Mount Cabot

Mount Cabot is the highest peak of the Pilot Range of the White Mountains and the northernmost New Hampshire 4000 footer.
Tree-covered summit offers limited views via short spur trails.
Cabot is flanked to the northeast by The Bulge and to the south of Bunnell Notch by Terrace Mountain.

Routes

Bunnell Notch to Kilkenny Ridge

11 summits • 13.5 mi • 3,015 ft gain • 6 hr 32 min

Kilkenny Ridge Trail to Mount Cabot Trail

2 summits • 9.4 mi • 2,695 ft gain • 6 hr 29 min

Mount Cabot 9.9 mi route

1 summit • 9.9 mi • 2,915 ft gain • 6 hr 24 min

Latest summits

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"Busy day on Cabot. Around 20 degs. A little breeze at the top. Some sun but a lot of clouds. Was spitting snow half the way up. Lunch in the cabin. Felt like a refridgerator. But very good trail conditions, no ice, easy walk with spikes. Thought about looping over to Unknown Pond but that trail looked a little rough at the summit." — Alohabuffy • Dec 30, 2018

"Trail was packed out but still pretty soft in spots, especially after the turn from Bunnell Notch up the mountain on the Kilkenny Ridge Trail, so I stuck with snowshoes the whole way up and down. Stream crossing were mostly easy step/hop-overs, with a couple of the bigger crossings having well-trodden detours where the main ice bridges were looking pretty thin. A surprisingly sunny morning meant I got some views I didn't expect at Bunnell Rock and the Cabot Cabin. All in all, it was a tough day grinding the hike out in the snow, but a victorious one in knocking another 4000-footer off the list." — HikeLikeMike • Mar 24, 2018

"FREEZING COLD OUT THERE....Im guessing -10-20...so cold that I had to help dress my partner when it got too cold. We had hoped to loop and grab the bulge and horn but when we were as cold as we were on Cabot we decided to turn around. " — shay-shay • Jan 25, 2018

"Cabot take 2 and minus all of the snow... Great day, but navigating the moose poop was a difficult quest. I think the goal for the moose on the mountain was to poop on every square inch of trail....it was impressive. Great trip with views on one of the peaks and the bugs are still resting! " — shay-shay • May 21, 2017

"Winter conditions. Snowshoes from the lot. Second time hiking with Bitty. The cabin was cool, but the true summit was tough to get to because of the heavy drifting at the summit." — ne4kclimber • Mar 25, 2017

"Today was for Grid and also some red-lining of Cabot Spur Spring Tr and also the Kilkenny Ridge segment over Terrace. First person on the mountain and quick hike up. Managed to locate the Spring Tr. Didn't like how much altitude I lost in that 0.1 miles, but eventually reached the spring. Onwards to Terrace." — newenglandwarrior • Sep 24, 2016

"Beautiful day to hike in the Whites. I decided to do a loop of the horn, the bulge, and Cabot. When I pulled in their was a large group headed up Bunnell, so I decided to head up the unknown pond trail to start my loop. I had the horn all to myself and the views were phenomenal. With all the cars in the parking lot I found it strange that I made it over the bulge and past the summit of Cabot before seeing my first group of people. Nothing to say about the bulge, no views, just in the way, Cabot also had no views, so The Horn was the peak of the day. Ended up being an 11.1 mile loop from my car back to the car. Cabot: Stopped at the cabin and talked to a guy doing the loop the opposite direction. Also, stopped to check out the hatchery before leaving for the day, pretty cool." — LGH-Tom • Jun 18, 2016

"Cabot was the last peak that had a 2 on my Grid chart and it was bugging me. I went up and barebooted up a ways to start. As I gained elevation, I had to constantly put on and take off my microspikes. Just before the viewpoint ledge, there was sheets of ice, so I left my microspikes on. I was almost in the clouds near the summit, so I didn't stay long. Coming down on that ice was sketchy with just spikes on. Crampon's would have been better for the descent, but I managed to make it down." — newenglandwarrior • Apr 2, 2016

"Got the day off from work due to the cold, rainy, generally miserable weather, so I thought, "Hey, what better way to celebrate than to head up north and climb Cabot and Waumbek for the first two winter 48 peaks of the season?" This time was a simple out and back on Bunnell Notch trail to Kilkenny Ridge. Bunnell Notch was wet, like VERY wet. There was some old, wet snow and plenty of flowing water. I made it to the junction with Kilkenny in :50 and from there is was the familiar climb up to the cabin and then the summit. It was an enjoyable trip in which I managed to stay dry (mostly) and notched off my first peak on my way to the Winter 48!" — npweeks • Dec 22, 2015

"A great fall day to hike the two northern most 4K. A bit cold on top of both peaks with rime ice falling/melting on us on top of Mt Cabot. Amazing how much the foliage has changed in a week. http://www.trimbleoutdoors.com/ViewTrip/3093521" — markst-john • Oct 3, 2015

"Nick needed Cabot, Denise needed the Bulge and the Horn, and I wanted Unknown Pond Mtn. So we did the loop to snag those 3 and bushwacked over to Unknown Pond Mtn, which is probably the easiest bushwack I have done yet since the woods are fairly open, then down the overgrown Unknown Pond Tr." — newenglandwarrior • Jul 3, 2015

"Rainy hike up today. Relatively easy hike despite the wet weather..ran into two other groups. Summited and then ate lunch at Cabot cabin and changed out our socks. Lower parts of the trail have pretty high brush and some broken bridges. 9 miles out and back. Great Labor Day hike!" — Selrahc2nd • Sep 2, 2013

"hiked Mt Cabot (4170 ft) on what was supossed to be a very beautiful June Sunday. It WAS a beautiful day if you were below ~2700 ft elevation. Anything above that in either the White Mtn Nat'l forest or the Mahoosuc & Pilot Ranges (where we happended to be) was in a misty rain cloud all day. We made the best of it and forged on ahead. The rain DID make every bit of the trail show off its most LUSH greens! The word SUCCULENT comes to mind. Day began with an interesting start-- we had to park inside the Berlin Fish hatchery to get to the current trailhead, and when we rounded the first corner we were met by a Moose clip-clopping along York Pond Road! He took his time, too, before choosing where he wanted to go back into the forest (Stan is the only one who got a pic of him from the car window; I will have to see if I can get a copy from him). We all were dressed properly for the possibility of rain and didn't let it deter us from our fun. It was great having Stan along (Marty's friend visiting from Alaska). It was nice to hear his perspective on things- like the amount of flora or what might be a great bear habitat... All-in-all a great day. 10.4 miles in 6.5hrs. AND for me, #32/48 4..." — CiccheMariti • Jun 9, 2013

"We were going to hike Isolation, but they were forecasting 35-45 below zero windchills, so we decided to knock off Cabot. It was windy and cold hiking up, but sunny. TONS of snow!" — markst-john • Apr 6, 2013

"Finally reached the far northern 4000 footers Cabot and Waumbek, trail conditions were poor on Cabot with many fallen trees and some minor erosion on the Unknown Pond Trail and Kilkenny Trail to the summit. Weather was amazing, sunny and 70, right before the remnants of Isaac struck. Hiked Waumbek the day after Cabot and was in the clouds though. Finished # 46 and 47 on this trip, almost done!" — chrisr00d • Sep 3, 2012

"With Mt. Waumbeck under our belt Courtney and I were ready to tackle the 9.6 mile hike up Mt. Cabot. We were pleasantly surprised that York Pond Road was paved for the majority of the way to the trailhead of York Pond Trail. We started our hike at 8:10am on a very flat, and over grown field like section of the woods. After walking about twenty minutes on the flat terrain, Bunnell Notch Trail quickly broke from York Pond Road, the trail turned left and started a moderate climb in young forest thickly covered with thin saplings. The trail was very soggy and saturated from the heavy rain the evening prior. With the edition of several very small stream crossings, our boots became very wet. There was one section early in the trail where the stream was larger and we used a fallen log to cross the stream. Close to the summit we visited the very neat and rustic cabin that sits a little more than a 1/3 of a mile away from the summit of Mt. Cabot. Mt. Cabot was no more uneventful than Mt. Waumbeck. It actually was a very strange summit with a very small cairn and a sign posted on a tree to note the summit. It was around 11:00am when we had summited, so we decided to hea..." — CarissaJean • Aug 11, 2012

"Met up with Dennis & Kathy from Orange Ma at the trailhead and spent the day hiking the loop from Bunnell Notch Trail to Mt Cabot to Killenny Ridge to Unknown Pond Trail. Great day - rain held off until the ride home." — markst-john • Aug 11, 2012

"There was a lot of mud!! The Unknown Pond Trail was poorly maintained, foot bridges that were rotting away, waist-high ferns covering the paths. The view at the top, well, there was no view. Glad to have the northernmost 4000 footer done." — newenglandwarrior • Jul 2, 2011

"Started after rain ended about 10 a.m., but wet climb anyway. Unforgettable date. After climb, called home and learned that our granddaughter, Laura, had been born that day." — barbaratraver • Aug 31, 1991