Hiking & Walking Trails

Hiking and Walking in Burlington

The Burlington Parks and Recreation Department would like to express our deepest thanks and appreciation to Alan Perrie who spent a tremendous amount of time developing the information for these trails, which will tremendously benefit the residents of Burlington.

Burlington is a great town to connect with the outdoors, because it has something for everyone.  Its 6.1 miles of  paved Farmington River Trail has Connecticut's best views per mile. As a hiking town, it is in a class by itself. It has 52 different trail choices, which total over 230 miles and all were designed to be hiked using just one car. Burlington has very carbon friendly recreation choices. 92% of the trail choices are loop hikes, which have the added bonus of a brand new visual experience when you hike it in the opposite direction. Since 1970 Burlington has offered adventure for hikers based on physical skills, since it had 5 Class 2 hikes where hand and foot placement skills were needed, but most are Class 1 hikes that have no climbing. In 2021 Burlington added some new hiking adventures by using mountain bike trails that required new trail reading skills since their trail markers are much less frequent than those on the Blue Trail System.

Burlington’s 52 hike choices are organized into 5 categories that are organized by an estimate of hiking time without breaks. The time is based on the hike distance and vertical feet (uphill plus downhill). If it is a nice day and you have 2 hours available, all you have to do is pick a category & go down the right side of the list to find a 2 hour hike. The planning is basically done. Clicking on the hike title gives you a satellite map, along with trail directions and parking.  It is important to bring this information with you on your cell phone.


The Top 10 Walks and Hikes for All Ages <3.5 miles: Distance, Vertical Feet, Time, Views

11 Class 1 Loop Hikes >3.2 miles: Distance, Vertical Feet, Hiking Time, Views

22 Class 1 Hike/Bike Loops 3-5.9 miles: Distance, Vertical Feet, Hiking Time

4 Class 2 Loop Hikes

3 Class 1 "Out and Back" Tunxis Trail Hikes (a 2-car shuttle option reduces the miles by half)


Kudos to the new CFPA hiking trail crew: Almost all of the Blue Trails in town have new brightly colored plastic rectangle blazes. New trail signs are now found at almost all trail junctions and road crossings. There have been some rerouting of the trails to avoid erosion issues on steeper sections of the original trail. They are also enhancing the hiking experience by rerouting trails to avoid road walks or sections of trail with puddle issues. They have added board walks on long muddy trail sections and well placed stepping stones at stream crossings. To appreciate the trail crew's incredible engineering skills you need to discover Burlington's Big Bridge over Whigville Brook. Take a hike on the Blue / Orange Loop to experience this bridge and the new trail crew construction skills.

Kudos to the NEMBA bike trail team for adding new white plastic diamond trail markers which are much easier to see compared to the original painted white rectangles. The diamonds at junctions with hiking trail make it much easier to identify the biking from the hiking trail. There is also a yellow diamond and a red diamond bike trail. NEMBA has also been replacing some bridges to make it safer for everyone. It is important for hikers to respect the NEMBA trails by not taking short cuts that could create erosion issues and make their blazed trail harder to follow. I also think it is a good idea for hikers to step off their trail and let any bikers pass. It is a great when hikers and bikers share positive experiences in Burlington's forests.

There are many trail crossings and some are not marked. It is important to bring along the map and trail descriptions to keep you on track. A double rectangle blaze means a turn. When the upper blaze shifts to the left, turn left. When it shifts to right, turn right. A single blaze means continue straight. The mountain bike trails are now using white plastic diamonds with an arrow to indicate direction. If you don't see any blaze after a few minutes of hiking, you should backtrack to your last blaze to be sure you didn't miss a turn found in the directions. Trail blazes also may be found on the reverse side of a tree. The exception to the blue or white blazes are on 2 properties managed by the Burlington Land Trust, which use a solid red or orange blaze. Not all streams have bridges. If the water appears too high for a safe crossing, come back another day.

Cumulative mileage to key features or trail junctions is found on the trail descriptions. To estimate distance, if you don't have a GPS, figure hiking speed to be 2 mph (a half mile every 15 minutes). Use your watch to estimate the time to the next trail junction. Be sure to tell someone your hiking plans and an estimated time of completion, which is found on the information link. A cell phone and a compass is important to carry. (Many cell phones have a compass). A daypack can be helpful to carry extra layers, rain gear, water, snacks, flashlight, cell phone, and trail directions.

Good trail etiquette preserves a positive experience for everyone in the future. Please carry out everything you bring in. Don't pick vegetation, disturb wildlife, or light camp fires during your hike. Stay on the established trails because short cuts create erosion problems. If you carry out other people's trash, you can earn bonus Karma points.

Parking for each hike is given by street location, plus latitude and longitude. Try the following example for Sessions Woods using Google Maps paste 41.732830, -72.955389 into the search box instead of an address, then zoom in using the satellite mode. You will be within 10 feet of the flagpole at Sessions Woods.

A very good resource is the Connecticut Walk Book, 20th edition. The introduction should be read if you are new to hiking the Blue Trail System. They also have the link to the Blue Trails Interactive Map.

Another good resource is the map to Sessions Woods (PDF). If you visit Sessions Woods mid week, you must visit the nature displays in the main building. Sessions Woods combines education and recreation into a complete package.

A good New England Mountain Bike Association trail map that shows elevation is Trailforks.