From Kent to Prosser – A tale of hiking the Dobson

This article was originally published on Cache Up NB. It has been mirrored here for archive purposes only.

On October 3rd, a group of cachers decided to head out to the Kent Rd and take on a section of the Dobson trail. We all met up at the main rd towards the Kent Hills Wind Farm and then left some of the vehicles there, and took a few more out to Kent Rd. The plan was to cache from GC1GBGQ to GC1ADDW which is right near Prosser Brook rd. According to the track log on my GPS, we logged about 11K of hiking from one end to the other, and I personally snagged 45 caches which included all of the caches on the Dobson for that stretch, along with some on the Kent Rd, and a few others in the mix of the windmills.

Among the group were myself, Rev Slippery, Nemodidi, Tetagoucher, Digger, Zemartelo, Avardmac, paulandstacey, Ron568, and KD_Cachers (Shepody).

As far as weather is concerned, this was a perfect day for hiking. The temperature outside never got too hot, the bugs were next to non-existent, all of the caches were there, and the trail was wet in spots, but definitely passable. It was an absolute perfect day to be out hiking.

We spotted two moose along one of the ATV/backroads but didn’t get a chance to snag a decent photo or any video of the pair of them. Lots of streams, and definitely some wet spots. I slid down part of an incline by accident but nothing too serious.

A definite highlight of that particular hike was a little side detour we took that brought us to GCJKRW, Hayward Pinnacle. Talk about a gorgeous view from high up. I have to tell you, I really don’t do well with ascents and the short little hike up the hill to get to this point was not that far, but I could certainly feel it when I made it up there. However, it didn’t matter. I was glad we made the detour and the view was definitely worth it. If you are out doing much of the Dobson trail and you come near to this area, I absolutely recommend you take the few minutes to do this side trail and head up to the top. You will not be disappointed.

If you have never hiked the Dobson before, then I can tell you that the trail is definitely in good shape. Yes, there were plenty of wet spots, but compared to some of the other places I have been to get caches, it’s a relatively easy hike. It’s no paved trail, and there are definitely spots with a lot of root activity going on, but if you simply pace yourself, make sure you have water, bring some food, and you’ll be all set.

For those who want to snag all of the caches on the trail, I’d recommend doing it in sections. I’ve managed to do two 10-15k sections of the trail already and my intention is to definitely finish it completely at one point. I did actually snag the final cache on the trail the other day while doing some caches on the New Ireland Rd.

Rev Slippery brought his video camera and documented some of our hike. The video is included below. Hopefully this will inspire some of you to head out and do your own exploration of this great trail.