|
Mount Cabot day hike |
|---|
This day hike started at the parking area for the York Pond Trail off of York Pond Road in Berlin, New Hampshire. The parking area is located in the Berlin Fish Hatchery, about 7 miles east from New Hampshire State Route 110. York Pond Road is about 7.5 miles northwest of Berlin on NH 110. From the parking lot we followed the York Pond Trail to the Bunnell Notch Trail to the Mount Cabot Trail and returned the same way.
|
I signed up for this hike via the Random Group of Hikers Meetup group. It was originally supposed to be done two weeks prior but Mother Nature sent a blizzard (Nemo) our way that weekend which caused the hike to be cancelled and rescheduled for this weekend.
The hike started at the parking area for the York Pond Trail off of York Pond Road in the Berlin Fish Hatchery in Berlin, New Hampshire. Mount Cabot would number 32 on my New Hampshire winter 4000-footer list. We arrived at the parking area right around 8:30 and started hiking a little before 9:00. I didn't get an exact reading of the temperature at trailhead but I think it was pretty close to freezing, give or take a few degrees. There was no wind at all so it felt pretty nice. I started hiking with just my base layer, mid layer and a light windbreaker.
The first leg of the hike, up the York Pond Trail to the Bunnell Notch Trail was very easy. The trail was well broken and we started off with just bare boots or microspikes but the snow was soft and after a short distance we all changed into snowshoes and had those on for the remainder of the day.
|
The sun actually came out for a little while as we started up the Bunnell Notch Trail but it didn't last long. The snow was defitiely deeper the higher up we went and it was good we were in snowshoes. We did see some hikers that had barebooted it all the way to the top of Mount Cabot and they seemed to do okay for the most part, if they stayed in the center of the trail.
|
We arrived at the top of Bunnel Notch and then the junction with the Mount Cabot trail a litle before 11am and took a little delayering/rest/food/water break there before continuing up the final leg to the summit of Mount Cabot. The hike up the Bunnel Notch Trail was not very steep and it was a very nice trail for snowshoeing on. The hike up the Mount Cabot trail was definitely going to be a little steeper.
|
It took a little more than an hour to reach the western "summit" of Mount Cabot, where the cabin is located. We took a little break there and some people dropped packs for the final stretch to the main summit.
We totally missed the overlook for Bunnell Notch and Terrace Mountain on the way up to the cabin and I hoped we would not miss it on the way back down.
|
We passed a little clearing just above the cabin where there would have been a nice view if it were not for all of the clouds below us.
There was quite a bit of snow up on the ridge amd the hikers who had passed us earlier and were bare-booting it were postholing in places and beating up the trail. We ended up passing them on the way to the summit and they seemed more than welcome to let us do this so we would pack down the trail a little more for them.
|
After reaching the Mount Cabot summit sign we continued a short distance to the west to the actual highpoint which is apparently a couple of feet higher. From there we went back to the summit sign and took some photos before heading back down to the cabin.
|
We had a longer break back at the cabin and also had our "summit cookies", which Pam, our trip leader, had brought along. They were Pepperidge Farm Sausalito cookies wth chocolate chunks and macadamia nuts... some of the best summit cookies ever.
After snacking and taking more photos I added a layer of clothing for the hike back down the mountain.
|
We did stop at the Bunnell Notch and Terrace Mountain overlook on the way down and I don't know how we missed it on the way up since it was only a short side trail off of the main trail. The view was not the greatest from there either but was better then what we had seen higher up.
I had memories of staying at this overlook for quite a while when I did my first ascent of Mount Cabot for my non-winter 4000-footer list back in July 2010. This view was better than that one and maybe one day I will get to see it without any clouds.
|
We made another brief stop for food/water/bio/layering/delayering when we got back to the Bunnell Notch Trail. From there we did not stop at all until we got back to the trailhead.
|
|
|
|---|
|
|---|
