Burns Farm Trails North
The Burns Farm Trails North hike at the Beaver Brook Association's Burns Farm Trails in Milford, New Hampshire is an easy 2.8-mile loop hike that passes through the northern section of the park's trails and features a family-friendly forest walk.Trail name(s): Burns Loop, Eagle Trail and Kettlehole Trail
Location: Beaver Brook Association Conservation Land: Burns Farm Trails, Burns Road Milford, NH.
Fees and Parking: There is no fee to park or use the trails. There is plenty of off-street parking available in gravel parking area on Burns Road. The trails we took on this visit are all on the North Side of Mason Road. To access these trails, hikers will need to park in the parking area on Burns Road and then walk down the hill toward Mason Road. There is a small brown sign with a hiker symbol on it located across Mason Road that directs hikers to the start of the trails. Use caution when crossing Mason Road as this area does have a fair amount of traffic. After passing through the chained entrance, it is a very short walk down a small embankment, over a paved bridge to the Kiosk for this section of trails. At the Kiosk, hikers will find a posted map, maps to take along and a QR code to scan to open a Trail Map on a Smartphone.
Allowed Activities: Hiking,Snow Shoeing,Cross country Skiing,Geocaching, Fishing in accordance with State regulations. A sign was posted that said biking and Horseback riding was allowed on designated trails but there was no designation noted on any of the trails we encountered.
Accessibility: The trails are not wheelchair accessible.
Sanitation: No restrooms, no trash bins
Pets: Pets must be on a leash and waste picked up.
Trail Restrictions: No bicycles, No motorized vehicles, No Snowmobiles, No Hunting on Beaver Brook Association Land (Hunting is allowed in the Hitchner Town Forest), No firearms, No trapping, No littering, No Alcohol, No fires, No cutting of plants, No collection of wildlife.
Hours: Daylight use only from dawn to dusk.
Trail information: This was a very easy hike, about 2.8 miles in length. This hike was completed as a loop of sorts, as we included the Eagle Trail which is a loop off of Burns Loop. The substrate is very easy to navigate. There is an occasional tree root to be careful walking over but for the most part, this is not a trail where hikers will need to watch every foot placement: most of the trail is a dirt path through a forest of Oak, Maple, Hemlock, Pine and Paper Birch trees. This was a very family friendly hike, not just because the footing is easy, but also because there has been a Story Book Walk installed along the trail for children to enjoy as they hike. There is a very sturdy, well maintained wooden bridge to help hikers over Birch Brook, which was very low at the time of our visit. The trails here, have the same trail marker as are found on the Southern side of Mason Road which are marked by a yellow triangle. On this side of the trail system (North of Mason Rd.), we noticed that while the forest is dense, the trees do not appear to be as large, and perhaps not as old as the trees are on the other side (South of Mason Rd). The information we read about this area stated that bicycles were not allowed, however we did see two riders using the trails during our visit.
