Borestone Mountain open house

    ELLIOTSVILLE TWP — Borestone Mountain Audubon Sanctuary will host an open house Sunday, July 27 from 11 a.m. — 2 p.m.
    Attendees can pack a picnic lunch and hike the trails of Borestone Mountain.  In celebration of open house, the usual day-use fees will not be collected and the trail to the lodges will be marked.

    Pack a lunch to enjoy on the decks of the lodges, the guide’s camp or the docks. Light refreshments and cold drinks will be available, and visitors are invited to tour the rustic century-old log lodges on stunning Sunset and Midday Ponds tucked just below the cliffs and talus slope of Peregrine Ridge.
    The ambitious can plan enough extra time to make the summit climb before or after the open house, or sample the shorter less rigorous trails to Peregrine Ridge or the Fox Pen Loop.
    The visitors’ center will be open on the edge of Sunrise Pond where there are several interpretive displays as well as a small nature store.
    From the parking lot at the gate to the summit and back is a round trip of four miles; to the lodges and back is two-and-a-half miles. Both the Peregrine Ridge Trail and the Fox Pen Loop are short, easy side trails that branch off the summit trial half way up near the Visitors Center.
    With advance notice, staff can provide a handicapped shuttle up the one mile access road via sanctuary vehicle and across the ponds via boat. Up-bound shuttle will be at 11:30 a.m. and down-bound at 2 p.m.
    FMI: Borestone Lodge 631-4050 or co-managers Alexandra Bennett 997-3639 and Garrett Conover 997-3723.