Hiking at Borestone Mountain Sanctuary

Among Maine’s most popular hiking destinations, Borestone Mountain offers a  moderately strenuous, yet kid-friendly 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 Road to the top of the mountain.

Base Trail—This 0.8-mile trail begins from the shale-covered access road, at the first kiosk to the left. It winds through mature forest and 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 sanctuary entrance to the Visitor Center. An overlook easily approached from the Base Trail and access road 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. Hikers emerge after 0.7 mile onto the summit of the mountain’s West Peak, with the highly recommended choice of continuing another 0.3 mile to the East Peak.

Thanks to the Maine Conservation Corps, 130 stone steps help hikers ascend. There also are two steel hand/footholds set in rock.

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

Stewardship

Our sanctuaries and centers are a tribute to the generosity, commitment and active involvement of private individuals, foundations and corporations.

You, too, can become a steward - from clearing trails and leading nature walks, to donating land and funding - and by doing your part to help protect wildlife and wildlife habitat.

To ensure an enjoyable visit for all as well as to protect wildlife and wildlife habitat:

Wildlife and Habitat

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. Goshawks wing through deciduous stands of trees to prey on grouse. Pine martens seek nesting red squirrels. Canada lynx, following snowshoe hare, leave tracks visible in snow. Raccoons, owls, woodpeckers, and other species nest in tree cavities.
• 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 appear along the cliff faces.
• Borestone’s three clear and deep, spring-fed alpine ponds are fishless, offering unique habitat for invertebrates and amphibians, including beavers and the dragonflies that eat mosquitos and black flies. 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 earlyblooming 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.
  

Trail map (click to enlarge):

View or download trail information here. (PDF)

Borestone Mountain Sanctuary Home Page

Activities at Borestone | Lodging at Borestone

Directions

From Bangor or Portland, take I-95 to Newport (Exit 157 from the south, or Exit 159 from the north). Follow Route 7 north to Dexter, then take Route 23 north to Guilford. In Guilford, turn left onto Route 15/6 to Monson. After passing through the village of Monson, turn right onto Elliotsville Road. After 8 miles turn left, after the bridge, onto Bodfish Road. Parking area is approximately .2 miles on the left, after the railroad tracks. The gate and trailhead are on the right.

Borestone Mountain Audubon Sanctuary is located on Map 41 of Delorme’s Maine Atlas.

Contact us

Phone: (207) 631-4050 June-September, or (207) 781-2330 October-May.

For lodge reservation inquiries, click here.