Elevation: 2,665 ft. (Overall) 4,431 ft. (Total)
Time: 0:38 (Bunnell Notch Trail) 3:37 (Cabot Cabin) 3:51 (Cabot Spring) 4:10 (Mt. Cabot) 4:45 (The Bulge) 5:15 (The Horn) 9:10 (Total)
Trails: York Pond Rd, Bunnell Notch Trail, Kilkenny Ridge Trail, Cabot Spring Spur, The Horn Spur, Mill Brook Trail
I was going to be up north for the start of the weekend so I took advatage of this to hike a loop of the northern most 4K and two of the New England Hundred Highest peaks. I made this into a bigger loop than normal so that I could get in some good redlining miles while I was at it. The worst part of doing today's loop would be the approximately 2 mile road walk between the two trail heads. Because I didn't want to end the day with a boring road walk, I decided to start the day with it so that I could end my hiking at my truck.
The road walk felt quicker than expected and I was soon (enough) at the other trail head and turning off the road to start the hiking. Today the trail started off dry down low other than minor mud. Since this year has been so wet this summer, that was a nice start, even though it wouldn't last. Once the trail makes the 90 degree left turn a way up it and it starts to actually gain some elevation, things got a bit more wet. It still wasn't bad with standing mud or anything, but you could tell things were just a bit more damp. Once I had had followed along the brook up through Bunnell Notch more and started to gain some real elevation the trail really started to get wet. As I was now hiking through the clouds some, at times the trail was more like a small brook. The water flowing down the trail never got very deep, but it was still running down the trail covering the surface and where you would want to walk.
The trail was wet in many places
The first really wet section was at the junction with the Kilkenny Ridge Trail near the height of land in Bunnell Notch. There was lots of standing water right in the trail here and you either had to make your way around it or just get wet feet. Now the trail was a mix of some standing or running water in the trail and also that of wet rocks. I didn't have any problems with slipping on wet rocks or anything, but it could be a possibility. On the way up the trail I stopped at the view point at Bunnell Rock where I was treated to a view of the inside of the clouds. This is a nice little spot, but not so much today. After this the trail seemed to go quicker and before I knew it the trail was leveling out some and I saw the outhouse for the Cabot Cabin just before rounding the corner to the cabin.
Cabot Cabin
I took a nice break at the cabin to get out of the breeze a bit and adjust my gear some. Inside the cabin is a small map that included where the spring for the cabin is. This provided some nice reassurance as the first bit of redlining for me today would be the spur to the spring. I didn't know it existed the first time here so I didn't hike it, and the second time was winter and it didn't make sense in all the snow. The Cabot Spring Spur is a little ways past the cabin before you get to the summit. There is a wide section where the trail makes a bit of a left turn. The spring heads off to the right and there is a small sign on a tree that is most easily seen when heading from the cabin towards the summit. The spur isn't super wide or noticeable if you aren't looking for it and has the appearance of being a bit better than just a herd path into the woods. The spur ends up being more of a herd path than an actual trail all the way down to the spring. It is narrow, tight, and you do have to climb over a couple downed trees on the way down. The worst part is probably just how much elevation you lose hiking down in such a short distance. This makes coming back up that much more tiring. And if you are just redlining and don't really need the water, it seems more like a waste. Perhaps leave most of your gear near the start of the spur. The spring was flowing well today though, and the white pipe in the ground makes it easy to tell you are in the right spot.
Cabot Spring
Cabot Spring Spur is steep and narrow
After coming back up from the spring, I did the short and easy hike over to the summit of Mt. Cabot. The actual high point is just behind the sign that is in a large open area of the trail. There is a small cairn just into the trees following a short path past the sign. I took a short break here since I had taken a longer break at the cabin. Plus the clouds were starting to break up some and conditions were getting nicer. I was at the highest point of the day, but still had lots of hiking left to do.
Mt. Cabot
Coming down from Cabot and heading towards The Bulge the trail always feels to me that is turns further to the right (east) than it actually does and it always messes with me somewhat through here. Despite this though, the hike over to The Bulge went pretty quickly and soon I was at the viewless summit that only has a small cairn marking the top which someone could pass right by without really knowing what it was. Part of the descent of The Bulge is a little bit steep and had a tree that had fallen across it. This had the nice surprise though of being where I crossed paths with some my other hiking friends. With the unpopularity of Mt Cabot and even more so going past it to the Bulge and the Horn, it wasn't surprising that I only ran into other people I know that are working on either redlining or their grid of the 48 4Ks.
Soon the trail levels off more and becomes a nice walk to the junction with the trail leading up to the Horn. This trail starts off good and gets steeper as it goes on. Near the actual summit the trail seems to split and go mutiple directions up and over the rocks to get you to the top. At least one of these paths kind of forces you to go through the trees which are a bit tight to get to the top. Once at the top, the real high point is the top of a large exposed rock. This rock is a bit hard to climb up though to get up on top of it. You might need to check out a couple different spots to find which out which one allows you to get on top of it.
The Bulge
View from The Horn
After leaving the Horn it was time to make my way to Unknown Pond. The hiking through this section is pretty gentle without any real big ups or downs. Of course I was also going downhill for any of the elevation change. This was the time of day I started to encounter the most water though other than the water running down the trail near Bunnell Notch. Through here, there were lots of muddy spots with standing water in places as well. There were some bog bridges going over the water, but plenty of places to get your feet wet through here today. After Unknown Pond, the trail goes uphill again for a little bit slowly gaining some elevation. You will then go through a section where there was lots of ferns on both sides of the trail making it feel a bit narrow, but it was still easy to follow. After the ferns, the trail starts to drop downhill steeper than I was expecting and it keeps going for longer than I expected too. After the descent, the trail becomes mostly flat again which also means wet again. There are a couple places where it crosses the edges of some small ponds or bogs. One of these was easy with a bog bridge that was slightly sunken. Another one of these resulted in wet feet as what is left of the bog bridge is at a spot where the beavers have built a dam as well. The crossing starts off ok, but the end of it is basically walking on the beaver dam as there are no more bridge sections and the sticks rolled under my feet resulting in me stepping into the water and mud to keep from falling in.
Crossing the water
You'll likely get wet feet here
After the last pond/bog crossing, the trail all of a sudden widened up. Clearly someone had recently done some trail maintenance through this section. This made for some nice walking to the junction with the Mill Brook Trail. Starting down the Mill Brook Trail required a brief uphill climb leaving the intersection before things leveled out. Once heading back downhill, the trail is a long gradual decline all the way back to the parking area. It follows a bit of a sidehill higher up, then comes down closer to the brook where it then follows along the bank for quite some time as well. This trail had more wet sections just like much of the day had. At least now I already had soaking wet feet and didn't care if I stepped in more water since I knew I had dry shoes back in my truck. At the very bottom of the trail you come to a small pond with a small dam at the outlet. There is a sign saying to keep off the dam, so I turned right and went around the pond this direction before popping over onto the access road which you can follow the short way back to the parking area.
Given the weather to start the day, the length of the route, and the trails picked for the route this was a nice hike for a longer route. There weren't many people that I ran into and I didn't see a single person after passing Unknown Pond. The water on the trail was the biggest detractor of the day, but I still enjoyed the hike and added approximately 6 miles of new trails for the day of redlining.
Following the brook near the bottom of Mill Brook Trail
Given the weather to start the day, the length of the route, and the trails picked for the route this was a nice hike for a longer route. There weren't many people that I ran into and I didn't see a single person after passing Unknown Pond. The water on the trail was the biggest detractor of the day, but I still enjoyed the hike and added approximately 6 miles of new trails for the day of redlining.
Google Earth representation of the hike
For all the pictures from the hike, just go HERE
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