Cabot Shelter or Tent Site

[Gadgetman]

My buddies and I will over_night on Cabot first week of October and I'm trying to find out if there is a shelter or tent site at the lower elevations where we can hike a short distance drop the heavy gear and day hike to Cabot?

 

[RollingRock]

There are tent platforms at Unknown Pond. You can then hike to Mt. Cabot and include The Horn [better view IMO] and hike back down. If you Google Unknown Pond I'm sure you'll find some info.

 

[bikehikeskifish]

There is also the cabin just below the former fire tower site and not far (.4 miles) from the summit...



Here is another thread about the cabin

Tim

 

[TDawg]

Although, beautiful and highly recommended, Unknown Pond is kind of out of the way if your looking to only hike Cabot. You'd have to hike over Horn, then Bulge, and THEN Cabot coming from that direction. Horn definitely makes it worth while if you're willing to take on the extra mileage and elevation. And at Unknown they aren't platforms, but hardened earth sites.

Depending on how many tents you have, I'd chance it and find a flat, legal spot a little ways down the old *Cabot trail or off Bunnell Notch to base camp at.

*That's a little ways down from Bunnell Notch, where the old Cabot trail is still in the WMNF and, hence, legal to camp. Accessed via Bunnell Notch Tr.

 

[Elizabeth]

I'd recommend camping at Unknown Pond and including Horn in your hike. The Unknown Pond campsite is nice. Horn is a very worthwhile mountain to climb (with a more satisfying summit than Cabot) and is reached by only a short detour. This route adds some nice scenery-bagging to your peak-bagging experience.
See photos here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/32876400@N08/sets/72157624564550383/with/4875925483/

 

[dug]

If your intent is to set up camp, hike, then have a place to have a few, Unkown Pond may be your best spot. There are places to camp off Bunnell Notch as it's lowlands, but also you are in hunting territory to some degree. The higher up you go, the less likely it is to see a hunter, but also harder to find a spot.

Unknown is a little over 3 miles, but pretty easy. It would be a good haul to Cabot, but is it a trip I've done 1-2 times previously. Depending on how fast you hike will depend if you have any time left in the day to enjoy the campsite.

I certainly don't recommned camping along the closed/old Cabot Trail since it's questionably legal to be hiking on, camping really wouldn't be wise.

 

[TEO]

I certainly don't recommned camping along the closed/old Cabot Trail since it's questionably legal to be hiking on, camping really wouldn't be wise.

It's absolutely legal to hike on within the WMNF boundary (the majority of the trail). Heck, it's even marked on the AMC map. According to everything that I've read, the entire trail is unquestionably legal to hike. There's a huge difference between being discouraged from hiking a section of trail and a section of trail being illegal to hike on.

Your statement is a sad, but predictable result of the WMNF not enforcing its trail easements.

 

[dug]

It's absolutely legal to hike on within the WMNF boundary (the majority of the trail). Heck, it's even marked on the AMC map. According to everything that I've read, the entire trail is unquestionably legal to hike. There's a huge difference between being discouraged from hiking a section of trail and a section of trail being illegal to hike on.

Your statement is a sad, but predictable result of the WMNF not enforcing its trail easements.

Since you would be traversing a closed trail, how would you suggest you get to said camping area...fly?

 

[peakbagger]

Rather than reopen the debate on the abandoned trail, here is the thread that just about answers it all

http://www.vftt.org/forums/showthread.php?t=10160

I went up the Bunnel Notch trail this weekend and there are several old cuts and wooded sections in the first mile or so that would have room for tents. Whatever you do dont just drive up an old road and car camp, the fish hatchery folks keep and eye out as if they didnt it would become a party spot for the locals.

Another easy option is to rent a yurt at Milan Hill State Park. http://www.concordmonitor.com/article/rebirth-of-milan-hill-state-park

I havent gone to look at them but a friend mentioned that the park was getting fixed up. Its about 15 minutes to the York Pond gate from the park and is the closest camping to York Pond. The state description is that they hold 6.

With regards to the Mt Cabot cabin, despite USFS publicity that the cabin is locked and is on a reservation basis in 2010, as of last Sunday 9/5, the cabin was not locked and there was no evidence of the capability of locking it. There is what appears to be a USFS padlock on the hatch to the attic (this was storage space in the past, not useful for sleeping space). If someone does camp up there, the water source is a long walk down the side of the mountain via a spur trail but at least its marked these days. The cabin is in better shape than it was in the past. There are four bunks in the back room.

The biggest disapointment is the view to the west from the former fire tower location is getting more obscured by trees over the years. The view to the east is still open, and it may be worth staying there this fall or winter before the new federal prison in Berlin turns the lights on.

 

[TEO]

Since you would be traversing a closed trail, how would you suggest you get to said camping area...fly?

Not at all. As TDawg suggests, you can access it from Bunnell Notch.

That said, Unkown Pond would probably be a much nicer place to camp.

 

[dug]

Not at all. As TDawg suggests, you can access it from Bunnell Notch.

That said, Unkown Pond would probably be a much nicer place to camp.

We are on the same page. The original post by TDAWG (I think) referenced camping along the "old section", which is the closed section. To Peakbagger's point, it's been re-hashed way too much (and I'm the biggest offender), but I just didn't think it was wise to direct someone to camp in an area of questionable legality. I also mentioned there are other routes, although not as perfect in this scenario as the original Mt. Cabot trail woud be.

 

[TDawg]

We are on the same page. The original post by TDAWG (I think) referenced camping along the "old section", which is the closed section.

Whoa, back the truck up. Never suggested that. And, I edited my OP yesterday to clarify...

By "a little ways down the old Cabot Tr," I meant "a little ways down the old trail from Bunnell Notch." Which is the way the OP was coming in, and wouldn't be a big detour. WMNF land. Legal to camp. Period.

 

[dug]

Whoa, back the truck up. Never suggested that. And, I edited my OP yesterday to clarify...

By "a little ways down the old Cabot Tr," I meant "a little ways down the old trail from Bunnell Notch." Which is the way the OP was coming in, and wouldn't be a big detour. WMNF land. Legal to camp. Period.

Good point. I guess when I read "old Cabot Tr" I made the leap to the beginning since he was requesting lower elevations to camp (there wasn't a specification about camping along which trail). If I were to go in from Bunnell Notch, I wouldn't then carry my pack and then hike down into the area around the old trail. I'd camp back along Bunnell Notch. But, your point is valid. Since the trail doesn't "exist" ( ) I suppose one could camp right on the trail, right!

 

[Mike P.]

The views of the Horn over the pound are very nice & typically I'm a view from the top of guy. Also, lower summits, like the Horn overlooking lower hardwood forest during foliage season, IMO are better destinations than say F-Ridge where you have rocks, firs & birch until just about the notch floor.

(Wait, forget all that, low bare peaks in foliage season are awful, don't go to these, do Washington instead.....)