Did you know that the U.S. Department of Agriculture just gave the order to cancel a scientific study that looks into the effects of mining on Minnesota's vulnerable wilderness areas? This will make it possible for sulfide-ore mining companies to continue their operations, which will damage fragile plant life. To read Union of Concerned Scientist's article on this, click here. To donate to UCS, follow this link.
Mom and I had Alex start 15 minutes ahead of us, so that she could do the mountain solo. After the 15 minutes, we started along the flat trail in chilly weather. It was the first day of fall, and it certainly felt like it.
After a short stretch of trail, we reached the intersection with Bunnell Notch Trail...
The path was flat for a long time, with a few little streams and lots of fallen leaves.
After a while, the path started to go up. It was very beautiful however, which made us not notice the incline as much.
Before Mom and I knew it, we were at the intersection with Kilkenny Ridge Trail; we continued on this path towards Mt. Cabot.
A little bit of fall foliage!
We made our way to the other intersections...
Eventually, we started up the summit cone of Cabot and then made it to Cabot Cabin.
Mom and I went up to the summit; on the way there we met Alex, who was on her way down. We told her to go wait in the cabin for us so that we could all have a snack together.
Yay! Mom and I made it to the summit!
Summit selfie!
Looking back at the intersection right before the top of the mountain...
Mom went down to the spring near the cabin so that she could get that trail for redlining. Alex and I waited at the hut for her. When she got back, we spent some time hanging out and replenishing before Alex started down. This selfie is from when Alex and I were waiting for Mom in Cabot Cabin.
After waiting around 10 minutes for Alex to get a head start going down, Mom and I put on our backpacks and started after her. Here is a picture of a moth that I saw on a rock on the way down.
We made our way to Bunnell Notch Trail and then started down the steepest part of the hike.
After we had descended a lot, the trail flattened out. Sunlight was bouncing everywhere, and it was really beautiful.
The sun was making colorful streaks on my screen, so I decided to take advantage of the lighting to take a couple selfies...
We headed down further...
After the trail flattened out completely, it didn't take long for us to make it to York Pond Trail.
Before we knew it, Mom and I were back at the car. We said hi to Alex and admired the amount of cars in the parking lot before driving away. It had been a beautiful fall hike, the first one of the season, and we were all happy about our experiences.
