Cabot

May 6, 2019

Deb and I pulled into the Fish Hatchery at 07:30 and were pleased to find that the gate was open and we could drive all the way to the trailhead. We hit the trail and hiked quickly along the old roadway, which was mercifully snow free. A bit of a tricky crossing of the river and then we were climbing up a lovely forest trail up the ravine. First signs of snow were at about 2000', and at 2600' we put on spikes. The spikes were on and off though, with most of the time being off, as the trail was mostly snow free. At the pass we had some interesting traversals of flooded path sections by stepping on floating blobs of ice, and then a long, snow free traverse in the hot sunshine brought us to the ascent trail up Cabot.

Strolling past the fish ponds.

Always a river to cross.

A lookout on the ascent.

At 3100' the spikes went on for good, as we balanced the snowspine and avoided the waist deep post-holes. At the top of the climb we came across an old fire warden cabin which was open for sleeping, though it was very mouse infested, so I am not sure I would stay there.

An old observers cabin, now a haven for weary travelers and hungry mice.

Inside of mouseville cabin.

For the traverse across the summit plateau I put on my snowshoes as the snow was very soft, however Deb managed to remain in spikes. I am not sure how she did this, as I postholed in my clown shoes a couple times, yet she seemed to just float across the surface. The summit of Cabot is just a clearing in the woods with no views, but there was a very convenient log to sit on and enjoy our lunch in the warm sunshine.

Summit of Cabot. Wish we had a view.

We considered completing the loop, but with the melting snow, a potential for much more untracked snow on the north face, of the mountain and the long drive to be done after the hike was completed, we decided to simply descend the way we came. I stayed in my snowshoes all the way down until the snow petered out, and then bare booted it from that point all the way back. The icy parts from the morning were softening nicely in the sun, so no traction was needed. Near the bottom we met the only two people of the day, and then after one more quick break by the river crossing, we hoofed the last bit back out to the hatchery as quickly as we could. As we arrived at the trailhead it was feeding time at the pond so we watched the workers feed the hoard of hungry trout. We chatted with the guys for a bit and apparently there was thirty-four thousand fish in this tiny stream! Finished the hike in six hours, which was followed by a six hour drive back to Ottawa. A break in the drive for ice cream topped off the day.

Trails for fast travel.

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