Saturday, January 13
Summits: Cabot
Start/Finish: York Pond TH
Miles: 9.88
Elevation gain/loss: ~3200′
I drove into York Pond on Friday night, knowing that the snow would start around 1am and not wanting to deal with unplowed roads before my hike. I went to bed early and started hiking at 4:45am in the dark and snow. The wind was gusting fiercely, hitting 60 MPH on the summit, and it was a windy hike. I was lucky in that people had packed the trail down since the snow last weekend and I was able to bareboot. The conditions were challenging, but I made moderate time up to the cabin. The ridge had thigh- and waist-deep drifts I had to wade through and the wind and driving snow made visibility and staying on trail challenging. I was puzzled to find myself at the summit but with no signs present anymore – they must have taken them down. I headed back to the cabin where I went inside for a few minutes to eat a snack, change out of wet layers, and get ready for the trip back out.
I made it back to my car by ~10:15am, where I cleared off my car, pulled out some snacks, and started driving down the unplowed dirt road through the fish hatchery. The road had ~4-6″ of unplowed snow and it was interesting driving, particularly on the turns, until I made it to the plowed, paved town road. From there, the roads were sloppy and in the process of being plowed, so I didn’t make great time to my next trailhead. I did stop in at Pinkham Notch on my way past to change into dry clothes for my next hike.
