Cabot Day Hike - NH Trip Day 1
In June, Brian and I spent 3 days hiking in the White Mountains. On our first day, we hiked Mt. Cabot, which is the NH 4000er that is the farthest drive from home.
In June, Brian and I spent 3 days hiking in the White Mountains. On our first day, we hiked Mt. Cabot, which is the NH 4000er that is the farthest drive from home. It was very nice to able to do this one and then only have a short drive to our rental house at the end of the day.
Links and Stats
- Photos: album (for all 3 hike days) on Flickr
- Strava: map, route, and stats
- Trails: Bunnel Notch trail
- Distance: 10 miles
- Elevation: 1600 - 4100 ft
- Hiking time: 5 hrs
- Weather: Foggy, a bit rainy, then sunny and muggy.
- Conditions: The trails were in good shape; easy and smooth.
Journal
It was a foggy day, threatening rain. It was also kinda warm, so was muggy.
On the way in, we passed a sign warning that the gate to the region would be closed at 4pm, so all hikers needed to be off the mountain by then. We had our doubts that was actually the case, but we did see the gate in question and had no real evidence they wouldn't close it, so decided to take the warning seriously.
The hike was pleasant and straightforward. Very few issues with ridiculous rocks or with hiking a stream for half a mile or any of the usual Whites nonsense. It was also fairly boring - no good views, nothing particularly spectacular.
On the way up, there was one view, which I've put at the top of this post. You can see how foggy it was at the time.
We passed a very small hiking cabin on the way up. The summit was a non-event. We stopped there and had our lunch, then reconsidered the day. We had planned to do a full loop, but the rest of the loop was long enough that we might not get back before that gate would theoretically close. So we decided to head back the way we had come up. So.. This was an out-and-back, which was not the original plan. At some point I'd like to come back and do the whole thing, because the rest of the trail had a few more peaks and I'll bet it had a few more views.
We went back down uneventfully, the weather cleared a bit and got warmer, and we were out by about 3:45. So, yeah, we wouldn't have made it out by 4 if we'd done the whole loop. That said, I seriously doubt they close that gate during the main hiking seasons.
