QUICK TRAIL FACTS
- Preserve Size: 1,600 acres
- Trail Mileage: ~5 miles in network
- Pets: no
- Difficulty: moderate
- Sights: Views from summit, old fox farm, mountain ponds
At Borestone Mountain, you’ll have a hiking adventure a touch different—and perhaps a little fancier—than most others in Maine. About 0.8 miles from the trailhead, you’ll come to a little nature center, with displays and a small store with guides and gifts, run on the day we visited by a very pleasant and informative fellow. Make sure to have cash on you! The fee to hike to in the preserve is $5 per person. The center is next to the pretty and prettily named Sunrise Pond, which much to our dismay was described as too shallow, warm, and leech-filled to make it an appealing spot for swimming.
From the nature center, you can continue another 1 mile to the 1,981-foot summit (passing a faux summit along the way where many people stop because the views are really nice here). But I say push on to the second summit because the views are even nicer. The climb to the mountain top has some steep sections, with rungs set up into the boulders. The trail, overall, though is well made; portions have stone stairways set into the side of the mountain. The elevation gained to the final summit is 710 feet.
You can also do a small loop trail close to the nature center that takes you to a 1930s-era fox farm, where you can still see the dilapidated pens and an observation hut perched on a cliff overhead where an employee watched to make sure the foxes weren’t misbehaving. There is a spur trail here to a nice views. And the marsh you come across is lovely.
If no one is staying at the fabulous and secluded Audubon lodges between Midday and Sunset Ponds, which are rented out from May to October, you are allowed to hike the .5-mile Peregrine Falcon trail to an overlook of the ponds.
On the return to your car, we recommend hiking down the access road — easier on the knees. Also, take note: because this is an Audubon property, no dogs are allowed.
Directions: From Route 15, turn onto Elliotsville Road. At approximately 7.7 miles cross the bridge over Big Wilson Stream. Turn left after the bridge. The trailhead will be on your right, with a parking area on the left, just before the road turns to gravel.
