Okay, I lied (again) when I said I was going to wait until the summer to go back to the ‘Dacks. I’ve been following the ADK Trail Conditions Facebook group and conditions were looking decent for the Sewards for the May long weekend, so I spontaneously (like 2 days before) decided to make the trip, and hopefully finish out the weekend with the very solid milestone of 30 ADK High Peaks climbed.
I opted to go during the Victoria Day long weekend, which is one week before Memorial Day weekend in the USA. The weather was looking a bit worse for Victoria Day long weekend (heavy-ish rain in the forecast for Saturday), but I was expecting it to be a madhouse the following weekend, so I decided to do a one-night trip, leaving Sunday and returning Monday. The Seward Range consists of four peaks, three of which (Seward, Donaldson, and Emmons) are connected via a traverse trail, with Seymour (furthest east) a bit separate. I spent some time pondering what route to take, but ultimately settled on the following:
Sunday: Arrive at trailhead at noon, hike the Blueberry Trail to the Blueberry lean-to and drop some gear, hike Seymour and return to the lean-to.
Monday: Start at ~6am and hike to the Seward trail, head up Seward and down along the traverse trail. Drop off some gear at the junction with the Calkins Brook trail to hit Donaldson and Emmons. Return to grab gear and hike down the Calkins Brook and Truck Trail back to the Blueberry Trail and trailhead
I thought about doing the second day first in the reverse order, but that would have required an extremely early start on Sunday. In addition, I thought about leaving my full pack down low, but this would have meant doing a bit extra mileage on a day where I would be likely leaving far later for a drive home than I usually do.
For this trip, it was a return to summer camping gear – not too many warm layers as the weather was shaping up to be sunny and mild. I also brought my bivy, which I hadn’t used since my first ADK hike. I also brought a decent amount of food this time and aimed to drink a lot more fluids than in past hikes.
Day 1
I was up at 5:20am on Sunday and out the door at 6:10am after doing some final meal prep for the weekend. I prepared a half dozen wraps as my breakfast/lunch consisting of avocado, beans and spinach. Interestingly, my route to the ADK was a bit different as Google Maps sent me over the 1000 Islands bridge to the USA. The toll was $1 more but the views were significantly better – worth it! I arrived at the Seward trailhead at 11:45am and was welcomed by a horde of mosquitoes. I already miss the winter! I quickly got my stuff set up, including applying moleskin to my heels, and was on the trail by 12:10pm.
The hike along the Blueberry Trail was flat and quite enjoyable. The bugs quickly left me alone as I hiked into the woods, and I removed my bug net. I came across a couple who had been camping at the Blueberry lean-to – they were calling it a day as they had been drenched by the rainfall the night prior. Sure glad I delayed my departure to Sunday! It took me 1 hour 40 minutes to reach the Blueberry lean-to, the first major camping spot along the trail. I quickly dropped off a ton of my camping gear and bear barrel in the lean-to, going with a lighter pack for my trek up Seymour.
The trail was fairly flat through to the turnoff for the Seymour trail, which I missed as the cairn was small and easy to overlook. The trail started with a gentle incline and was easy to follow, and was quite dry despite the heavy rainfall the night before. There were some mud spots which were easy to avoid. It was a pretty fun hike overall, with a few scrambly spots where I stashed my poles and was able to use roots and handholds in the rock to hoist myself up. I even encountered a few small patches of snow up high, over 4000 feet, as expected, which I was able to avoid for the most part. About two hours after leaving the lean-to, I arrived at the summit of Seymour, my 27th ADK High Peak. The peak is named after Horatio Seymour, the 18th governor of New York.
After a quick 10 min break, it was back down the trail. I bumped into some fellow Canadians from Québec on the way down who were heading up Seymour and were planning to do the remaining Sewards the next day. I also ran into another friendly hiker, Jeff, who had the same game plan as myself and the Québec crew. Fairly smooth going on the way down and I made it back to the lean-to just over six hours after leaving the parking lot, including a quick stop at a creek to collect water.
My heels, despite putting on moleskin and wearing liner socks, were STILL blistered, which was quite irritating, so I was glad to get out of my boots and into my camp booties. I quickly set up my bivy and sleeping setup – apparently it is against the rules to set up a tent in a bivy (as it takes up a lot of space) but a bivy has such a small footprint so I felt it was reasonable. It started to rain a short time after arriving back at camp, but I was happy to have shelter and was able to get my stove going to make a hot dinner of red lentils, dried vegetables, and orzo pasta – an old favorite. I went to bed at around 8:30pm.
Day 2
The night wasn’t the most comfortable, being in a bivy (super sweaty, despite using my summer sleeping bag as well as it being below 10C overnight), but I got a decent nights sleep and was up bright and early at 5am. I quickly fired up the stove and made myself oatmeal, and packed my gear for the long hike ahead. Just before leaving, a gentleman named Francis passed by on his way to Seymour, with plans to do the other three Seward Range peaks as well the same day.
I started my hike at around 6:30am, and quickly found the trailhead to Seward, which, like Seymour’s, was marked by a small cairn that I had overlooked the day before. The trail started off really easy to follow and not too overgrown, but quickly became really challenging as the riverbed became deeper and the trail steeper. It took me a long time to figure out that the idea was to follow the riverbed exactly, so I ended up bushwhacking a little bit trying to avoid the slippery rocks. Eventually, after some cursing and struggling, I figured it out and got past the gnarly sections. Was still a slog up the trail and after about 3.5 hours, it started to level off a bit and before long I was on top of Seward Mountain, ADK peak #28. The peak is the highest point in Franklin County and is also named after a previous (12th) governor of New York, William H. Seward. The trail involved a bit of climbing and the mud and snow weren’t too bad, though a bit worse than Seymour.
I took a quick rest on top of Seymour and was able to see Donaldson and Emmons in the distance – they looked so far away! The trail to Donaldson involved a bit of descending with a few bumps, before a bit of an ascent up to the junction with the Calkins Brook Trail. I ran into an older gentleman who I later learned from Jeff had done the 46 ninety-two times! He must have been a grid finisher. The final push to the junction involved ascending a pretty steep, slick slab of rock – I went a bit off trail and climbed a gentler slope and actually ended up on the Calkins Brook trail briefly.
Quick rest at the junction where I, like the previous day, stashed my barrel and camping gear off to the side to travel a bit lighter for Donaldson and Emmons. Donaldson (my 29th High Peak) was only a short ways away and I unfortunately could not find a summit sign or survey marker, however I’m very sure I traversed across the summit at around the 5h 10 min mark, as the trail goes over it. Donaldson Mountain is named after Alfred Lee Donaldson, who wrote the book “A History of the Adirondacks.”
Immediately after leaving Donaldson, the infamous mud bogs arrived and despite my best efforts, I quickly sunk one foot up to mid-shin. I had not put on my gaiters yet and figured at this point it wasn’t worth it as one foot was already a write-off. So began roughly 5 hours of soaking wet, muddy feet! Before long, mud covered both legs up to my knees. The trek to Emmons took about an hour, and reminded me very much of Couchsachraga on my last trip – a long trek to a low-ish peak, that was not the most pleasant! Still, great conditions, was enjoying the mild temperatures and the variable terrain.
Mount Emmons is named after Ebenezer Emmons, who is famous for surveying and naming the Adirondack High Peaks as well as leading the first ascent of Mount Marcy. After a quick rest on Emmons (ADK Peak #30 for me), I began the trek back to the Calkins Trail junction, and ran into both Francis and Jeff in quick succession as I approached Donaldson. Good to catch up with both these guys! After about an hour from Emmons and another quick rest at the junction, my pack was loaded and I began the very long descent back to the Blueberry Trail. Man this section took a long time! It took about 2 hours to reach the Truck Trail, with the first third of the descent quite steep! I took my time and stopped quickly at a creek crossing to futilely try and clean my boots and collect some water. I was hydrating quite well on this trip and could really feel the difference!
Eventually I got back to the Truck trail after crossing Calkins Brook (not caring too much if my feet went fully in the water, haha). The Calkins Brook Truck Trail is effectively a very rough gravel road and was able to lengthen out my stride and pound out some quick miles, though at this point, over nine hours into my hike, it seemed like it would go on forever! A quick stretch on the Blueberry Trail (mistakenly took the Horse trail, so back to the mud, yay!) and I finally reached the trailhead, after over 10 hours 45 mins and over 19.5 km of hiking.
The mosquitoes were merciless at the parking lot, so I quickly packed my stuff up and got changed in the car to avoid getting eaten alive. I was on the road quite late, at around 5:15pm, so it ended up being a long day! Two quick stops on a very uneventful drive home – for gas and coffee in Canton, NY, followed by A&W near Kingston, ON. I arrived home just before 11pm, pretty good time!
Garmin GPS Track (Seymour)
Garmin GPS Track (Seward, Donaldson, Emmons)
Final Thoughts
This said, I am definitely done with the ADK until September. I have a couple west coast trips lined up for the summer and I’d also like to explore trails in Vermont and New Hampshire to change things up. It’s been quite the ride the last few months – seems like it was only yesterday I had done a dozen High Peaks! Here’s my tentative plan to polish off the 46:
– September 2023 – Cliff & Redfield (2 peaks)
– October 2023 – Dix Range (5 peaks)
– November 2023 – Colvin Range + Sawteeth (5 peaks)
– [WINTER] January 2023 – Allen (1 peak) [I may do this one with Cliff and Redfield if time]
– [WINTER] February 2023 – MacIntyres (minus Marshall) (3 peaks, for a finish on Iroquois!)
Veg 'n' Alpine 