Spent the weekend on the Kilkenny Ridge with a friend. We both drove up to South Pond which was a long dark drive for me with RI/MA traffic. Surprised to see someone else camping there as well (they were doing a single day traverse as it turned out). We woke up around 5 AM and I drove us down to the Mt Starr King trailhead where we began around 6:30 AM.
I was pretty happy with my gear choices but it wouldn’t be a
backpacking trip if I didn’t screw something up. When it came to footwear I found myself having
to choose between my trail runners and my insulated winter boots (I realized
too late that I’ve never had to rely on an in-between shoe). Recent trail reports suggested a dusting of
snow, if any, and the temps were forecast to be in the mid-30s. I went with my trail runners.
There was a light layer of snow in the woods almost
immediately, and within a mile, on the trail as well. It was 21 degrees to start but soon the sun
was up and the temp rose quickly towards 30.
It was bright with clear skies and we enjoyed the views from Starr King
and Waumbek. The trail is immediately
different once you pass the Waumbek outlook and begin the Kilkenny Ridge
Trail. We were pushing through spruce
branches and stepping over a couple down trees.
The snow here was probably only ½ inch but it was dusting the tops of my
shoes and soon soaking through.
Despite the wet feet I was warm and we would switch between
sunshine and shade as we travelled up and down the Weeks. We weren’t sure exactly how far we were going
to get but we figured we could make it up to the Cabot summit. As we reached the notch between the Weeks and
Terrace Mountain my feet finally began to get cold and uncomfortable. I threw a couple toe warmers in there and we
proceeded on.
Once we began travelling up Cabot we were in the sun again
and my feet warmed, which was comforting both physically and mentally. The views from Bunnell Rock were splendid and
the thermometer read 60 degrees in the sun.
Lovely! But those temps wouldn’t
last. We were both plodding up that last
climb to Cabot Cabin and my feet were once again getting cold by the time we reached
it. The interior had been spruced up
with a new paint job since my previous visit.
We didn’t linger long as we weren’t planning to stay at the Cabin so we
continued almost to the summit of Cabot and then ventured into the woods to
find a place to camp. We didn’t have
great options but we were starting to lose the light and now my feet were
really cold. So we settled on a spot and
I went through the stressful process of setting up the hammock in the cold.
Almost as soon as that thing was set up I jumped in and went
to work warming my feet up. I made my meal
from the hammock and only left its cozy confines to hang my food bag and pee. Of course, it wasn’t all rainbows and space
heaters. I spilled the water I was heating
for my water bottle and barely had enough left for coffee in the morning. And I’m not sure why I bought cheesy potato
soup since I’m not a big cheese fan. I
guess I was hoping it wasn’t too cheesy but that was a fool’s hope. Nevertheless I gutted it down.
Mountain Forecast had predicted temps that night in the
mid-30s but it ended up getting down to the mid-20s. I was still fairly warm but I did pop a
couple hand warmers and placed them on my midsection in the middle of the
night. Packing up is always the hardest
part of cold weather backpacking and as usual I made a mess of things. When you’re only out for one night I just
cram it all in there so I can get moving again.
Day 2 was much easier than Day 1 with less miles, much less
elevation and less snow. The views from
the Horn were excellent and it almost felt like a summer day in the sun by
Unknown Pond. The long descent from
Unknown Pond before we climb Rogers Ledge was an enjoyable saunter, with lovely
views through the bare trees.
The final steep climb up Rogers Ledge gave us a workout but
we were rewarded with the final scenic overlook of the trip. After descending most of the way we opted to
take the Devil’s Hopyard trail which we both needed for redlining
purposes. The Hopyard quickly put me in
my place when I slipped on a rock and almost went head first into the drink, thankfully
submerging just my arm. Ripped my pants
up though. The Hopyard was very
impressive – it gets noticeably cooler in there almost immediately and the
running water under the rocks just sounds awsome. We went as far as we dared but we should have
researched beforehand – there’s an End of Trail sign we did not reach so I’ll
be heading back there again at some point.
Then it was an easy walk to South Pond and we were
done. Overall a great trip with great company. I’m still very much a novice at cold weather
backpacking and learned more valuable lessons.
The Kilkenny Ridge is the place to go for solitude - past Waumbek we encountered
four people the entire trip. If you have
an idle 23 minutes here’s the video of the full excursion. Now to go find some waterproof boots.
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