You Are Here: Skatutakee & Thumb via Cadot Trail

Today was basically perfect. The weather was amazing. Laura and I decided to do Skatutakee via Cadot Trail. I had been up there via Harriskat Trail just under a year ago, and while I had loved it, it was a very, very muggy, buggy day.. so I wanted to go back without the bugs, and I needed Cadot Trail for redlining, so that was our goal for the day. Since Laura had never been up there, we also went over to Thumb Mountain. The AMC South Trail Guide says that Cadot Trail is lightly maintained and could be hard to follow in places. Parking is in a roadside pull off at the trailhead on Old Dublin Road in Hancock. There is room for only a couple of cars as signs clearly state not to block the gate. We were the only car on arrival and there was 1 other when we returned. The first 0.9 miles follows an old road and while we didn't see any markings, it was very easy to follow. I had read there are old faded blue blazes, and we did eventually see 1 on a tree right as the trail turns off the road, but we weren't looking for them either as the road was simple enough to stay on. As the trail leaves the road and turns into the woods, there are 2 white disc blazes that were easy to see. From this point to the summit, it is well marked with white discs, however there were definitely a few times we had to stop and locate the next one. In a few places, the footbed isn't well established, so following the blazes was essential. However that wasn't overly difficult and we had no issues keeping on trail. Before we knew it, we were at the summit of Skatutakee Mountain, and although a little hazy, we had mostly clear views across to the Wapack Range. We took a few pictures and headed down Thumbs Up Trail over to Thumb Mountain. There was some off trail mess with blowdowns and trees, but the trail itself was in great shape. It descends a little steeply at first, but then moderates and is like walking through a magical forest. I do really love this hike. With Spring hiking and the green on the trees not developed, we had beautiful sunlight streaming through the trees. We reached the intersection of Thumbs Up and Thumbs Down trails and were greeted with a large symphony of peepers in a pond right at the trail junction. What was odd was they were very loudly chatting then all stopped at exactly the same time and it was silent. I've never experienced that before! We headed up the short, steep climb towards the Thumb summit, which reads worse in the guidebook than I feel like it is and again, before we knew it, we were at the summit where this is a great little granite set up with benches and a cairn/firepit. Just beyond the summit are some open ledges with wonderful views over to Monadnock and beyond. There was a family with some sweet little kids enjoying a break on the open ledges, so we went back to the firepit and sat and had a snack. Once the family left we went and stood on the ledges for a while. It was so peaceful and quiet, we both said it felt like a magnet was pulling us to stay. Neither of us wanted to leave. Naturally we did and we had timed it perfectly. Several groups were making their way up as we left. We backtracked the way we had come up with no issues at all. It was such a great day.

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