Last weekend when we were camping at Bear Brook Campground we decided to drive to a nearby fire tower in Concord, NH and hike to the top of the hill and see the fire tower. After our great experience at Pitcher Mountain we had high expectations. The hike to the Oak Hill Fire Tower is one of several hikes on the New Hampshire Mountain Hiking Website’s hike for kids. I downloaded the PDF hiking map from the Town of Concord’s website and we were off to the parking area on Shaker Road. The parking area was good sized and the trail was well marked. When you download the trail map you can see there are endless loops on which to wander.
Since our mission was to get to the fire tower, we stuck to the Tower Trail. From the parking area to the tower suing the scale provided on the map is approximately 1.75 miles, one way. This was our longest hike for the kids. The trail was well marked and clear, but it had a bunch of rocks and exposed roots, which my youngest had some trouble with if he was not paying attention to where he was walking.
The tower trail is pretty boring, you are essentially walking through the woods and some swampy areas. The bugs were pretty thick so make sure you bring something with DEET in it! It was almost like the mosquitos hadn’t seen anything to feed on in months.
Once you hit the power line the trail makes a hard left turn and becomes steep as you make your way to the fire tower. We did see some blueberry bushes and the trail was a little muddy. When you reach the top there is the fire tower and a taller communications tower. There were some abandoned pieces of farm equipment and even a picnic table. The summit was an open grassy area completely surrounded by trees where the kids could run around and explore.
Unfortunately, there were no views to be had at all from the ground which was a big disappointment compared to our previous hike at Pitcher Mountain. The towers did provide a neat destination for the kids and there were some blackberry bushes over by the communication tower that had a handful of blackberries that were ripe for the picking.
On the way out about half way back to the parking area my youngest was pooped out. So I had a sleepy passenger for the rest of the way down the trail to the car. Luckily the trail was cut back enough that I could do this without having to worry about hitting him in the head with low branches.
The next hike in the 3 mile range I may have to bring the backpack he can ride in…
