Bradley-Sunkhaze Preserve, located in Milford, Maine, is 12,710 acres owned by The Nature Conservancy (TNC), adjoining Sunkhaze Meadows National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) and Maine Parks and Lands Bradley Unit. On a cool mid-September morning, I hiked in this remote, quiet preserve, using the Birch Stream Trail. TNC’s website has a trail map, but the scale is problematic (Derek Zoolander would loudly ask if this is a map for ants), and the trails are overgrown and unmarked. I used AllTrails to navigate, and had downloaded the map well beforehand, as there is little to no cellular signal in this area.
There is a small parking area next to where Birch Stream crosses County Road, across from the Oak Point trailhead at Sunkhaze Meadows NWR. The Birch Stream Trail starts as an overgrown woods road with a small path in the center hemmed in by wildflowers, ferns, blackberry, and other clinging, thorny plants. A large boggy meadow lit by the sunrise opened up to the left, full of songbirds, and plenty of white birch lined the trail.
Hiking in Maine 