bryan
New member
date: 3/9/13
trails: york pond trail, bunnell notch trail, kilkenny ridge trail, horn spur
conditions: york pond road snow covered with some ice in the morning. lots of slushy sections in the afternoon. parking plowed. there is a solid snowshoe track all the way to cabot. the snow was very sticky in the morning where it was being hit by the sun. better in the afternoon after seeing more traffic. i though i had lucked out as there were some recent snowshoe tracks heading north, but they soon went off course into a spruce trap and turned around. from there to the horn i generally sank in 8-12+ inches in heavy, wet and sometimes sticky snow. i continued from that point bushwacking over to roughly where the trail should have been. i saw a few blazes and was on and off the trail down into the col where i lost it. knowing it left on the west side of the col i headed that way and found the corridor which i was able to generally follow to the bulge. i stuck with the trail down into the col and then followed the path of least resistance to the horn, possibly on the trail at times, picking up what i know to be the trail just below the summit. the snow was loaded in heavy and i was able to walk right up to the highpoint without any scrambling. i returned on my same route, but corrected my bushwack coming off of cabot following the corridor up the last pitch to the top. the water crossings on lower bunnell notch trail were as well snowbridged as i have seen them in a while.
equipment: i wore snowshoes the whole hike.
comments: a beautiful, but very warm day. the sticky snow on the ascent was a bit much, but it was better above bunnell notch and the north facing slopes of cabot and the bulge were a joy to descend in the untracked snow. the south facing slopes started to get sticky later on. some interesting route finding in very wet woods with all the snow dropping from the trees. i had been looking forward to the winter views from the horn and they did not disappoint. such a nice summit. great to be out.
bryan
[email protected]
trails: york pond trail, bunnell notch trail, kilkenny ridge trail, horn spur
conditions: york pond road snow covered with some ice in the morning. lots of slushy sections in the afternoon. parking plowed. there is a solid snowshoe track all the way to cabot. the snow was very sticky in the morning where it was being hit by the sun. better in the afternoon after seeing more traffic. i though i had lucked out as there were some recent snowshoe tracks heading north, but they soon went off course into a spruce trap and turned around. from there to the horn i generally sank in 8-12+ inches in heavy, wet and sometimes sticky snow. i continued from that point bushwacking over to roughly where the trail should have been. i saw a few blazes and was on and off the trail down into the col where i lost it. knowing it left on the west side of the col i headed that way and found the corridor which i was able to generally follow to the bulge. i stuck with the trail down into the col and then followed the path of least resistance to the horn, possibly on the trail at times, picking up what i know to be the trail just below the summit. the snow was loaded in heavy and i was able to walk right up to the highpoint without any scrambling. i returned on my same route, but corrected my bushwack coming off of cabot following the corridor up the last pitch to the top. the water crossings on lower bunnell notch trail were as well snowbridged as i have seen them in a while.
equipment: i wore snowshoes the whole hike.
comments: a beautiful, but very warm day. the sticky snow on the ascent was a bit much, but it was better above bunnell notch and the north facing slopes of cabot and the bulge were a joy to descend in the untracked snow. the south facing slopes started to get sticky later on. some interesting route finding in very wet woods with all the snow dropping from the trees. i had been looking forward to the winter views from the horn and they did not disappoint. such a nice summit. great to be out.
bryan
[email protected]
Last edited:
