Snowflea
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- Joined
- Sep 5, 2003
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Route: Unknown Pond, Kilkenny Ridge, Bunnell Notch, York Pond Trails
Date: Wednesday, 3/05/14
Equipment: Snowshoes car to car
Conditions: Ranged from completely unbroken/unconsolidated to well-packed superhighway. No icy sections.
Comments: A beautiful day for the three peaks of Cabot. Parked at plowed Unknown Pond Trail parking lot off York Pond Road. First ~1.5 mile of Unknown Pond Trail was broken out nicely to what looked to be a campsite, no further snowshoe tracks. From there I followed faint ski tracks which eventually petered out until it was just me and the moose brigade. Lots of tracks and bedding areas up there. Upper part of Unknown Pond and Kilkenny Ridge Trails to Mt. Cabot were completely unbroken. Trail breaking was enjoyable and not too difficult - a good workout, sunk 4-8+/- inches.
Having done all but a small portion of Kilkenny Ridge Trail in winter, I knew that staying on the trail would be a challenge. If you need blazes every 50 feet, this is not the hike for you. If you attempt this loop in the snow season, be prepared to bushwhack at some point. Unknown Pond Trail was especially lacking in paint. By a combination of intuition and luck, I did a good job of staying on the trail, losing it just a couple of times.
I took the 0.3 mile spur to The Horn today. With all the snow, the summit rock is easier to get onto than in summer. A bunny even made it - tracks went all the way to the top!
Looked like no human traffic in quite some time.
The section between The Bulge and Cabot had the most tricky route finding, mostly due to more open woods. Every time I thought I’d lost the trail, I’d go a few more steps, turn around, and there’d be a yellow blaze on a tree just behind me. Lost the trail just below the summit of Cabot but knew it was close so just made a beeline for the top.
The rest of the way down - Kilkenny, Bunnell Notch, York Pond Trails - was well traveled and is well documented elsewhere.
Date: Wednesday, 3/05/14
Equipment: Snowshoes car to car
Conditions: Ranged from completely unbroken/unconsolidated to well-packed superhighway. No icy sections.
Comments: A beautiful day for the three peaks of Cabot. Parked at plowed Unknown Pond Trail parking lot off York Pond Road. First ~1.5 mile of Unknown Pond Trail was broken out nicely to what looked to be a campsite, no further snowshoe tracks. From there I followed faint ski tracks which eventually petered out until it was just me and the moose brigade. Lots of tracks and bedding areas up there. Upper part of Unknown Pond and Kilkenny Ridge Trails to Mt. Cabot were completely unbroken. Trail breaking was enjoyable and not too difficult - a good workout, sunk 4-8+/- inches.
Having done all but a small portion of Kilkenny Ridge Trail in winter, I knew that staying on the trail would be a challenge. If you need blazes every 50 feet, this is not the hike for you. If you attempt this loop in the snow season, be prepared to bushwhack at some point. Unknown Pond Trail was especially lacking in paint. By a combination of intuition and luck, I did a good job of staying on the trail, losing it just a couple of times.
I took the 0.3 mile spur to The Horn today. With all the snow, the summit rock is easier to get onto than in summer. A bunny even made it - tracks went all the way to the top!
Looked like no human traffic in quite some time.The section between The Bulge and Cabot had the most tricky route finding, mostly due to more open woods. Every time I thought I’d lost the trail, I’d go a few more steps, turn around, and there’d be a yellow blaze on a tree just behind me. Lost the trail just below the summit of Cabot but knew it was close so just made a beeline for the top.
The rest of the way down - Kilkenny, Bunnell Notch, York Pond Trails - was well traveled and is well documented elsewhere.
