Borestone Mountain Audubon Sanctuary

Encompassing 1,600 acres in Western Maine and bordered on one side by the Appalachian Trail, Borestone Mountain Audubon Sanctuary offers a spectacular array of natural features, including old-growth forest, crystalline ponds, exposed mountain rocks and sweeping views.

A trailside nature center located on the shore of Sunrise Pond includes interactive displays and information about the area’s natural and human history. Accessible only by boat or on foot, Adirondack-style lodges on Sunset Pond accommodate retreats for adults and summer camp sessions for children.

Borestone’s three-mile trail to a rock summit and spectacular 360-degree views is especially popular during the fall foliage season. An annual Hikeathon raises funds to help care for the sanctuary.

Habitat

Borestone's last timber harvest was in 1899, making it attractive habitat for certain wildlife. Some of Maine's most coveted warblers spend their summer here—Blackburnian, Cape May and bay-breasted nest in the coniferous canopy. Goshawks wing through the mature deciduous woods to prey on grouse. Pine martins are regularly seen by sanctuary staff.

Tree cavities provide nesting sites for raccoons, owls, woodpeckers and other species—sometimes in succession—while eagles, falcons and turkey vultures also can be seen soaring overhead.

A variety of mosses and lichens grow in wet areas and on rocks throughout the sanctuary. Wildflowers proliferate beside the trail in warmer months, and mushrooms in the early fall.

Bullfrogs, leopard frogs and red-spotted newts are common amphibians along the edges of Borestone’s three ponds, which are also home to beavers as well as dragonflies and other insects.

Trails

Borestone Mountain’s nature trail, an especially popular hike during the fall foliage season, is a pleasant climb of approximately three miles to a rock summit and spectacular 360-degree views.

Beginning at the gate on Bodfish Road, the trail follows a 1.3-mile road to the visitor's center where it continues as a foot path about 1 mile onto the rocks of Borestone's West Peak. A blazed trail continues .5 miles to East Peak, elevation 2,000 feet.

Hiking fees help Maine Audubon maintain the trails at Borestone.

•   Maine Audubon members as well as children under six hike free
•   $4/nonmember adults
•   $2/nonmember students, seniors, and each participant from school and other groups

History

In the early 1900s Robert T. Moore managed a fox ranch on what is now Borestone Mountain Audubon Sanctuary. Aided by the Canadian Pacific railway station on the edge of his holdings, he sold his award-winning silver-black pelts to auctions in New York. In 1909 Moore hired noted Bangor architect Wilfred E. Mansur to design the Adirondack-style lodges on Sunset Pond. Visitors to the lodges can still savor the quiet of an evening spent by oil lamp in front of the expansive stone hearth.

Moore bequeathed Borestone to the National Audubon Society in 1958 and gifts by his son and daughter and other donors enlarged the sanctuary to its present 1,639 acres. In 2000 the sanctuary was transferred to Maine Audubon as part of its affiliation with national Audubon.

Thanks to community involvement Borestone Mountain Audubon Sanctuary today hosts more than 4,000 hikers annually and offers nature camps and retreats.