Mount Cabot.
Wow, a full month has passed and I haven’t been able to write a post on Mount Cabot.
Last October, Dawn and I took a trip to my childhood home of Lancaster NH so that we could reconnect with the family of an old childhood friend of mine.
Most of my upbringing was in Lancaster. I was born in California. I’ve lived in some other places, but Lancaster is where I spent the majority of the 80’s and my teenage years. Even though Lancaster is in a constant state of economic depression, it still retains the magical quiet that I remember growing up.
Any adventurous soul in those lands has probably gone up Mt. Cabot which can be found on the edge of the Grange area of Lancaster. I know I took several trips with my friend Dana. Each one was special and 18 years later we can still recount many of the hilarious moments of each journey.
These days I live in Asheville with my wonderful wife Dawn. I think one of the reasons we stay here is because the landscape is so similar to Lancaster. I can be on the Blue Ridge Parkway in minutes. Elevations of 6,000 feet are only an hour away.
Interestingly Dana and his brother Ben, after traveling all over the world, have come back with their new families to take over the family mill. They live a very enriched yet simple life that I’ve greatly admired. Their influences on my own life have been numerous. I am often reminded of gowning up in Lancaster with very little, but having such a grand amount of adventure.
But now, back to Mount Cabot
After leaving our car at the Garland side of Cabot, we took Harry’s car dubbed the “Harrison Ford” to the the Unknown Pond trail head near Stark. We had missed the peak leaves by several days, but it was still gorgeous on this Columbus day weekend. The last little bit of hill to the trail-head may have killed the poor little station wagon. With a load of 4, the transmission was giving out. It must have had over 150,000 miles on it. Davy was oblivious in the back seat. He showed the greatest of all excitement while reading a Polish cartoon book.
After Davy and I checked our Kung Fu skills, we all set off down the path with great fanfare. The first thing I found kind of funny is that I was carrying a shopping bag of fresh tomatoes and eggs. I don’t think I had ever tried to carry eggs up a hiking trail before.
The tomatoes came right from Sid and Harry’s garden. Usually Dawn and I camp out with sissy meals like freeze dried macaroni. However on this occasion, we were to dine in grand style. Dana packed a huge steel skillet among other things. It was only later I found out his pack was a good 40 to 50 pounds.
Just as the sun began to fall, we reached the unknown pond. As it turned out, the unknown pond is quite well known this time of year. We almost missed out on a camp site. Over two dozen people beat us to the pond. Because of the high traffic, the forest service has set up some camping pads and a compost toilet.
It wasn’t long before we dined on fresh eggs, tomatoes, mac and cheese and beef stew. Davy doesn’t like eggs much yet, so Dawn shared some of her mac and cheese. I took some of Davy’s eggs though, because I like them just fine.
The night was cold for Dawn and I. Our bodies were calibrated about a month behind this weather. One thing that truly helped us out was my new JetBoil stove. We had hot coffee in an instant.
The next day we set off to Mount Cabot along Kilkenny Ridge Trail. The forest was almost the perfect temperature. It was just cool enough to hike comfortably with sweaters on. Davy shot up the mountain with the skill and dexterity of a Ninja. So many kids his age are sitting in front of a TV, but Davy is having the time of his life.
After moving past the famous Bulge and Horn areas, we finally made it the Cabot summit. There was not much to see due to the trees, so we moved down to the boy scout cabin that we visited as kids.
This cabin is where all the excitement happened growing up. It was sad to see how decayed it looks now. They’ve removed the stove which is what made it so inviting.
On one of our famous trips, Dana was going to create this grand stew for the group. He put the beef out on the stove to thaw out some. Just at that moment, the Forest Ranger came by with her dog. We were out talking to her and meanwhile the dog took less than a minute to consume over a pound of raw stew chunks. Oh No! I think I had some kind of beef jerky or sardines that we threw in there, but it wasn’t quite up to par. It was pretty much bean soup.
There were a lot of grand moments at this cabin, not only for me and my friends, but others too.
After a sunny break on the summit near the cabin, we headed down the step rocky trail to the Grange. By this time my legs were butter. Hiking in the south for 18 years has helped me loose my practice with rocky terrain hiking in the Granite State.
We found the car and headed back to town where Dana’s wonderful wife Isabella fixed a tasty home cooked meal of curried rice and vegetables. Robert was fully wired after sleeping for a whole day without guests to entertain. What a hoot those two boys are. We all had a healthy chat until Dawn and I couldn’t hold our eyes open any more.
The next morning, after a homestyle pancake breakfast, Dawn and I ventured back to the southland. What a reward it was to put forth the effort to make it to Lancaster again. We are so thankful to have found old friends and made new ones.