Aug 05 2026
Borestone Mountain Lodges Open House
Borestone - Elliotsville
Encompassing almost 1,600 acres in Maine’s Hundred Mile Wilderness region, Borestone Mountain Audubon Sanctuary offers a spectacular array of natural features, including rare older forest, three crystalline ponds (Sunrise, Midday, and Sunset), exposed granite crags, and sweeping, panoramic views.
A seasonal trailside Visitor Center on the shore of Sunrise Pond includes interactive displays, historical information about the area, and a small Nature Store. Also at the sanctuary, on the shores of Sunset Pond and accessible only by boat or on foot, historic Adirondack-style lodges accommodate rentals for groups of up to 24 people, from June to October.
Trails from the entrance offer popular, family-friendly hikes throughout the sanctuary and to the summit of Borestone Mountain. Programs and events include guided nature walks and overnight retreats, which are held at the lodges.
Bodfish Valley Road
Elliotsville, ME
Visitor Center & Nature Store open 9 am to 4 pm Tuesday-Sunday (weather dependent).
Trails open sunrise to sunset
Borestone Mountain Audubon Sanctuary
Bodfish Valley Road,
Elliotsville, ME
The Visitor Center is located at the top of the access road (approx 1.3 miles from the parking area).
During the summer: the Visitor Center and Nature Store is open Tuesday-Sunday (weather dependent), from 9 am-4 pm.
Trail access is closed in winter.
• Picnic tables and outhouses are available near the Visitor Center.
• Please, no pets.
• There is very little cell phone coverage here; please plan accordingly.
• For general questions about Borestone Mountain, call 207.781.2330 or email
info@maineaudubon.org
Among Maine’s most popular hiking destinations, Borestone Mountain offers a moderately strenuous climb that culminates with spectacular 360-degree views from two peaks at nearly 2,000 feet. With binoculars, hikers sometimes see moose feeding below. Connected trails are marked with blazes and lead 2.5 miles from the sanctuary entrance on Bodfish Valley Road to the top of the mountain.
Base Trail: This 1.1-mile trail begins from the shale-covered access road, at the first kiosk to the left. A moderate climb through mature forest, it winds back to the access road, which continues another 0.2 mile to the Visitor Center at Sunrise Pond. Hikers may also walk up the access road 1.3 miles from the entrance to the Visitor Center. An overlook offers an expansive view of Greenwood Pond.
Summit Trail: From the Visitor Center, the 1.0-mile Summit Trail follows Sunrise Pond’s shore before climbing steeply through spruce and, in its final stage, over exposed rock. The 0.7-mile trail includes 130 stone steps and two steel handholds before reaching West Peak; continue another 0.3 miles to East Peak.
Fox Pen Loop Trail (CURRENTLY CLOSED): This trail stems from the Summit Trail about 0.1 miles from the visitor center. The 0.4-mile trail meanders down to a marsh area. Boardwalks traverse the marsh to the far side where there are remnants of fox pens just beneath an exposed wall of rock.
Peregrine Trail: This 0.5-mile trail begins opposite the Visitor Center and leads gradually upwards above a series of cliffs that overlook the three ponds. Just under 0.2 miles into the trail there is a fork in the trail; stay to the left (the trail right is for staff only). The trail ends at a ledge above the cliffs. (May occasionally be closed. Check with Visitor Center staff.)
Access to Borestone Mountain is free.
Donations help Maine Audubon maintain the trails at Borestone.
Suggested donations:
Borestone Mountain Audubon Sanctuary is near the southern end of Maine’s 100-Mile Wilderness forest. Uncut for more than a century, its forest is unlike much of the region’s spruce-fir and northern hardwood forest, which has been cut for timber every 50-70 years. Lack of mature forest habitat in Maine makes Borestone a special sanctuary for wildlife.
Particularly in early summer, birders can look for Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Boreal Chickadee, several vireos, Winter Wren, Hermit Thrush, White-throated Sparrow, and eight to ten warbler species (including Blackburnian, Cape May, and Bay-breasted). Common Ravens and Turkey Vultures regularly soar above the mountain’s exposed granite summit, while Peregrine Falcons sometimes appear along the cliff faces.
Borestone’s three clear and deep, spring-fed alpine ponds are fishless, offering unique habitat for a wide range of other wildlife, including beavers and dragonflies and possibly otter. Although fish-eating birds are uncommon at the ponds, Borestone visitors sometimes hear loons calling from nearby Lake Onawa. Visitors also can see and hear bullfrogs, Leopard Frogs, Gray Tree Frogs, and Red-spotted Newts.
Lining Borestone’s trails are blueberry and hobble bushes, as well as wildflowers ranging from early-blooming dog-tooth violet to late-flowering whitewood aster. Mushrooms proliferate in early fall. A variety of mosses and lichens grow in wet areas and on rocks throughout the sanctuary.
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 land, he sold award-winning 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. Lodge guests today can still savor quiet evenings in front of a stone hearth or on porches overlooking ponds.
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 National Audubon Society transferred Borestone Sanctuary to Maine Audubon. Today, it is the centerpiece of Maine Audubon’s north woods presence. Thanks to the surrounding community’s support and involvement, more than 4,000 hikers every year have access to this treasured mountain.
