Borestone Mountain Audubon Sanctuary

At Borestone Mountain, you’ll have a hiking adventure a touch different — and perhaps a little fancier — than most other hikes in Maine. About 0.8 miles from the trailhead, you’ll arrive at a little nature center, with displays and a small store stocked with guides and gifts, run on the day we visited by a very pleasant and informative fellow. Make sure to have cash on you! There is a small fee/donation to hike in the preserve. 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 West Peak along the way where many people stop because the views are really nice. But I say push on to East Park, because the views are even better. The climb to the mountaintop has some steep sections, with rungs drilled into boulders to help haul yourself up. The trail overall is well made; portions have stone stairways set into the side of the mountain. The elevation gained, from trailhead to final summit, is about 1,250 feet.

You can also do a small loop 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 guarded the foxes. There is a spur trail to a nice view. 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 0.5-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.