Mt Cabot on Columbus Day 10/10/05

[arghman]

two words: soggy solitude

I got up early and made it to Mill Brook Rd on Rt 110 shortly after 9am, drove to what I thought was the trailhead (road blocked by some boulders) and got underway about 9:30. Problem: No trail, just old woods roads with 3" thick hardwood trees growing on the road. Looked at compass and realized I was heading northwards & something was fishy -- did I take the right road?

Got back to car, went to drive back to the last fork (didn't remember one), and saw the trailhead to Unknown Pond on the right.

The 26th edition of the WM Guide says to park where the road ends at a gate, then walk 0.8 mi to Unknown Pond trailhead. (not sure what 27th says) I saw no gate, despite looking for it. The Unknown Pond trailhead is right before the 2nd bridge on Mill Brook Rd, and the sign is tucked in a little on the left side of the road as you're heading south, a little hard to see. Anyway, the lack of a gate saved me a bit of walking. Got started on the real trail about 10am.

Bottom part of the Unknown Pond trail is flat, goes near Mill Brook, and was very muddy. There was one section where the trail subtly veers left (especially hard to see w/ leaves on the ground) but it's an open area ahead, and if you keep going straight, you end up in a grassy section which is a Big Mud Trap. Mud was at least a foot deep in parts. Argh!

After a while it ascends more steeply, traversing a steep hillside, which is covered primarily in white birch and striped maple (aka moosewood, as the moose tend to scrape off the bark to eat), with some fir and red maple here and there.



Got to junction with Kilkenny Ridge Trail, would have stopped at pond but it was foggy and visibility was < 100ft. Kept going.

Found side trail to Horn, got to top with no views except for the inside of a cloud and the nearby fir trees. There are some interesting-looking boulders at the top, and a USGS marker (+ got a shot of my muddy boots & pants).



Got to summit of Cabot around 1pm, ate lunch while a spruce grouse was occasionally zooming around from tree to tree. What an incredible amount of energy they must expend flying.



Headed over to see south summit + Cabot Cabin; on the way not far from the true summit is a fir wave & you have a limited view to the S/SW. At the time, there was a neat combo of an overcast and an undercast, with holes peeking down to the Lancaster area, and what I thought was the Presis visible to the south. (Must have been Starr King and Waumbek.) Didn't take a picture as I thought the views would be better from S summit.

At S. summit / Cabot Cabin there are some views but view to the south is blocked by a shoulder of Cabot. Anyway here's a shot of Cabot Cabin, the undercast was visible but I set my exposure to get a good view of the cabin & you can't see the undercast very well.



Also saw some kind of bird flying around. (sparrow?)



By the time I got back to the Cabot summit & viewpoint, the undercast/overcast was gone. Rule #1 -- if you see a worthy picture, take it, it may not be around when you get to where you think there's a better view. Dawdled at Cabot summit for a while, and changed my socks to the extra pairs I brought, thankfully, as my feet were a bit wet by then. I went back down, this time avoiding water & mud much more carefully than I had on the way up. Made it back to car shortly after 5pm.

This has been the only time in the Whites on a weekend/holiday when I did not see one other person on the trail or a car at the trailhead. (I have been all alone hiking Mt Martha / Owlshead, and another time at Mountain Pond, but those were both on weekdays.) Kind of a nice foggy foliage day.

 

[sapblatt]

Cabot

Jason

nice report and pics...
No kidding...rols and I did the exact same thing you did at the trailhead back in August...it is very easy to drive by it.

 

[MichaelJ]

The gate, to my understanding, is now "permanently" open so you can drive right to the trailhead. The key is to watch for the bridge; park just beyond it, and the trailhead is just before it.

Congrats on a nice trip - I loved this route to Cabot!

 

[Abster]

Nice pictures - you have quite an eye for the natural beauty! Hiking on Sunday was the same overcast, but so refreshing in a way.

 

[hockeycrew]

Nice trip report and pictures. I especially loved the pictures of the birds.

 

[slowandsteady]

Nice report; it's a great (albeit muddy) and peaceful walk in the woods. We were there in August and it was nice to get your perspective on the flora and fauna. And like others we drove by the trailhead and walked in past the boulders you mentioned before we backtracked seeing the sign on the way back out. We saw dozens if not hundreds of tiny garter snakes just as the trail started climbing through the birches. Personally I would have rather seen the spruce grouse.

BTW, we had Mountain Pond to ourselves saturday morning. The loon pair was still there.

 

[arghman]

thx for the comments. Days like this one make me think I should hike more on cloudy / slightly rainy days; it's a different mood & lighting is much better for photography. (btw it didn't rain at all, just a bit of mist from the fog/clouds.) I was pleasantly surprised by the hike to Cabot; had thought it would be another case of perfunctory peakbagging. (So far the only summits for which I'd give a D/F rating are Tecumseh and E. Osceola. Even Owls Head has its charms...)

postscript:

Here's one last photo I forgot to include. It's the stake at the Kilkenny/Stark town line, about a mile into the Unknown Pond Trail.

(Without going too deeply into Yet Another Odd Hobby Of Mine, this was another pleasant find... am now at 228/247? for NH town line marker photos.) The Town of Stark is one of few towns to abide by NH RSA 51:2 and do a decent job perambulating their town boundary, and updating markers such as this one, especially when you consider there's no one in the neighboring township to care. (or pay for surveying costs!)