vegematic
Active member
Headed in this way on Friday, 4 Aug. Some work was being done in a couple places on the YP Road which caused some delay (not more than 10 minutes total). Otherwise the road is in very good condition. I checked with a Fish Hatchery worker about the gate and was told it was not locked until around 10:30 at night, despite signs saying the gate was only open from 8-4.
Unknown Pond Trail was somewhat overgrown with mostly herbaceous growth and due to previous days' rain was somewhat of a carwash. It was easily followed, however. The roots and rocks were quite slippery and slowed us down a bit. Kevin slipped at the first stream crossing and tweaked his knee. Shortly after the final stream crossing we heard something big thrashing in the woods off to the right of the trail. A few seconds later a bull moose walked out onto the trail about 20 m ahead of us. He stood with his rump to us and eyed us over his shoulder for a minute or two. Then he stepped off to the left side of the trail but it did not sound like he went very far. We proceeded cautiously having a loud conversation about something stupid so that we wouldn't startle the beast, but did not see him again.
Further up the trail lead us through a nice, open birch glade with lots of ferns and good views toward the Pressies. I suspect this area was not quite so open prior to the ice storm of '98 but it is quite beautiful now.
At Unknown Pond we met several USFS workers who are putting in an official camping area. There is a new mouldering privy, they are building 5 tent pads away from the pond shore, and a communal fire pit. They will be posting some of the pond shore as revegetation zones and leaving some of the better viewpoints as access areas. It looks really good and hopefully will protect this beautiful pond from high-impact usage.
After a snack and testing out the privy we headed up the Kilkenny Ridge Trail to the Horn. It was turning out to be a much nicer day than predicted and we enjoyed the views from the Horn. I scrambled up to the top of the boulder but Kevin decided not to because of his knee. We made our way back down to the KRT and on this descent Kevin decided that he should not attempt the whole loop over Cabot as that would add about 1000 ft more to our descent for the day. I had forgotten my knee brace anyways and so it made sense for us to simply backtrack to our car and save Cabot and the Bulge for another day.
The treadway had dried out quite a bit during the day and our descent was much easier. Near the bottom we found lots of blueberries that we'd somehow missed on the way up.
Pics will be up on my website in a couple days.
Unknown Pond Trail was somewhat overgrown with mostly herbaceous growth and due to previous days' rain was somewhat of a carwash. It was easily followed, however. The roots and rocks were quite slippery and slowed us down a bit. Kevin slipped at the first stream crossing and tweaked his knee. Shortly after the final stream crossing we heard something big thrashing in the woods off to the right of the trail. A few seconds later a bull moose walked out onto the trail about 20 m ahead of us. He stood with his rump to us and eyed us over his shoulder for a minute or two. Then he stepped off to the left side of the trail but it did not sound like he went very far. We proceeded cautiously having a loud conversation about something stupid so that we wouldn't startle the beast, but did not see him again.
Further up the trail lead us through a nice, open birch glade with lots of ferns and good views toward the Pressies. I suspect this area was not quite so open prior to the ice storm of '98 but it is quite beautiful now.
At Unknown Pond we met several USFS workers who are putting in an official camping area. There is a new mouldering privy, they are building 5 tent pads away from the pond shore, and a communal fire pit. They will be posting some of the pond shore as revegetation zones and leaving some of the better viewpoints as access areas. It looks really good and hopefully will protect this beautiful pond from high-impact usage.
After a snack and testing out the privy we headed up the Kilkenny Ridge Trail to the Horn. It was turning out to be a much nicer day than predicted and we enjoyed the views from the Horn. I scrambled up to the top of the boulder but Kevin decided not to because of his knee. We made our way back down to the KRT and on this descent Kevin decided that he should not attempt the whole loop over Cabot as that would add about 1000 ft more to our descent for the day. I had forgotten my knee brace anyways and so it made sense for us to simply backtrack to our car and save Cabot and the Bulge for another day.
The treadway had dried out quite a bit during the day and our descent was much easier. Near the bottom we found lots of blueberries that we'd somehow missed on the way up.
Pics will be up on my website in a couple days.
