hockeycrew
New member
Instead of doing Waumbek and Cabot as separate hikes, I convinced two of my friends (Erin and Kirsten) that a Traverse over Kilkenny Ridge was in order. Our plan was to take Starr King Trail to Starr King, followed by Waumbek then heading onto Kilkenny Ridge Trail to do the Weeks, Terrace, Cabot, the Bulge and the Horn coming down Unknown Pond Trail to outside the fish hatchery gate were our car would be spotted.
On our way up on Friday night we picked up a “hike mascot”. A painted, green haired pumpkin we named Bean. Bean was subsequently carried 99% of the trip by Kirsten in her hand and we took an entire roll of pictures of his adventures on a disposable camera which has yet to be developped.
We camped out off Cherry Mountain Rd on Friday night and decided, quite foolishly to set up our car spot in the morning. An hour later we were sitting at the hatchery wishing we had left the other car at Starr King instead of wasting 2 hours on a car spot. But what was done was done, we had planned to finish in the dark anyways.
Saturday was a beautiful day and Kilkenny ridge is a very pleasant hike with excellent footing and occasional nice views. We didn’t start til at least 8:30 am! We encountered people on our way up to Waumbek (and an adorable golden retriever puppy named Chester) and then didn’t see anyone again until we were coming down Terrace Mountain. While other mountains offer better views, the forest was what we most appreciated on this traverse. Each mountain seemed to have a different feel to it, a different density of trees.
At the intersection of Kilkenny Ridge and York Pond Trails we encountered a damaged trail sign. Which of course became a Photo Op.
After Terrace Mountain water became an issue, so after checking the map we Snuck down Cabot Trail (which has been largely blocked) to refill on water and have some dinner.
After goofing off on some ledges on Cabot we watched the sun starting to set from Cabot Cabin (and that’s where I stopped using my digital camera).
We hiked to The Bulge cairn with plenty of twilight to guide us and turned on our headlamps to get to The Horn. Kirsten was getting tired as we headed up the Horn spur, thinking we still had a mountain and a half to go. When she heard that it was the last unhill she practically ran up those boulders.
And I will never forget that sweet moment on that amazing giant boulder they call The Horn. The three of us sat on the exposed ledgy summit and had the fantastic view of all the stars, the lights from the towns in the valleys, and the last remenants of orange yellow and blue from the waning moments of twilight outlining the mountains to the West. And while we enjoyed this moment, the three of us passed around a Woopie Pie like most spectators would share a flask.
The hike down was very long and slow in the dark. But overall it was one of my most memorable hikes I’ve ever done, probably made sweeter by the fact that I had put off Waumbek and Cabot for so long because I had heard they were wooded in and boring. Just goes to prove, the journey and the views along the way can be just as amazing as the views from the top
The pictures (does not include the pictures of Bean at each summit and trail junction… yet)
On our way up on Friday night we picked up a “hike mascot”. A painted, green haired pumpkin we named Bean. Bean was subsequently carried 99% of the trip by Kirsten in her hand and we took an entire roll of pictures of his adventures on a disposable camera which has yet to be developped.
We camped out off Cherry Mountain Rd on Friday night and decided, quite foolishly to set up our car spot in the morning. An hour later we were sitting at the hatchery wishing we had left the other car at Starr King instead of wasting 2 hours on a car spot. But what was done was done, we had planned to finish in the dark anyways.
Saturday was a beautiful day and Kilkenny ridge is a very pleasant hike with excellent footing and occasional nice views. We didn’t start til at least 8:30 am! We encountered people on our way up to Waumbek (and an adorable golden retriever puppy named Chester) and then didn’t see anyone again until we were coming down Terrace Mountain. While other mountains offer better views, the forest was what we most appreciated on this traverse. Each mountain seemed to have a different feel to it, a different density of trees.
At the intersection of Kilkenny Ridge and York Pond Trails we encountered a damaged trail sign. Which of course became a Photo Op.
After Terrace Mountain water became an issue, so after checking the map we Snuck down Cabot Trail (which has been largely blocked) to refill on water and have some dinner.
After goofing off on some ledges on Cabot we watched the sun starting to set from Cabot Cabin (and that’s where I stopped using my digital camera).
We hiked to The Bulge cairn with plenty of twilight to guide us and turned on our headlamps to get to The Horn. Kirsten was getting tired as we headed up the Horn spur, thinking we still had a mountain and a half to go. When she heard that it was the last unhill she practically ran up those boulders.
And I will never forget that sweet moment on that amazing giant boulder they call The Horn. The three of us sat on the exposed ledgy summit and had the fantastic view of all the stars, the lights from the towns in the valleys, and the last remenants of orange yellow and blue from the waning moments of twilight outlining the mountains to the West. And while we enjoyed this moment, the three of us passed around a Woopie Pie like most spectators would share a flask.
The hike down was very long and slow in the dark. But overall it was one of my most memorable hikes I’ve ever done, probably made sweeter by the fact that I had put off Waumbek and Cabot for so long because I had heard they were wooded in and boring. Just goes to prove, the journey and the views along the way can be just as amazing as the views from the top
The pictures (does not include the pictures of Bean at each summit and trail junction… yet)
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