North to Terrace Mountain And Mount Cabot

PHOTO: Yours truly, Bria and Danielle on the wooded summit of Terrace Mountain, elevation 3,654 feet. Terrace is reached from a spur path off the Kilkenny Ridge Trail. Terrace is on the New Hampshire Highest 100 list and a place where redliners go to collect trails.

by Amy Patenaude
Outdoor/Ski Writer

All three of us drove in at the same time–15 minutes early. That was a feat since Bria, Danielle and I were coming from different places to arrive at the Berlin Fish Hatchery at the same time.
The handful of parking spots at the York Pond Trailhead were already taken so we drove past the famous building with the “No Pooping” & “No Parking” signs to the end of the road where there is room for another half dozen cars. As we walked past the building I thought they should have added one more sign “No Kidding.”
The hike up the York Pond Trail was pleasant and as dry as it gets due to the lack of rain. We easily rock-hopped across the streams. The footbed isn’t eroded and is soft underfoot. The York Pond Trail from the fish hatchery is lightly used since it doesn’t lead directly to a popular peak on the 4,000 footer list. But it is used by those that wish to reach the Kilkenny Ridge Trail to hike to North Weeks or Terrace.

The York Pond Trail ends at Willard Notch. Due to access issues it is no longer maintained west of the ridge down to Jefferson. We turned right on the KRT and headed up to Terrace.
I noticed right away that new yellow blazes have been added along the trail since my last visit and the trail was mostly clear, we didn’t run into many downed trees. The Cohos Trail follows the Kilkenny Ridge Trail from Mount Waumbek all the way to Route 110 in Stark. Long distance hiking has become more popular. I thought we might meet some backpackers but met no one at all during our traverse of Terrace.
As we climbed Terrace’s South Peak we enjoyed obstructed views of Mount Cabot’s large rocky gray scree field. We could see the pointy peak of The Horn just to the right of Cabot too.
Terraces south side is very steep so the KRT trail winds around to the north and we had to take a spur path out and back to reach the summit. There is no view from the tree covered summit but there are two short herd paths to open areas that have big wide views south over the Weeks and peaks but the clouds were hanging low far away.

The hiking over Middle and North Terrace continued to be a splendid walk. This part of the National Forest area feels more like wilderness to me than most of the designated wilderness areas. Light green beard moss hangs from the branches of the trees. The only noise are the trees rubbing together in the breeze, the birds singing and of course deer flies buzzing. The distance between Willard Notch and Bunnell Notch is three miles.
At Bunnell Notch we choose to continue on to Mt. Cabot. The KRT is wider and rockier and heavily used, we met about ten people making their way back down. We stopped at Bunnell Rock and took advantage of the snack bar. Actually we ate the goodies in our packs and sat in the sun for half an hour. Best snack bar on the mountain!
Nearing Cabot’s ridge I took a hard right into the woods to bushwhack to the large open scree field. Bria had never visited Cabot’s Spring and Danielle had enough bushwhacking earlier in the week so she decided to go to the spring too.
I was walking in ferns through a mixed forest and in five minutes I could see light ahead of me. I popped out lower than I thought I would so I walked up and east over the rocks. The view was amazing over Terrace to the Weeks and as I headed more east I could see the Mahoosucs and the Jericho’s wind turbines. I decided to go straight up to hit Cabot’s ridge and I ended up right behind the Cabot Cabin’s privy.

I met up with Bria and Danille on the spur trail down to the spring. I knew they were still there because Daniell tied her bandana on a tree just down the trail as a signal to me. The unreliable spring still had water flowing. Danielle used her water filter to produce some potable water.
We continued on to reach the summit of Mt. Cabot. The summit sign is not the summit but behind it to the north is a short path to a small rock carin that is the highpoint. Cabot fools a lot of people with that sign even though it is obvious there is higher ground nearby and the other place people turn around too soon is near the Cabin at the old firetower site that many a hiker has thought they had reached the top.
We didn’t linger or open any more snack bars because we needed to get back. The Fish Hatchery closes at 4 pm and we had almost 5 miles to go to get back to our cars. Danielle is zippy going downhill and she kept us moving and ahead of the deer flies. We left the KRT and headed down the Bunnell Notch Trail.
We thought we were moving right along but a couple of trail runners came blowing by us. And then we met two other trails runners coming up the trail.
We made it back to the car with plenty of time to spare. We cleaned up some and changed our clothes for the long drive back home. I can’t tell you if they lock the gate at 4 o’clock or not because we were driving out the gate at 3:50pm. There were several cars parked on the side of the road just outside the gate; maybe the trail runners?
Bria and Danielle gathered some new redlines for their first visit to Terrace Mountain and I enjoyed my return and my adventure to Cabot’s scree fields.
Have Fun!

Amy Patenaude is an avid skier/outdoor enthusiast from Henniker, N.H. Readers are welcome to send comments or suggestions to her at: amy@weirs.com.