Northeast Adventures
Adirondacks :

Donaldson, Emmons Seward and Seymour
8-20-16

Another adventure in brings us to the Seward Range located near Tupper lake in NY.  This was  about a near 4 hour drive from Western Mass. The plan was to drive up at midnight and get an early start and hopefully hike all four in a day.  This adventure started out with another pitch black night drive through usually heavily trafficked roads but since it was so early there was no issue. We got to the trail head around 5am after an unexpected detour.(it wasn’t worth it don’t worry) Being early on a Saturday morning the lot wasn’t too full but there were cars. We donned our packs and we signed in at the trail register and we were on our way.

We started on the Blueberry trail and took that through the so far gentle path until we reached the junction. From there we headed onto the Ward Brook Truck trail. We were making  great time as the terrain wasn’t too bad and our packs comparatively lighter than before. We passed people just waking up in the leantoes and multiple campsites as well. They looked just as shocked as were to see anyone else at this hour. We soon passed a couple more campsites however they were empty this time. We soon saw the Cairn marker for the path that would take us to Seymour. This was a quick but tough mile up and then another mile back down.  The trail up wasn’t too harsh but some of the bare rocks were slick. We soon made it the top. We took a quick break taking pictures along the way. We made sure we took a picture of the summit sign as credit that we were there. We soon headed back down via the same trail and we ran into some people coming up and we had exchanged greetings and we were on our way.

We soon linked back up with the main trail, until we saw another cairn marking the next path to next couple of mountains, :”Seward,Donaldson, and Emmons.” The path started over with plenty of mud, but that was expected . This continued for a but and then we started to work our way up the creek. It had just rained so it was very slippery, this would turn out to be a tough and earned 2.1 miles  We took our time as we pushed on, trying not to exert too much energy so we wouldn’t wear ourselves out.   It was starting to get hot outside we were sweating already but we didn’t let that stop us. We soon made our way up to Seward Mountain, we were happy to see the summit sign. Again we took a quick break and hydrated, soon we were on our way to  the next mountain. The trail was flat but that changed after about 5 minutes that changed. We then  were navigating our way some steep sections. The trail here again was muddy but this what was we expected. After going downhill for  we started to go back up again. We soon came to a junction where to our left was a rock face going up and straight led to a path in the woods. We bore left as this would take us to the next to mountains on our list today.

The rock face was wet and slipper so we had to make sure that we had solid grip We used our trekking poles which gave us some what of an advantage . We quickly worked our way up the path and reached Donaldson Mountain before we knew it. We enjoyed the view here as it was a completely sunny day. There was not a single cloud in the sky. We again took a break and were on our way to Emmons. By this time we had passed many other hikers who had camped the night before or had gotten a much earlier start than we had. They advised us it was very muddy, and right they were. We headed down the path , the mud wasn’t too bad I was thinking to myself until I stepped in  bad patch and went up to my hip and mud. The best part of this was my reaction and somehow not face planting in the mud. So yea It was a little muddy to say the least. After a few choice words I got myself out of the mud and we continued our way onto Emmons. We only passed one group as we headed to Emmons. It was pretty straightforward section, there weren’t too many notable items or sights until we reached the summit of Emmons. Emmon’s summit was indicated by a nice view and a summit sign. When we arrived there was a group of hikers who had just completed their 46. They were very happy and we congratulated them.  We enjoyed the views and then we were on our way back. We made our way back down the trail, passed the spot where I nearly faceplanted in the mud. When we arrived at the junction were bore left and headed down. We were moving pretty fast, as we got closer to the river we passed a couple of campsites. The sun was reflective off of the river which made for a pretty nice view. We made the river crossing which wasn’t too hard. We then came to a junction. Me and my hiking partner squabbled back and forth and to make a long story short we took the horse trail for about 1 mile before we realized we were on the wrong trail So we headed back and made the proper turn. The rest of hike didn’t really have anything to memorable. The solidarity feeling of being in the woods with only being able to hear the sound of footsteps hitting the path was incredible.

The Sewards are an amazing range, the trail system is beautiful. You know you won’t run into alot of people and the feeling of being the woods is always amazing.