freighttrain48
New member
I started my quest to climb the WM48 last april on Tecumseh. I remember thinking to myself All this work for no view I hope they all arent like this. As time has passed I have wittled away at the 48 picking good views on nice days and viewless peaks on rainy days. I also kind of worked my way up interstate 93 doing those peaks cause the were quicker to get too from my home in southern nh. Fast forward to monday night I have 41 peaks checked off and with hopes of finishing by the years end My friend and fellow vftt'er Kevinski decided it was time to It was time to head to the Berlin fish hatchery and hike Cabot.
We arrived at the trailhead around 7am and we were off and running by 7:30 our plan was to do the counter clockwise loop and bagging the horn and bulge for NHH. The lower section of the unkown pond trail was muddy in spots but it was drying so it wasnt the swallow your boots whole kind of mud. We had seen two Suvs with trailers in the parking lot so we figured a large group stayed at the pond the night before. It took us a little longer than I would have liked to reach unknown pond there was a good amount of mud and puddles to avoid. It was still an awesome trail with good footing, you follow a brook up a valley of really nice hardwoods. When we got to the top of the valley and headed down to unknown pond the air got much cooler and we could feel the wind for the first time that day. We thought we might find that large group at the campsite but all we found was a privy which we took full advantage of.
Anyone know the name of this pond
We left the pond and made our way up the kilkenny ridge trail to our first objective The Horn. I must say I was very impressed with the kilkenny ridge trail I have hiked the short section to Waumbek and thought it was nice then as well. But the section from Unknown pond to Cabot was very nice! I enjoyed the fact that it was far less traveled than most of the trails I have been on in the whites. I noticed no knew foot prints in the snow as we headed up to the horn so I figured the large group must have stayed at the cabin and that we probally would pass them on the ridge. Going up to the horn was pretty quick the grade was easy until the final scramble up to the summit of the horn.
I knew that the views from the horn would be the best I would see that day and they did not disappoint. I was hopping for some really clear view like others had on sunday but there was a good amount of haze, with that being said they were still pretty awesome
On the trek down the horn I thought I kept hearing voices but it could have been the strong wind comming from the north. After a couple of turns I saw what was indeed a large group of at least a dozen people. With the execption of crampons and ice axes these folks were carrying full winter gear complete with plastic double boots for some. I found this odd considering it was in the mid 40s on top of the ridge and I was wearing shorts and trail runners. We soon left them in our rear view and made short work of the climb up to the bulge.
The trail from the bulge to cabot was very nice. it had soft ground and the ocasional patch of snow. Once the trail started up to cabots summit it became mostly snow but with the insanely warm temps there was no ice, so the microspikes stayed on the pack the whole hike.
Cabots summit was not much to write home about we took our summit photos
and made our way down the mt cabot trail. we stopped at the cabin were I scratched my head at the thought of a dozen people spending the night in this little cabin. We didnt hang out to long cause we were planning to take our last break at bunnell rock. As we made our way to the rock we passed another large group of people with full winter gear they were heading to the cabin for the night and were doing a 7 day backpack starting at york pond and ending a Deer mountain.
Bunnell rock was an excellent place to take a break and soak in some final views before we hiked the final 3.5 out to the car.
The final trek to the car was like always felt longer than the milage suggested. The bunnell notch trail was an easy grade with the same mud problems as unknown pond trail but by this time I wasnt interested in keeping my feet as dry so I trudged through places I would have skirted around on the hike up. we got to the car right as the sun set. This hike was a lot cooler than a thought it would be and highly recomend getting out to the pilny range because it is quite beatiful.
Also I found out that $5 pizza night is back at Mr Pizza in gorham. It also coincides with senior night. I joked with my buddy Kevinski (who is 55) that I was probally the only male customer in the dinning room that has never had a colonoscopy. Well 42 down 6 to go!
We arrived at the trailhead around 7am and we were off and running by 7:30 our plan was to do the counter clockwise loop and bagging the horn and bulge for NHH. The lower section of the unkown pond trail was muddy in spots but it was drying so it wasnt the swallow your boots whole kind of mud. We had seen two Suvs with trailers in the parking lot so we figured a large group stayed at the pond the night before. It took us a little longer than I would have liked to reach unknown pond there was a good amount of mud and puddles to avoid. It was still an awesome trail with good footing, you follow a brook up a valley of really nice hardwoods. When we got to the top of the valley and headed down to unknown pond the air got much cooler and we could feel the wind for the first time that day. We thought we might find that large group at the campsite but all we found was a privy which we took full advantage of.
Anyone know the name of this pond
We left the pond and made our way up the kilkenny ridge trail to our first objective The Horn. I must say I was very impressed with the kilkenny ridge trail I have hiked the short section to Waumbek and thought it was nice then as well. But the section from Unknown pond to Cabot was very nice! I enjoyed the fact that it was far less traveled than most of the trails I have been on in the whites. I noticed no knew foot prints in the snow as we headed up to the horn so I figured the large group must have stayed at the cabin and that we probally would pass them on the ridge. Going up to the horn was pretty quick the grade was easy until the final scramble up to the summit of the horn.
I knew that the views from the horn would be the best I would see that day and they did not disappoint. I was hopping for some really clear view like others had on sunday but there was a good amount of haze, with that being said they were still pretty awesome
On the trek down the horn I thought I kept hearing voices but it could have been the strong wind comming from the north. After a couple of turns I saw what was indeed a large group of at least a dozen people. With the execption of crampons and ice axes these folks were carrying full winter gear complete with plastic double boots for some. I found this odd considering it was in the mid 40s on top of the ridge and I was wearing shorts and trail runners. We soon left them in our rear view and made short work of the climb up to the bulge.
The trail from the bulge to cabot was very nice. it had soft ground and the ocasional patch of snow. Once the trail started up to cabots summit it became mostly snow but with the insanely warm temps there was no ice, so the microspikes stayed on the pack the whole hike.
Cabots summit was not much to write home about we took our summit photos
and made our way down the mt cabot trail. we stopped at the cabin were I scratched my head at the thought of a dozen people spending the night in this little cabin. We didnt hang out to long cause we were planning to take our last break at bunnell rock. As we made our way to the rock we passed another large group of people with full winter gear they were heading to the cabin for the night and were doing a 7 day backpack starting at york pond and ending a Deer mountain.
Bunnell rock was an excellent place to take a break and soak in some final views before we hiked the final 3.5 out to the car.
The final trek to the car was like always felt longer than the milage suggested. The bunnell notch trail was an easy grade with the same mud problems as unknown pond trail but by this time I wasnt interested in keeping my feet as dry so I trudged through places I would have skirted around on the hike up. we got to the car right as the sun set. This hike was a lot cooler than a thought it would be and highly recomend getting out to the pilny range because it is quite beatiful.
Also I found out that $5 pizza night is back at Mr Pizza in gorham. It also coincides with senior night. I joked with my buddy Kevinski (who is 55) that I was probally the only male customer in the dinning room that has never had a colonoscopy
. Well 42 down 6 to go!
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