"Mt. Cabot is such a beautiful mountain, full of lush greenery and a misty forrest quality. But between its moderate isolation, distance from home, and somewhat awkward trail access, it never quite seems to fall into that "convenient hike" category. We decided to finally bite the bullet and make it our 41st out of 48 NH 4,000-footers. We chose the [now] most frequently used route that begins at the Berlin Fish Hatchery on York Pond Rd. Word to the wise #1: call ahead. The Hatchery gate is usually scheduled to close at 4pm each day, limiting access, but they sometimes keep longer hours and have shown some flexibility with hikers in the past. It's nice to go in knowing how much time you actually have to work with. We spent a short time on York Pond Tr before transitioning to Bunnell Notch Tr, followed by Killkenny Ridge Tr which brought us to the summit. We chose to return the same way instead of taking the longer but scenic loop over to Unknown Pond Tr. Word to the Wise #2: the lowest parts of York Pond and Bunnell Notch Tr are tight with overgrown grasses/plants/young trees craving intimacy, and includes a nice crop of poison ivy. It all comes together in a way that screams, "Ticks ..." — gooner • Jul 16, 2021

"Set up camp at Unknown Pond the night before and headed up to Cabot the next morning, grabbing The Horn and The Bulge on the way. Mostly in the clouds on The Horn, but we were able to catch a few glimpses of the nice foliage happening in the distance. Met a few folks on the trail too. " — ElectroSpecter • Sep 24, 2020

"Solo. 19/48. Humid and in the 50’s, extremely overcast all day. Didn’t see a single other person all day long. Started out at 0745 and the gate to the fish hatchery was open. Decided on the Bunnell Notch trail to start, hoping that perhaps by the time I hit the Horn I would get some kind of view. I would say that probably 65-70% of the time I was hiking today I was being touched by some kind of plant- whether it was ferns or little fiddly tree branches or other greenery along the trail, it was near-constant. If you don’t like being touched by stuff while you hike maybe hit this in the winter. Lol. The Bunnell Notch Trail starts out nice and easy, very narrow & mostly dirt with some tiny steam crossings, and lots and lots of ferns. Tall ones! It was very quiet in the woods today, barely even a bird chirping- so around half a mile in when I heard something large moving off trail I was sure it was Bigfoot (probably a fat squirrel though.) I did see some moose signs on the trail in a few areas though which was exciting and a bit nerve wracking. The trail is a nice easy or moderate ascent all the way up to Cabot summit, steep in some areas with rocks or bedrock b..." — kellieirene • Sep 17, 2020

"Molly needed Cabot, so that is where we went. We had to park about a mile before the trailhead because of logging operations. We went up, tagged the summit, and came back down. " — newenglandwarrior • Mar 15, 2020

"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

"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