“Nature always wears
the colors of the spirit.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson
A couple weeks ago a friend of mine and I decided to cross another White Mountain 4000 footer off our list. Rather than a straight out and back we opted for a traverse. We met at the Stark Covered Bridge in Stark, NH early in the morning. From there we traveled toward Berlin taking Mill Brook Road to the Unknown Pond trailhead. We left one car there then continued on to Berlin. We took York Pond Road past the fish hatchery to the York Pond trailhead. Here we began our traverse.
We followed York Pond Trail a short distance to Bunnell Notch Trail. Bunnell Notch Trail starts out a little weedy. The rain the night before our hike left this part of the trail a bit wet. It was a hot day and it did not take long to dry off. Water crossings are plentiful on this trail, but nothing very technical. The weedy overgrown start to this trail soon subsides and the trail becomes a series of roots and boulders. Not extremely technical, but watching your footing is a must.
3.1 miles into this hike we turned right onto Kilkenny Ridge Trail going north. We soon came upon the Mt. Cabot Trail sign. This trail is the west approach and begins in Lancaster. It is an abandoned trail. From this point on, however, it is combined with the Kilkenny Ridge Trail.
At 3.8 miles we checked out a short spur trail that leads to Bunnell Rock. Amazing views to south can be seen from here. From here the trail gets a bit steep with several switchbacks. At 4.4 miles the trail turns left and enters a small clearing with an old fire wardens cabin. There are no views from here. We sat on the porch of the cabin and ate lunch, then continued on our way to the actual summit. We stopped briefly where the old fire tower had once stood to take a few pictures. Views are limited here.
We continued on Kilkenny Ridge Trail past the summit sign and headed for The Bulge. The summit of The Bulge is 5.6 miles into this hike and is marked by a small rock cairn. Shortly after descending from The Bulge there is a .3 mile spur trail that leads to The Horn. We had originally planned to do this spur, but my lunch was not settling well on this extremely hot day and we decided to just continue on to Unknown Pond.
At 8.2 miles we came to Unknown Pond. We sat for a while and enjoyed the quiet beauty, then took Unknown Pond Trail toward Mill Brook. This is a beautiful trail. It is a ferny white birch paradise that meanders along a small brook. Watching your footing is a must here also as the trail is mostly tree roots and boulders as was the other side of the mountain.
At 10.4 miles we exited the woods on Mill Brook Road. It had been a long hot day, but we survived.
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