Burwash Correctional Center

I have been to Burwash twice, however, I didn’t realize there was an abandoned prison you could hike to when I was here in 2025. So, when I visited again in 2026, I knew I had to add it to me to-do list!

About Burwash Correction Center

Burwash Industrial Farm was established in 1914 based on the revolutionary premise that low-risk inmates would benefit from the exercise and skills learned while working outdoors at self-supporting institutions. Burwash Industrial Farm accommodated between 180 and 820 minimum and medium security offenders with sentences of three months to two years less a day. Over time, it grew to occupy 35,000 acres owned and 101,000 acres leased, housing three permanent camp sites, several temporary ones, and a town of prison staff families with a population of 600 to 1,000 people. Prison inmates provided labour to build the entire community and ran an extensive mixed farm, a tailor shop, and a prosperous logging operation. Burwash Industrial Farm was one of the largest reform institutions in 20th-century Ontario. It closed in 1975 because of changes in correctional practices. – Ontario Heritage Trust

Getting There

Burwash Correctional Center is now on private property. The owner allows visitors, however requests you to pay a fee and to sign a safety waiver. If you wish to get to this trail the long-but-legal way, you will need to call Avalon Eco Resort and ask them to email you the waiver. There is a $13 fee and the trail itself is reportedly closer to 12km. According to AllTrails, it takes the average person 4 hours to hike this way as the trail head for the long-but-legal way is just off Hwy 637. Going this way was more driving, more money, and more hiking for me, so I will admit I risked the trespassing fine and went the better-and-illegal way.

To get there the better-but-illegal way, you need to start by heading to the end of Burwash Correctional Center Rd and taking a left turn at the fork in the road. That left turn should lead to a dead-end road with room to park 1-2 vehicles. You’ll know you’re in the right spot because the train tracks should be about 10-20 feet away. If you drive to the end of the road and then hike to the prison from here, the hiking distance is closer to only 2-3 km.

Once you’re at the train tracks, the trail is pretty easy to follow: cross over the ditch, across the train tracks, and into the woods on the other side. Within 5 minutes of walking you should see a beaver dam over a small creek. When I was there, there was also an old guard rail laying on the ground. Use both of these things – and some good balancing – to get across. From here, just walk straight.

There are some areas where the ground was very muddy, so you will need to either wear boots or walk off trail to get around those areas. The actual hike into the prison is a mix of beautiful and boring. There are a lot of mushrooms, trees, fields, and wildflowers. I also saw a lot of bear scat and a tuft of fur on my journey into the prison. But there’s also parts of the trail where you’re just looking at the same trees and muddy trail over and over again.

I ran into one other person who was returning from the prison. He told me it had taken him about 2 hours to get there, but it took me closer to an hour-and-a-half to get there, and about an hour to get back. There is definitely a bear presence here, though neither of us saw any, so just be careful and bring some safety gear.

The Prison

The prison itself is so cool. If you’re into abandoned buildings or history, this is definitely a highly recommended stop! It’s very easy to get disoriented, but there’s so many missing doors and windows that if you actually got lost inside, you could hop out a window or door to go back outside and find your way again.

When you first enter through the main door and head in, you will find yourself at a four-way crossing. To your left and right are prison cells and ahead of you will be what I assume was once the cafeteria, though I am not entirely sure.

All the prison cells look generally the same and at the end of each cell block is typically some showers or larger cells that I imagine were for more dangerous inmates or perhaps meeting rooms as they were constructed differently with double doors and the remnants of glass brick walls. Inside the double doors was about 2 feet of space, and then bars for cells (though the actual bars had been removed).

As you explore a little more, you’ll get to the boiler room. Right outside of that is also an apple tree. I picked some apples and brought them home with me – quite delicious!

There is also a second building that you can explore, but I didn’t end up going inside because it was started to get a little stormy and dark, and I was worried about having to hike an hour or so back in the dark or in the rain, given how many signs of bears I’d seen on my way in.