Bear Paw Preserve
Managed by Small Woodland Owners Association of Maine
62 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Photo: Ephram Caflun · CC BY-SA 3.0C−Outdoors
Outdoors in Hartford
Hartford has 16 miles of mapped trails, 0.4 for every square mile of land
3% of residents live within a half mile of a park. 8 acres are parks and preserves, 6.0 per 1,000 residents.
Ahead of 20% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Conserved land
1%
180 acres · of 43.9 sq mi of land
Trails
16 mi
0.4 per sq mi of land
Park land
8 ac
6.0 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
3%
of residents within ½ mile
Highest peak
1,348 ft
Thorne Mountain
Lakes & rivers
4
What kind of outdoors town is Hartford?
Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.
Outdoors grade
How much outdoors does Hartford have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Hartford is ahead of 20% of U.S. towns. Trail miles hold the grade up; the share of residents near a park pulls it down.
C−
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Hartford’s overall grade.
Conserved land1% of the land · typical ME town 6% · U.S. 4%C−Trails0.4 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (16 mi) · ME 0.7 · U.S. 0.4BPark land6.0 acres of park per 1,000 residents (8 acres) · ME 15 · U.S. 13CParks close to home3% of residents within a half mile of a park · ME 30% · U.S. 72%D
All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 20%
LessMore
NoteFew parks or trails are mapped in Hartford. OpenStreetMap is mapped by volunteers and coverage varies from town to town, so a town with unmapped parks scores low on them.
How sure. Graded on any three of the four inputs instead, the letter would range from D to C. Trails and many small parks come from OpenStreetMap, mapped by volunteers, so coverage varies from town to town; the half mile is a straight line from each census block, so a river or highway in the way isn’t counted against it.
PAD-US, OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors), Census 2025 Gazetteer and 2020 blocks; details in Sources below. How TownRatings grades the outdoors →
The map
Conserved land, trails & bike routes
Tap a number to zoom to a park. Tap a layer to hide it.
Easements protect land from building but are usually private.© OpenStreetMap contributors · USGS PAD-US
Places to walk
Pick a walk
Directions go to the nearest trailhead or public parking.
Hartford Town Beach
Park
8 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Who protects it
180 conserved acres
1% of Hartford’s land. Who manages Hartford’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Land trusts & nonprofits360 ac
Agricultural Easement · 234 acConservation Easement · 125 ac
Good to know
Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors. 180 acres are conservation easements, usually private land. Public access isn’t recorded for 3 of 4 parcels. The walks above are places people visit.
Things to do
18 places to go in Hartford
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
Peaks in Hartford
Thorne Mountain1,348 ft elevation
DirectionsBear Mountain1,171 ft elevation
DirectionsHayford Hill1,135 ft elevation
DirectionsHutchinson Hill1,115 ft elevation
DirectionsCampbell Hill1,096 ft elevation
DirectionsLittle Bear Mountain1,096 ft elevation
DirectionsIrish Hill1,037 ft elevation
DirectionsThompson Hill1,010 ft elevation
Directions10 more peaks
Russell Hill988 ft elevation
DirectionsHolmes Hill922 ft elevation
DirectionsDoten Hill912 ft elevation
DirectionsRobinson Hill833 ft elevation
DirectionsBartlett Hill830 ft elevation
DirectionsDeacon Pinnacle755 ft elevation
DirectionsCary Hill741 ft elevation
DirectionsThe Pinnacle571 ft elevation
DirectionsThe Pinnacle374 ft elevation
DirectionsThe Pinnacle
DirectionsTrails & water
2 named trails and 4 lakes & rivers
Named trails
Open to bikes · 9.5 miUnpaved · 9.5 mi
ITS 899.5 mi
Bear Mountain Trail2.1 mi
Lakes & rivers tap for directions
History along the way
History →3 places on the National Register
The country’s official list of places worth saving (National Park Service).
When to get out
The best walking months in Hartford: May and July to September
NOAA’s 1991–2020 normals for the town and the daylight at its latitude. Outlined months have long days, highs of 59 to 86 °F and little rain for the place.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Daylight (h) | 9.2 | 10.4 | 11.8 | 13.4 | 14.8 | 15.5 | 15.2 | 14.0 | 12.4 | 10.9 | 9.5 | 8.9 |
| High (°F) | 27 | 31 | 40 | 53 | 65 | 74 | 79 | 78 | 70 | 57 | 44 | 33 |
| Rain (in) | 3.4 | 3.0 | 3.7 | 4.2 | 3.7 | 4.9 | 3.9 | 4.0 | 3.6 | 5.3 | 4.3 | 4.2 |
February is the driest month (3.0 in) and July the warmest (highs of 79 °F). 5.3 inches fall in October, the wettest month. The climate in Hartford →
Next door
Hartford and its neighbors
Hartford has the second most mapped trails of the 6 towns around it. Tap a town to see its outdoors.
Questions about parks and trails in Hartford
How much of Hartford is conserved land?
1% of its land, against a typical 6% for a Maine town and 4% nationally (PAD-US). Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors: easements are usually private land.
Are dogs allowed on Hartford’s trails?
Bear Paw Preserve and Hartford Town Beach don’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.
Is there public land near Hartford?
456 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Hartford or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 8 of them inside the town line.
How much outdoors does Hartford have?
Ahead of 20% of U.S. towns on the Outdoors grade. The grade combines the share of land that is conserved, miles of mapped trail per square mile of land, park acres per 1,000 residents and the share of residents within a half mile of a park. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
Trail talk
Conditions, parking and favorite walks from Hartford neighbors.
Share a tip
Sources
Where this page comes from
Conserved and public land: USGS Protected Areas Database of the United States (PAD-US), service updated July 2026. Parks, trails, playgrounds, beaches and other places: OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL), map data as of 2026-10-28. Land and water area: Census 2025 Gazetteer. Residents near a park: 2020 Census blocks. National Register: National Park Service. How TownRatings grades the outdoors →