The main trail that circles Odiorne Point Park is roughly 3 miles. Several side trails along the main route lead back to the park entrance and shorten the trek. Visitors who want to walk the entire coastline can pick up the main trail at the south end of the parking lot. A series of gun mounts on the rocky beach of the park's southern point were built in 1942, when the federal government took over Odiorne Point and built Fort Dearborn, a military base established to protect the coast from war-time invasion. Odiorne Point was returned to the state of New Hampshire in 1961, but abandoned military structures can still be found throughout the park.
One short side trail on the southern tip of the park leads to Jenness Beach and the park's sunken forest. Local historians speculate that thousands of years ago, the beach was the entrance to a thick cedar forest that may have extended the shoreline as much as 75 miles east. Over thousands of years, it is believed, the Atlantic slowly rose and swallowed the forest. Every 15 or 20 years, during extremely low tides, exposed tree stumps can be found among the sand and rocks.
A second entrance to the main trail starts farther north at the Seacoast Science Center, an interactive natural history museum managed by the Audubon Society of New Hampshire. At this point, the trail divides into two parallel routes. The paved, upper trail runs through some of the park's thick patches of rose hips and sumac and offers sweeping views of the ocean. It also leads visitors to a monument honoring the first group of British settlers who arrived on Odiorne Point in 1623. The lower trail follows the rugged crescent-shaped shore lined with tidal pools to Frost Point where visitors can walk along a jetty that juts out into the harbor.
The last stretch of the main trail circles around the northern section of the park, along Sandy Beach and a large saltwater marsh. Birdwatchers frequently visit this area of the park, which is known as a good spot to view winter loons and merlins and spring raptors and warblers. Walkers who enjoy exploring tidal pools will find plenty of spots to wade in this section of the park.
Visitors who want to extend their walks at Odiorne Point can veer off on the trails that wind through the coastal forest in the center of the park. Within the woods are several old military building from the park's years as Fort Dearborn. The remains of a formal garden are also still standing as a reminder of the late 18th- and early 19th-century era, when Odiorne Point was an exclusive seaside resort.
