Date of Hike: 4/7/18
York Pond Trail: 0.2 miles / Bunnell Notch Trail: 2.8 miles / KilKenny Ridge Trail: 3.6 miles / Bunnell Notch Trail: 2.8 miles / York Pond Trail: 0.2 miles
Total Miles: 9.6 (3,082 feet elevation gained) A.M.C. White Mountain Guide Online
Trip Report:
- Spring has sprung...but not in the White Mountains quite yet! The last part of the week brought in cold temps and high winds with a Friday night snowstorm. Saturday's forecast called for clearing skies and lowering winds, so I decided to do another indoor triathlon with a mountain chaser.
- Sarge woke me up around 5:30AM, he was hungry for breakfast, after feeding him and taking him out I headed over to the local athletic club and was in the pool by 6:15AM. The mile swim went well, my slow and steady pace was my fastest yet, 2:01 / 100 yards, closing in on my goal for a sub 2 minute pace.
- After the pool I hopped on the stationary bike for an uphill workout, 12.4 miles in 35 minutes. There used to be two bikes but now there is only one as one recently broke. The remaining bike is in rough shape and will be lucky to make it another month, which is fine as I'm looking to by a cheap hybrid bike to ride the rail trails once the snow melts out.
- Once done peddling it was onto the treadmill of death 5K, I'm not a fan of treadmill running but it's easy and I can turn my brain off for the twenty + minutes it takes to complete the final segment of my indoor tri. Today, I clocked in at 20:52, with splits of 7:25 / 6:45 / 6:09.
- I got home around 8:30AM and stuffed my face with food, hung out with Sarge and Whitney while trying to decide what to hike. I was contemplating Mount Hale via the Birch Glades or Mount Garfield when I received a text from my friend Todd who said he was heading up to hike Cabot if I was interested, I told him yes and he picked me up at 10AM.
- Trail conditions were pretty good for our hike up and run down, with a few inches of fresh snow over a packed trail, firm in most spots and uneven and choppy from time to time with some drifting between the Cabot Cabin and the summit. We opted for light traction for the hike, half the people we saw were in snowshoes while half were in light traction. If we had been first on the trail we would have put on our snowshoes for the final push between the cabin and the summit as that section usually gets drifted in and the trail corridor is not well defined.
- The hike up went well, temperatures hovered around freezing, and even though the wind was blowing at a good clip above 3,500 feet we were shielded by the trees so it was very easy to stay warm. On the way out we trail ran down from the cabin, picking up the pace the further down the mountain we got with an aggressive pace over the final 1.5 miles back to the trailhead. I was happy that Todd invited me to hike and run with him as I probably would not have been pushing myself solo today, so it was great to feel pretty wiped out at the finish.
- As much I enjoy doing this little swim/bike/run/hike challenge, I really hope that the weekend's start having prime above treeline weather so I can get on trail at first light and roam around above the trees all day. :)
York Pond Trail: 0.2 miles / Bunnell Notch Trail: 2.8 miles / KilKenny Ridge Trail: 3.6 miles / Bunnell Notch Trail: 2.8 miles / York Pond Trail: 0.2 miles
Total Miles: 9.6 (3,082 feet elevation gained) A.M.C. White Mountain Guide Online
Trip Report:
- Spring has sprung...but not in the White Mountains quite yet! The last part of the week brought in cold temps and high winds with a Friday night snowstorm. Saturday's forecast called for clearing skies and lowering winds, so I decided to do another indoor triathlon with a mountain chaser.
- Sarge woke me up around 5:30AM, he was hungry for breakfast, after feeding him and taking him out I headed over to the local athletic club and was in the pool by 6:15AM. The mile swim went well, my slow and steady pace was my fastest yet, 2:01 / 100 yards, closing in on my goal for a sub 2 minute pace.
- After the pool I hopped on the stationary bike for an uphill workout, 12.4 miles in 35 minutes. There used to be two bikes but now there is only one as one recently broke. The remaining bike is in rough shape and will be lucky to make it another month, which is fine as I'm looking to by a cheap hybrid bike to ride the rail trails once the snow melts out.
- Once done peddling it was onto the treadmill of death 5K, I'm not a fan of treadmill running but it's easy and I can turn my brain off for the twenty + minutes it takes to complete the final segment of my indoor tri. Today, I clocked in at 20:52, with splits of 7:25 / 6:45 / 6:09.
- I got home around 8:30AM and stuffed my face with food, hung out with Sarge and Whitney while trying to decide what to hike. I was contemplating Mount Hale via the Birch Glades or Mount Garfield when I received a text from my friend Todd who said he was heading up to hike Cabot if I was interested, I told him yes and he picked me up at 10AM.
- Trail conditions were pretty good for our hike up and run down, with a few inches of fresh snow over a packed trail, firm in most spots and uneven and choppy from time to time with some drifting between the Cabot Cabin and the summit. We opted for light traction for the hike, half the people we saw were in snowshoes while half were in light traction. If we had been first on the trail we would have put on our snowshoes for the final push between the cabin and the summit as that section usually gets drifted in and the trail corridor is not well defined.
- The hike up went well, temperatures hovered around freezing, and even though the wind was blowing at a good clip above 3,500 feet we were shielded by the trees so it was very easy to stay warm. On the way out we trail ran down from the cabin, picking up the pace the further down the mountain we got with an aggressive pace over the final 1.5 miles back to the trailhead. I was happy that Todd invited me to hike and run with him as I probably would not have been pushing myself solo today, so it was great to feel pretty wiped out at the finish.
- As much I enjoy doing this little swim/bike/run/hike challenge, I really hope that the weekend's start having prime above treeline weather so I can get on trail at first light and roam around above the trees all day. :)
Hiking up the Kilkenny Ridge Trail. For the most part the trail is not that exciting but as it slowly makes its way up towards the cabin there are some decent obstructed views
The Cabot Cabin
The final approach to the summit
The hike between the cabin and summit snakes through softwoods, dense in places open in others
Todd enjoying the views from the site of the old firetower
Looking north into Maine from the clearing where the firetower used to be
View from Bunnell Rock. It's right off the side of the Kilkenny Ridge Trail and is a great little spot with a nice view to looking south
Stick Chewin' Sarge . . . nom nom nom nom!
Nice report Chris. It looks like winter is holding on tight up there. I agree treadmills are boring but I do enjoy them when I do a work-out and need a certain pace, that way I can focus on running and not looking at my watch for pace. I also need to get above Rt 2 for some hiking one of these days.
ReplyDeleteHi Matt! Feels like winter is going to stick around up here straight through April on most 4K peaks, and it's snowing right now up there! Some of the lower south facing slopes are melting out fast, South Moat was almost bare ground for 90% of it when I took Sarge up it on Sunday. Hope you get up for a nice hike in the mountains soon :)
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