more technical in places, but nothing difficult. The ups and downs were rolling, nothing strenuous. I arrived at the spur for the Steve Galpin Shelter and went to investigate. The cleanest shelter I have ever seen! It almost made me want to experience backpacking (almost, but not quite!!!). I continued to the intersection with 5 Summers Trail and headed the final 0.2 to Lucia's Lookout, which was the steepest part of the day. It was much smaller than I had anticipated, but still had some lovely views over the surrounding area. I had read that the better views were off 2 spur paths, one about 90 yards north of the summit.. it seemed like more than 90 yards, but I found it easily enough and the views were gorgeous. Continue on the Greenway, pass an intersection for a trail that was blazed and signed, but not on the map and a little beyond that is an obvious herd path to the left. I took some pictures and headed back to Lucia's Lookout. Signed in at the trail register there and headed down for the 2nd view spur, which is described as 40 yards below the summit. This was a smaller area with a sharp drop off, but amazing views. I stopped here for a snack and took it all in. Back at the summit, 2 hikers had arrived, they would be the only 2 people I saw all day. We chatted briefly and I headed back down, this time taking the 5 Summers Trail. About half a mile from the intersection, the trail takes a left onto the snowmobile corridor and follows it all the way back, just over 3 miles, to the parking area. There were areas of knee high and ankle high grass (snowmobile trails are not my favorite) but thankfully it was mostly dry (unlike my adventure at Cockermouth Forest a couple weeks ago). Near the end of the trail you pass North Pond on the right and a couple hike to campsites. I had contemplated doing Balanced Rock Trail as well, but decided that could wait for another visit.

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