Moose Trail Loop

The Moose Trail Loop is the premier hiking route in Borderland State Park, circling the park's outermost perimeter through a richly varied landscape of granite outcrops, pond shores, beaver meadows, and the impressive historic estate grounds of the Ames family. Borderland was owned by Oakes Ames and his wife Blanche Ames Ames—suffragist, inventor, artist, and birth control advocate—whose fieldstone mansion still stands at the park's center as a National Historic Landmark. The trail passes directly by the mansion and the elaborate stonework of its landscaped grounds, including a magnificent stone-arched bridge over Leach Pond's inlet. The loop's outer sections traverse the park's wildest terrain, where glacially deposited granite boulders the size of automobiles emerge from the forest floor and active beaver lodges flood low-lying areas into productive wetland habitat. Wood ducks, great blue herons, and river otters are regularly observed in and around the beaver ponds. The granite outcrops throughout the park are particularly striking—broad, lichen-covered domes that offer elevated views across the forested landscape. Blueberries ripen on the exposed ledges in August, and the fall foliage display over the ponds is exceptional. Moose were historically present here—giving the trail its name—and occasional sightings still occur in the northern sections of the park.