I set out today to climb Mt. Cabot again... hopefully on the right trail and to the summit this time! I did a little research online last night and found that the most used trail is the Burnell Notch Trail from Berlin, NH.... yeah, the same Berlin, NH that smelled like shit when I drove through it last due to the paper plant there. I also found that the trail begins at the Berlin Fish Hatchery which closes the gate to visitors at 4pm. This meant that I had to be down from the mountain at 4pm or my fathers car would be locked in the fish hatchery over night and I'd have to walk another 7 miles down the acces road to civilization to get help... The drive up there took about 4 hours with my dads Taurus which I left my parents house with at about 8am.
I 
started my hike down the old logging road at noon and pretty much ran up the Burnell Notch Trail to the saddle between Killkenny and Cabot, arriving there at 1pm. There was snow in the notch still
in the shadows so I knew I would encounter some on the way up
to the summit. I wore regular hiking boots for this hike because I did not think I would need my plastic mountaineering boots on the wooded summit. It was slippery at times on the icy snow covered trail but I was able to make it to the summit ridge and old firetower cabin just before 2pm. I snapped a few pics of the cabin and some views from the porch before heading quickly over to the wooded summit of Mt. Cabot. I had climbed 4.8 miles in 2 hours... not bad. The wooded summit and the simple wooden sign labelled "Mt. Cabot" wasn't really 
rewarding but hey.. I'm a peak bagger and needed the mountain. I quickly ate a snickers bar and then proceeded to bomb down the icy trail again as fast as I
could go making it back down to the col at 2:30. Careful of my knees I slowed down a bit on the descent and was able to make it back out to my dads car by 3:45pm and
through the Berlin Fishery gate that closed at 4pm by 3:55pm... close call on that one. I finished the nearly 10 mile hike in just over 3.5 hours... not bad at all. I stopped to take some pics of the fish at the hatchery before heading out for my 4 hour drive home....
It cost me 50 bucks to climb Mt. Cabot today... $40 in gas, $10 in food and drinks. I thought mountain climbing was supposed to be inexpensive. Thank God my dad lets me take his car to save money on gas... other wise I'd have to buy a scooter!
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