Outdoor Diversion: Spring Conditions on Mount Cabot

Summits: Mount Cabot (4,170')
Trail route: Road walk, York Pond Trail, Bunnell Notch Trail, Kilkenny Ridge Trail
Trail conditions: Spring conditions with bare ground, wet, mud, unstable monorail, rotten snow with some postholing
Weather: Warm to hot with fair skies
Total miles: 12 Miles
Total time: 8:00

It has been two months of no 4,000 foot hikes and trailheads being closed due to the COVID-19 virus. Trailheads are slowly opening again and a small group of us decided to hike Mount Cabot. I would be joining Scott, Lisa, Jill and Larry for a hike to this summit.

What has normally been a 10 mile hike to Mount Cabot is now a 12 mile hike due to logging operations that has hikers parking a mile from the trailhead. I arrived at the parking area to find Scott and Lisa already there, Larry arrived and Jill soon after. The first thing noticeable were the black flies, bug spray went on immediately. It was also starting off warmer than I expected it to be.

It was a dusty walk on the road to the trailhead. We passed by the recent logging operations that went right through the old parking area. There is now a newly renovated parking area lined with large boulders. A short walk on the York Pond Trail and we were soon on the Bunnell Notch Trail.

Water was flowing high and fast. On one water crossing we found a small log about 50 yards downstream to cross without getting our feet wet. The trail was getting wetter as we continued up. When we reached the Kilkenny Ridge Trail junction the area was submerged in water. There were areas of mud and rotten snow beyond that.

Larry decided he would turn around and head back down just past the old Mt. Cabot Trail. He had not hiked any 4,000 footers in a couple of months and was not feeling it today. It was a good spot to turn around because the difficult trail conditions were just ahead all the way to the summit.

We made a quick stop at Bunnell Rock and enjoyed the views for a moment before continuing up. There was a mostly continuous unstable monorail up to the cabin. We stopped there for a few minutes before moving on to the summit. There was bare ground just above the cabin where the old fire tower used to be but all snow after that.

The trail was very difficult to follow and there was a lot of postholing in softening snow. In some spots it was three feet deep. We veered slightly off-trail but made it to the summit without too much problem. A short break was made even shorter due to a very agitated spruce gouse, it did not like our prescence and we were soon on our way back down.

We managed to follow a more direct trail on the way back to the cabin. There were many hikers at the cabin and we moved just beyond in order to maintain social distancing. We put on microspikes for the trip down over the unstable monorail and this worked very well.

Once past the snow the microspikes came off. Back down at the water crossing Lisa, Scott and I used the same log as we did on the way up. Jill decided to take off her boots and wade across which wasn't a bad idea as I was wishing I had done that in order to cool off my hot, aching feet.

Back at the trailhead we still had one more mile of road walk to get to the parking area, it seemed longer on the way out. Once we stopped at the cars the bugs were relentless. A forest ranger stopped and we spoke for a few minutes. He said the logging operations were just about over and that the original parking area would soon be open again.

Social distancing was practiced today with our group as well as with anyone we met along the trail. It was nice to get on the trail again with awesome hiking friends!

Enjoy the photos and video!