Mt.Cabot (#25), March 14, 2009

York Pond Trail, Bunnell Notch Trail, KilKenny Ridge Trail, out-and-back.

9.6 miles.

I was dreading this mountain due to the trailhead's out-of-the-way location -- however, this turned out to be a very nice hike indeed.

After winding our way through the town of Berlin and driving past the fish hatchery, we arrived at York Pond Trail.



It's a flat, open 0.2 mile walk to Bunnell Notch Trail.



Looking back the way we had walked...



Alex rests at the trail intersection, worn out from the arduous trek...



From here it's 2.8 miles to the intersection with the northbound Kilkenny Ridge Trail. The first bit goes through open wood and is a gentle walk.





The trail then meanders across and beside the Bunnell Brook, then goes moderately up for the last mile before reaching the Kilkenny Ridge trail. It's a nice little hike, only moderately steep here and there. One traverses nice, open woods at times....I found it quite scenic and enjoyable.



Along the way, Alex wanted to take a picture of this "hairy" tree.



We reached the Kilkenny Ridge Trail without much ado.



It's a moderate and constantly steep one mile hike from here to the cabin. Along the way, we stopped to check out the scene from the "view" (marked with a sign).



0.6 miles up from the above, we came to the picturesque Cabot Cabin.



I stood by the front porch and took in the lovely views.



We went inside and had a little snack break. Here are a few pictures of the cabin itself.











From here it's 0.5 miles to the summit. Shortly past the cabin exists the site of an old fire tower. Excellent views to be had here.





We continued easily onward, the rest of the ascent is fairly flat...



...here's Alex examining the summit sign.



I have read that the actual high point is 30 yards past a trail intersection sign that is a few feet beyond the summit sign. We followed someone else's footsteps in what seemed like the correct direction. The person's footsteps ended on top of a high snowmound...here's Alex wondering if we should also walk over other high bits, just to be sure...



We did end up walking about for 10 minutes, hitting all the seemingly high points we could find. When we were both satisfied that we must have, at some point, walked over the actual summit, we returned to the cabin.



There we had another snack break, then we began our descent.

Here's Alex, in usual descent mode....



Our descent was pleasant and swift. We were both in very good spirits and we were enjoying the warmer weather.

Along the way, Alex saw this branch with two identical broken bits on the ends. She wanted to take its picture...



She also wanted to take this picture of me, back at the Bunnell Notch/York Pond intersection.



Back at the trailhead....



It was a nice hike on a warm, late winter day. It was also the first time Alex was able to go without her heavy gloves. We hadn't been this warm since October!

I'm very pleased we did this hike in these particular conditions. The trail was a sidewalk, the weather was spring-like, the trees were bare, affording beautiful views throughout the woods. I imagine the Bunnell Notch Trail can be unpleasant when the bugs are out, and not as interesting with all the leaves blocking all sights but the actual path.

So ends our winter hiking for this season. Bring on the Spring!