Jim lombard
New member
Got a late start so we decided to park just outside the fish hatchery gates. Sprinkly at the beginning but the sky seemed to be clearing. We walked the road and had a late breakfast of blueberries and rasberries along the way. I think it's just short of 2 miles to the trailhead of Bunnell Notch. Good way to warm up, about 200 feet total in elevation gain. Bunnell starts ugly and stays that way. It goes through some open fields, stacks of ugly gray wood are piled along the way. It's flat and boring, never much to look at. The true woods trail begins as a left off the old tote road. From here to the junction of the Mount Cabot trail is a long slog though huge mud-holes with the pleasant sound of a brook to the left. I'd been up this two years ago and it was in much better shape then. Maybe all the wet weather this summer, who knows. At any rate we were glad to reach the junction with Mt Cabot trail.
Pretty quickly we encountered a back country USFS ranger who was nice. We gave him a report of the BN mud-hole. He said they're probably going to either close or relocate the trail. With the closed Mt Cabot trail this would really narrow the choices for a fast Cabot hike.
Mt Cabot trail climbed moderately and was a very nicely maintained and constructed trail. 1.9 mile uphill hike through ever changing woods, the sky had cleared mostly by then and it was humid.
Trails levels off as it nears a cabin maintained by the Boyscouts. We stopped and had a snack and enjoyed the views from the porch. A scoutleader and his scouts came down from Mt Cabot, they were getting set to head out. He said that since the scouts maintain the cabin they have access via the "closed" Mt Cabot Trail from Jefferson NH. USFS still says this is closed to us regular hikers but we did see quite a few who went up and down this way. Very short little 5 minute hike to the summit of Mt Cabot, Anne's 46th and a double for me. From there we decided to head across the ridge and down via Unknown Pond. I remembered going that way before to avoid descending via Bunnell.
A drop of 300+ feet down into the col between Cabot and the Bulge and then a nice gentle rise of 200+ to the wooded summit. Another pleasant descent to the col where the trail veers right for The Horn. Bit steeper but never too bad until the final few feet where there is a small scramble to the amazing summit. Two years ago this had been clouded in, today we both lay on the summit looking up a white puffy clouds and soaking in the sun. A dark cloud moved in and brought a few drops so we headed down.
Very gradual hike down from the col again and we headed for Unknown Pond. Anne was leading, I was daydreaming, taking my time when I heard a loud scream She shrieked again and I was running down the trail imagining a bear or moose (we'd seen lots of sign) had popped out on the trail and startled her. I was running pretty fast and thnking I was going to be pulling my knife out of my pocket and defending my wife against a bear or wild dog. When I reached her there wasn't a bear or a moose or even a dog, it was a spruce grouse with youngsters all puffed up and hissing away. She was probably daydreaming too when it jumped out of the dense fir alongside the trail. It didn't attack, they do from time to time. We found one dying once from a hiker's boot after it attacked this kid. So off we went again, we had one more encounter further down just below Unknown pond.
From here it's 3,200 feet and the sign said 3.3 to York Pond. It was a long uneventful gradual hike down with several small brook crossings and plenty of bugs to swat. We met up with a couple of other hikers and hiked the final "long" mile to the trailhead at 1,720ft. Then we power-walked the road in the warm late afternoon sunshine with one pit-stop and a nice rasberry bush. The folks at the fish hatchery had locked the gates, it was 6:20pm. Final check of the altimeter said it was 1,500 ft. Great ride home especially along Rt 115 with towering clouds tinged in pink over the Presidentials.
Pretty quickly we encountered a back country USFS ranger who was nice. We gave him a report of the BN mud-hole. He said they're probably going to either close or relocate the trail. With the closed Mt Cabot trail this would really narrow the choices for a fast Cabot hike.
Mt Cabot trail climbed moderately and was a very nicely maintained and constructed trail. 1.9 mile uphill hike through ever changing woods, the sky had cleared mostly by then and it was humid.
Trails levels off as it nears a cabin maintained by the Boyscouts. We stopped and had a snack and enjoyed the views from the porch. A scoutleader and his scouts came down from Mt Cabot, they were getting set to head out. He said that since the scouts maintain the cabin they have access via the "closed" Mt Cabot Trail from Jefferson NH. USFS still says this is closed to us regular hikers but we did see quite a few who went up and down this way. Very short little 5 minute hike to the summit of Mt Cabot, Anne's 46th and a double for me. From there we decided to head across the ridge and down via Unknown Pond. I remembered going that way before to avoid descending via Bunnell.
A drop of 300+ feet down into the col between Cabot and the Bulge and then a nice gentle rise of 200+ to the wooded summit. Another pleasant descent to the col where the trail veers right for The Horn. Bit steeper but never too bad until the final few feet where there is a small scramble to the amazing summit. Two years ago this had been clouded in, today we both lay on the summit looking up a white puffy clouds and soaking in the sun. A dark cloud moved in and brought a few drops so we headed down.
Very gradual hike down from the col again and we headed for Unknown Pond. Anne was leading, I was daydreaming, taking my time when I heard a loud scream She shrieked again and I was running down the trail imagining a bear or moose (we'd seen lots of sign) had popped out on the trail and startled her. I was running pretty fast and thnking I was going to be pulling my knife out of my pocket and defending my wife against a bear or wild dog. When I reached her there wasn't a bear or a moose or even a dog, it was a spruce grouse with youngsters all puffed up and hissing away. She was probably daydreaming too when it jumped out of the dense fir alongside the trail. It didn't attack, they do from time to time. We found one dying once from a hiker's boot after it attacked this kid. So off we went again, we had one more encounter further down just below Unknown pond.
From here it's 3,200 feet and the sign said 3.3 to York Pond. It was a long uneventful gradual hike down with several small brook crossings and plenty of bugs to swat. We met up with a couple of other hikers and hiked the final "long" mile to the trailhead at 1,720ft. Then we power-walked the road in the warm late afternoon sunshine with one pit-stop and a nice rasberry bush. The folks at the fish hatchery had locked the gates, it was 6:20pm. Final check of the altimeter said it was 1,500 ft. Great ride home especially along Rt 115 with towering clouds tinged in pink over the Presidentials.
