Erin let me know a few weeks ago that she'd have this weekend available for hiking in the High Peaks. Her partner, who is a highly driven newly aspiring 46er, was unable to join her due to work obligations. Would I like to go? Ahem. Of course! We were both excited about the prospects of a fall hike in the mountains, as most of our previous High Peaks hikes have been solidly in the summer months. Cooler temperatures with lower humidity? Yes, please! Fall colors? Icing on the scenic cake! However, we were also very concerned about the parking situation, as COVID restrictions have resulted in records crowds in the region. I suggested heading to the Seward Range. I have been in there twice before, when Erin and I hiked Seymour, and a solo outing where I camped on Corey's Road and hiked Donaldson and Emmons in the rain, orphaning Seward.
I thought if we arrived early enough Friday night, we'd have a decent chance of nabbing one of the camp sites along Corey's Road. That would be ideal, so we could set up our own tents and maintain adequate social distancing (we learned when hiking Nippletop and Dial that sleeping in a car while wearing masks just doesn't work). I also thought hiking on familiar trails would be an advantage, since given the shorter daylight this time of year, we'd be hiking in the dark some of the time. Erin was game, and the plan worked perfectly. I knocked off work a few hours early, and we arrived right at the gloaming, securing a camp site near the trailhead, and setting up our tents in the settling darkness. We then had a snack in lieu of dinner, brushed our teeth, and went to bed, hoping to get some rest before our alarms went off. Yeah right... I fell asleep quickly, but woke before midnight shivering and needing to urinate (the inability to drink at will is a drawback of riding in the car masked). I added layers but was still very cold, odd given my 20 degree bag and the unseasonably mild temperatures.We got up and dressed, shoved some food down, brushed our teeth again, and joined the caravan of cars barreling toward the trailhead. The lot was already full, and a row of cars parked along the roadside was growing rapidly. There were no signs prohibiting parking here, so we joined the masses, who just kept rolling in. The parking lot was absolutely swarming with clusters of people, glowing brightly under their head lamps. We had to wait in line to sign the register! At 6 am, in the Sewards, in September -- sheer madness. Of course, unusually warm and sunny weather was forecast and the leaves were near peak color; I can't begrudge anyone for wanting to be there. It was a little odd to set off down the trail in the pitch blackness surrounded by excited voices chattering both ahead and behind, but I fully expected we'd all space out soon enough and that's exactly what happened. I was planning to lead Erin up the Seward herd path (insert evil laugh) so we were headed for the path least traveled.
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| along the Ward Brook Trail, early morning |
It's 5 relatively flat miles to the junction with the Seward herd path, which is on the right side of the Ward Brook Trail and is marked by a large cairn at the base of a tree with two trunks, immediately after a bridge (a wide truck bridge, not the foot bridge pictured above).
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| cairn marking the junction with the Seward herd path |
The beginning of the herd path remains flattish for a while, following the stream, then grows more rugged as more significant elevation is gained. This herd path has a somewhat unfavorable reputation, but with the dry summer we've had, trail conditions were pretty perfect today, and I loved it! Except for the heat... we didn't get the cool temperatures we'd been hoping for. The partial views we were starting to get were spectacular, but smothered by haze.
Once I saw the wall pictured below, I knew we had gained the summit ridge. There were stunning views to the north toward Ampersand and the Saranac Lakes (cover image). From here it is a short easy walk to the true summit, which is treed and marked by a sign. We took our obligatory summit shots, then continued on looking for the ledge with views to enjoy our PB&Js.
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| Emmons (left) and Donaldson (center) with Long Lake in background |
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| descending into the col headed toward Donaldson |
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| climbing again |
Unfortunately someone had stolen the summit sign from Donaldson and only a tattered cardboard sign now marks the spot. The views were ever so much better today than on my first visit, regardless of the haze.
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| looking back at Seward (center) from whence we came |
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| selfie in front of Seward (center) and Seymour (right) |
Then we had to decide: should we start our descent via the Calkins Brook herd path, or continue on to Emmons first? If I had been hiking solo, I would have headed down at this point. Adding Emmons would mean a couple more miles and at least 2-2.5 more hours, and there are no views I missed last time. We were planning to break camp and drive back to Syracuse after we got down, and that long drive home in the dark is by far the hardest part of a long day like this. I was definitely NOT looking forward to that. However, Erin hadn't been out to Emmons before, and we were pretty damn close. It just made sense to go while we were already here. So off we went...
After we left Emmons, we slogged back to Donaldson, then started the long hike out -- just 6 or 6.5 miles back to the trailhead. There is no speeding down the steeps, but once the grade lessened a bit, I kicked up our pace. My goal was to at least get back down to the bucket cairn before dark. And we succeeded easily on that front.
After the bucket cairn, there is just one mentally challenging portion remaining: a relatively gentle uphill that seems to go on forever. It is not remotely difficult compared to the climbing already accomplished; it's not even steep. But rather than gravel or soil, this section of the truck trail is covered with loose, rolling fist-sized rocks, and it goes on for about a mile. Ugh. I had warned Erin about this section, and showed her my picture from last time, but I don't think there is any way to communicate just exactly how unpleasant those rolling rocks feel after a long hike. Once we got past that, we sped up again, and were soon back to the Ward Brook Trail. It had grown quite dim by this point, but we didn't want to stop to get out the headlamps if we didn't need to. It was a little ridiculous how long we waited, but we finally pulled them out for the last half mile or so.
Very relieved to find no ticket on my car, we changed footwear and had a quick snack, then drove back to our campsite and packed up the tents in the dark. Then we headed back toward Route 3 for the long drive home. We stopped at the McDonalds in Tupper Lake and washed up, then got some grease and caffeine to go, which we inhaled from opposite sides of my car sitting on curbs in the parking lot. Stopped again for gas in Star Lake. I was really struggling to stay awake there for a while. Once we got to 81, I started to feel a little better and we eventually made it home safely with no incidents.
MapMyRide tracked this hike at 17.8 miles with 3,800 feet elevation gain. I was really happy with our choice to hike the loop, because the northern approach to Seward had a lot of fun scrambling and completely different views. Another fantastic hike in the books!
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