June 29, 2024

Start/End: Unknown Pond Trailhead, York Pond Road

Peaks: "The Horn" (3,905'), "The Bulge" (3,950'), Cabot (4,170')

Elevation Gain: 3,345 ft

RT Mileage: 11.40 mi

Duration: 7 hours, 27 minutes

Rock Difficulty: Class 1

After a washout last weekend, I was back in the Whites for some peakbagging on the 29th. Since it looked like low clouds would dominate the day and spoil any views to be had, I decided to go with Cabot since it doesn't have any views anyway.

Waking up at 3:50 AM, I was out of the house by 4:20. After a rather long drive compared to other locations in the Whites, I arrived at the trailhead at 7:40, and was on the trail ten minutes later. The trail ascended towards Unknown Pond at a relatively gentle grade, but it felt a little like a bushwhack at times with shrubbery overgrowing the trail. At 2,900 ft, the trail entered the coniferous forest, which put an end to the low-growing shrubbery. Shortly thereafter, I reached Unknown Pond, where I stopped for some photos.

From Unknown Pond, I took the Kilkenny Ridge Trail the rest of the way to the summit of Cabot. The trail first briefly descended into an unnamed notch before beginning to gradually ascend towards the col between The Horn and The Bulge, 1.5 miles away. When I made it to the col, the low cloud deck was still above the neighboring summits, so I decided to take the short detour to the summit of The Horn and check out the best views on this route.

I summited The Horn just in time to snag some decent views of the surrounding area. The cloud deck lowered enough to engulf the higher summits of the Pilot Range before I had even made it back to the col. From the col, I took the Kilkenny Ridge Trail over the aptly named summit of The Bulge, where I did not stop, to the summit of Cabot. The summit fog gave the coniferous forest a sort of spooky vibe, and I took quite a few photos.

I summited Cabot just before 1:00 PM. It was completely socked in on the summit, but there wouldn't have been any views anyway, so I didn't mind. I stopped for a quick snack on the summit before beginning to make my way down towards Bunnell Notch.

From the summit of Cabot, it was another 1.3 miles on the Kilkenny Ridge Trail to Bunnell Notch. On the way, I stopped briefly at Bunnell Rock for the last photos of the day.

I had hoped to be back at the trailhead at 2:00 when I started the hike, but unfortunately it was not to be. I had only just made it to the Bunnell Notch by that time, and steady rain made the rest of the descent absolutely miserable. I was back at the trailhead completely soaked at 3:30, and 4,000er #34 was in the books.