On a spectacular spring day my old bushwhacking buddy Keith D'Alessandro and I made a long loop through the Kilkenny region north of Mt. Cabot, about half of it off-trail. We have both long been enthusiasts of this quiet, remote area with its acres and acres of open birch forests, the legacy of a vast 1903 forest fire. Along the way we visited four ponds and the four summits of unofficially named Unknown Pond Peak.
We started at the Unknown Pond Trail trailhead on York Pond Road, at the Berlin Fish Hatchery. The parking area was recently expanded quite a bit as part of the USFS Deer Ridge logging project. The beginning is rather desolate, but beyond the first few yards there has been no impact on the trail itself.
In its lower part, Unknown Pond Trail is easy walking on an old railroad grade.
At the end of this section, a branch of Unknown Pond Brook has been diverted down the trail by a logjam, necessitating a bypass bushwhack to the right.
A gentle waterslide on Unknown Pond Brook.
The trail follows the tumbling brook up through an attractive hardwood valley.
A very pleasant walk in springtime.
We left the trail a couple miles in and bushwhacked to one of several beaver ponds in the area.
A sizeable beaver dam holds back the water.
Coltsfoot in bloom along the pond's inlet stream.
A second beaver pond had lost most of its water.
Heading up the slope into the Kilkenny woods.
Trout lilies were blooming in profusion.
Perfect spring day and forest for bushwhacking.
Random boulders.
Plenty of moose pellets in places, but Keith, who follows New Hampshire moose matters closely and who has roamed these woods frequently, says the population is down significantly in this area.
Later in the day we would be on that ridge across the valley.
Heading up the slope.
Distant views filtered through the trees.
We traversed across a slope through endless open aisles of birch. In summer, when the ferns might be up to your waist, the going would be much slower.
In his guidebook to the Cohos Trail poetically-inclined Kim Nilsen calls the Kilkenny birches the "trees that grow in heaven."
In these sunny spaces were carpets of trout lilies...
...and spring beauties, as if the bronzed fallen ferns were speckled with snowflakes.
Keith disappeared upslope for a few minutes and returned with a moose antler he had left in a particular spot eight years ago. It was still there. He is an avid collector of moose sheds and found a keeper later in the day.
The glades go on and on.
Keith leads the way.
Eventually we found our way to tiny Bishop's Pond, nestled in a little hollow at the base of The Horn. Before the Kilkenny Ridge Trail was opened in the late 1980s, this pond was noted in the AMC White Mountain Guide as a launching point for a bushwhack ascent of The Horn. The story behind the pond's name is told in this previous post.
From here we whacked towards Unknown Pond Trail, passing this open wetland en route.
The woods weren't all peaches and cream today.
We emerged on Unknown Pond Trail at an open glade with a neat angle on The Horn and its SE ridge.
From here there's also a partial vista of the Presidentials and North Weeks.
We climbed up the trail to Unknown Pond, where I took a short side trip to check out the tentsites.
One of the Unknown Pond tentsites.
We paid a brief visit via a side path to the shore of Unknown Pond and its trademark vista of The Horn across the water. Hikers should take care to avoid marked revegtation areas along the shore.
We jumped onto the Kilkenny Ridge Trail for a short distance before heading off trail again.
This ridgecrest route covers a wonderful variety of terrain in its 20-mile length.
A glade of gnarled birches on the north peak of Unknown Pond Ridge.
Views from the north peak cliffs extend out to the Carter Range and Presidentials.
King Ravine and Mt. Adams.
Unknown Pond nestles on its plateau below The Horn and The Bulge.
Looking across to the main summit and middle peak of Unknown Pond Ridge, our next objectives.
Ridgetop birch glade en route to the summit of Unknown Pond Ridge.
Summit canister guarded by a moose antler.
Continuing down the ridge.
From a ledge on the middle peak, a view of Willard Notch, between North Weeks and South Terrace, with Mt. Waumbek in back.
Mt. Cabot, The Bulge and The Horn.
Mt. Cabot, looking massive.
Amazing open glade descending off the middle peak.
Profile of the Mahoosuc Range.
Steep descent off the south peak of Unknown Pond Ridge.
We found a balloon, now it's a real bushwhack.
A thousand-foot descent to the valley.
Late afternoon on Unknown Pond Trail.
Beautiful!Great shot of Mt. Adams. The profile of the Mahoosucs reveals the effort required going north from Mt. Carlo to Goose Eye, which came as a surprise to me several years ago.
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