Seward Range and Seymour | Adirondack 46er

On May 19th I was back in the ADK to do the Seward Range and Seymour. This hike is not to be taken lightly as it is one of the most remote ranges in the ADK. Typically this is split up into a two-day trip by most, but I wanted to do it in one. This hike ended up being 22.42 miles with 6,133 feet of elevation gain and it took me 12 hours and 30 minutes. It was a beautiful day in the '70s. The roughly 5.5 miles along the Blueberry Trail and Ward Brook Truck Trail was an awesome warmup for this hike. After turning right at the cairn marking Seymour Mountain Trail, it was a gradual climb before finally reaching the steep section. The trail was really muddy, but man was it steep. After ascending the trail around 3/4ths of the way up the trail started to become a lot of slab climbing with boulder scrambles. Upon reaching the summit I was graced with a nice wooden summit sign and a gorgeous outlook of the high peaks. I made my way back down the steep trail and over to the cairn marking the Seward Mountain Trail, at this point I was 10 miles into the hike. The hike up Seward was just about the same as Seymour, however, it was a little bit longer distance. There was a bit more mud and snow on the ascent up Seward, especially right before the summit. The summit of Seward had a beautiful wooden summit sign as well however, it did not have the views that Seymour did. After leaving Seward I could see Donaldson and Emmons in the distance, it didn't seem like much further to go. Making the descent down the col between Seward and Donaldson was really fun, as you climb down a large boulder scramble and rock face. I climbed past the Caulkins Brook Trail that I would be descending on the way back, to the summit of Donaldson. Donaldson had an excellent lookout but the circular summit marker I've seen in other's videos and pictures was no longer there. After leaving Donaldson I traversed over to Emmons through a TON of mud and several bogs. After reaching another smaller rock wall with some scrambles, I could see Emmons appearing closer, however, the distance is very deceiving as it still seemed so far away. Finally, I reached the nice summit of Emmons after climbing one last large rock, turning to the right, and seeing that beautiful summit sign. I just finished one of the toughest hikes in the ADK! Now it was time for the long walk back to the parking lot down the Caulkins Brook Trail, and man did it feel like forever!

[@01247Brandon]

The transitions at the beginning are awesome!

[@otrkid70]

You didn't fight any bears or cougars? Pshh Amateur.

[@DerekGHikes]

🤣🤣