January 11, 2009
Well, like yesterday, the plan changed. I was originally planning to do the southern Presis but the storm that was supposed to go south of us shifted north. As a result we got several more inches of the fluffy, white stuff. I tried to give the storm time to finish, but I had to get out there if I wanted to bag a peak today. I decided on Mount Cabot. I'm hiking solo. I don't even have my canine pal Madison with me. She's a great hiking dog, but not when I need to break trail. She's a smart dog. She quickly realizes it is much easier if she lets me break trail. I wouldn't mind except she steps on the back of my snowshoes every few steps making it impossible to hike. With this in mind, I left her home with Lynn. I hit the trail at noon.
Looking back at the trail I just broke out.
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Looking ahead to the trail I'm about to break out.
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Nearing Bunnell Ledges. It was overcast so I didn't stop.
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I thought the underside of this limb was kind of cool.
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More trail to break out.
Where's Larisa the trailbreaker when you need her? She was on Mount Hale with Drew and Cath.
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The boy scout cabin.
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Looking down into the valley.
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I still had some work ahead of me. It's only about a third of mile between the cabin and the summit with little elevation gain, but the snow had drifted quite deep here.
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It didn't take me long too lose the trail completely as I worked my way through the snow. Even with my snowshoe extensions I was sinking 1 to 2 feet every step. The last tenth of a mile ended up being more of a bushwhack having no idea where the trail went. But I pushed forward until I found the sign on the 4170' summit.
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This was a new winter peak for me #29 and #12 for this winter.
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I love hiking with others, but this one of those days that was nice to be alone. I had the whole mountain to myself today. I enjoyed the sun setting as I descended.
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As I near the finished I met a woodsman loading cut wood into the back of a 1954 pickup.
"You've been busy," I said.
"So have you," he replied.
I finished the hike at 4:30 p.m.
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