6/4-5/16

Parking: Coreys Road
Group: Mom, Shawn, Emily, and Murphy

 

I had been dreading this one for awhile.  We decided last summer that when we got to these four that we would camp out and get them all in one weekend instead of in two separate trips.  Any trip story or blog I had heard/read about this hike involved rain, mud, and exhaustion — and our weekend did not disappoint.

As we were driving to the parking area Saturday morning, we realized how close it was to Rollins Pond (where we go camping every year.  We started to wish we had tagged these mountains on to one of our summer camping trips but it was too late for that).  We were glad that we chose to do the range during the summer though, as Coreys Road closes three miles before the parking area during the winter months.  The parking area was overflowing when we arrived just before 9:30am, and we loaded up our overnight bags and began the five mile walk to the first trail junction.

Fifteen minutes after leaving the parking area, the trail splits.  The two trails are parallel to each other, but stay on the left because the right trail is the horse trail.

You’ll know you’re on the correct trail because there are eight million POSTED signs nailed to the trees along the left (and when they ran out of signs, they started tagging them with blue paint).

Or, in this tree’s case, there’s both.

There’s two different ways to hike the Seward Range – the first is the Calkins Brook (Seward Chain) trail, which will bring you up between Seward and Donaldson.  This choice is better if you are choosing to do the range as a day hike, as it is much less difficult and steep (or so I hear).  The second choice (and what we did) is to hike the relatively flat trail towards the Blueberry and Ward Brook lean-tos, and to then take the junction that starts towards Seward.

An hour and forty five minutes into the hike we came to the Blueberry Lean-to

And ten minutes after that was the Seward Range junction.  It was right after the first bridge on the right side, and was marked by a sizable cairn.  We took a quick fifteen minute snack break, reorganized our bags (to leave our overnight bags at the junction), and started up what would become a long, exhausting day hike.

The trail up to Seward started off gradually steady.  It followed the water and was a bit muddy.  However, it was not long before the trail took a steep turn (literally) and the trail was covered in rocks of all shapes and sizes.  It was a tough, exhausting hike.

I’m not sure what else to say about it, and I really don’t care to relive the memories so please just enjoy the pictures below.

Yup, that’s the trail.

Two hours and twenty minutes after leaving the junction, we arrived 2.1 miles later at the wooded summit.  There is an official marker now; I think they must be recent along the range.  We stayed for ten minutes and then started the descent into the col before Donaldson.

The first  part of the trail was very rocky, and we started to come across so many people.  We learned later that there was a guided tour of the range that day, but that they had taken the Caulkins Brook trail (*insert jealousy here*).

After chatting with several of the people and stopping to look out an overlook, we reached the summit of Donaldson an hour and ten minutes later.  It was only one mile from the previous summit.

You can see the summit of Emmons on the hike over, but it doesn’t make the one mile trip come any faster.

It took us 55 minutes to reach the summit of Emmons, and it was as swampy, muddy hike over.  We were starting to run out of water and getting nervous about making it back before dark.

Emmons to Donaldson – 45 minutes

Donaldson to Seward – 55 minutes

Seward to junction – 2 hours

We made it back to the junction (and more importantly, our food and the brook) by 8:15pm.  We had about 45 minutes of daylight left to make dinner, refill our waters, and change into our camp clothes.

At 9:25pm we made the ten minute walk to the Ward Brook lean-to and pitched the tent and hammock.  Twenty minutes later and we were all snugged up in our sleeping bags, with a 4:30am alarm set to start Day #2.  The forecast called for rain starting at 9am and thunderstorms starting at 11am, and I was desperate to be off the mountain by then.

By 5:15am the next morning, we started towards the Seymour junction.  The trail is less than five minutes past the lean to, over the brook and on the right.  Five minutes after starting the ascent, we all fessed up that we were sore and tired.  Regardless, we were desperate to check this mountain off our lists and were too close to back out now.

The trail was gradually steep and got muddy fast.  The sky looked grey and was covered with pink on the horizon (renditions of the “Red sky in morning, sailors take warning” saying ran through my head more than once).

The rain held off for the majority of the climb, but just as we reached the false summit the clouds started to open up and the rain began.  But, after an hour and a half of climbing, we were at the summit!  We took a couple miserable pictures and then got moving towards the car.

The mud on my face is an accurate depiction of the conditions

An hour an a half later, we were at the junction.  We stopped back at the lean-to to grab our overnight bags, and then walked the 2 hours and 15 minutes back to the car.

Covered in sweat, mud, and rain but we piled into the car at 11:15am, so happy to be over with the 26 hour trip.  There’s not many pictures from Day #2 of the trip, since it was pouring and I was cranky 🙂

We stopped in Lake Placid on the way home to grab lunch at the deli that makes 46 sandwiches named after all 46 peaks.  In honor of our weekend, Shawn got the Emmons sandwich, Mom got the Seymour, and I had the Donaldson.  The unanimous agreement was that the sandwiches were much more enjoyable then the hike, but that a weekend in the Peaks is better than a weekend anywhere else.  Four more down!

 

Just keep moving forward!