Sara
New member
For lack of an exact name, I'll call this trip the "Seward-Range Loop" b/c that's pretty much what we did, looped around the Seward Range. ADacKr and I left Seward Range trail head 8:30pm Friday night. We were absolutely ecstatic to find that we were the only car in the lot Friday night of Memorial Day weekend! This great luck was the precedent to a fantastic weekend! We camped this first night at Blueberry Lean-to and were joined at about 1:00am by another young couple and their lab mix. Our choc. lab Chela was delighted to have a companion!
After a hearty breakfast the next morning we (ADacKr, Chela and I) left with blue skies above and wild flowers all around. We dropped our packs at Ward Brook lean-to and headed up Seymour. We were amazed at how clearly marked Seymour was, perfectly placed cairns seldom left us wondering “which way now??” Also, the trail was considerably dry for the season. We had some fantastic views and had lunch at the large bulge of rock while admiring Seward, Donaldson and Emmons quite happy that we had climbed them last August and need not go through that torture ever again! We made it back to Ward Brook lean-to (after losing somewhere along the trail a Nalgene bottle) and didn’t encounter a single person!! Again, remarkable for Memorial Day Weekend.
We then hiked towards Duck Hole and camped for the night at Cold River Lean-to #2. We really enjoyed the trail, gradual ups/downs and really nice views. We’ve been looking forward to visiting this area for some time, and we were not disappointed! The Cold River is absolutely gorgeous. We had a small fire, enjoyed some chilled Chardonnay, and ADacKr did some fishing (unsuccessful yet nevertheless enjoyable). The sounds of the raging river lulled us to sleep, or maybe that was the effects of the Chardonnay!
Day #3 we were up and out @10:00am. A lazy, relaxing morning with hot coffee and breakfast. The morning started off overcast, but soon the sun burnt off the clouds. We back-tracked a bit and picked up the Northville Placid Trail and hiked @10miles passing along the way Oluska Lean-to, Miller’s Falls Lean-to, Seward Lean-to and on to Cold River Lean-to #3 for the night. The three lean-to’s that we passed were some of the most beautifully placed, well-kept leant’to’s we’ve ever seen. We’ll definitely head back to that area this summer (we plan a thru hike of the NPT in mid-August). We did get rained on for about twenty minutes before Oluska Lean-to and heard some rumbling thunder in the distance, but over-all the weather was fantastic. We met a group of four hiking to Placid, and a group of four men fishing the Cold River. One of them had just caught a 17 inch brook trout. We didn’t see it, but we took their word for it!
Another perfect night was spent at Lean-to #3. A yummy dinner, this time some Cabernet, and some more fishing! Chela enjoyed swimming and being swept along in the rapids. I should mention at this point that we have had great luck with the insects. Some black flies, but more buzzing about than biting, and some mosquitoes. Overall, their presence was not a great burden.
Day #4 we packed up early and headed toward Shattuck Clearing. We decided we weren’t up for wading across the river at this point so we kept on our journey. We headed down the Caulkin’s Brook horse trail towards the Seward parking lot. This trip was 10.6 miles. Due to the increased temps the black flies on our last lag were more of a problem, but we completed this stretch in about 4 hours. We really huffed it out b/c we were dreaming of cold beer and wings which we indulged in on the way home.
We thoroughly enjoyed this loop, and saw the Seward range from just about every angle. This trip is highly recommended for a longer distance hike with some fantastic sites along the way. Happy Trails.
After a hearty breakfast the next morning we (ADacKr, Chela and I) left with blue skies above and wild flowers all around. We dropped our packs at Ward Brook lean-to and headed up Seymour. We were amazed at how clearly marked Seymour was, perfectly placed cairns seldom left us wondering “which way now??” Also, the trail was considerably dry for the season. We had some fantastic views and had lunch at the large bulge of rock while admiring Seward, Donaldson and Emmons quite happy that we had climbed them last August and need not go through that torture ever again! We made it back to Ward Brook lean-to (after losing somewhere along the trail a Nalgene bottle) and didn’t encounter a single person!! Again, remarkable for Memorial Day Weekend.
We then hiked towards Duck Hole and camped for the night at Cold River Lean-to #2. We really enjoyed the trail, gradual ups/downs and really nice views. We’ve been looking forward to visiting this area for some time, and we were not disappointed! The Cold River is absolutely gorgeous. We had a small fire, enjoyed some chilled Chardonnay, and ADacKr did some fishing (unsuccessful yet nevertheless enjoyable). The sounds of the raging river lulled us to sleep, or maybe that was the effects of the Chardonnay!
Day #3 we were up and out @10:00am. A lazy, relaxing morning with hot coffee and breakfast. The morning started off overcast, but soon the sun burnt off the clouds. We back-tracked a bit and picked up the Northville Placid Trail and hiked @10miles passing along the way Oluska Lean-to, Miller’s Falls Lean-to, Seward Lean-to and on to Cold River Lean-to #3 for the night. The three lean-to’s that we passed were some of the most beautifully placed, well-kept leant’to’s we’ve ever seen. We’ll definitely head back to that area this summer (we plan a thru hike of the NPT in mid-August). We did get rained on for about twenty minutes before Oluska Lean-to and heard some rumbling thunder in the distance, but over-all the weather was fantastic. We met a group of four hiking to Placid, and a group of four men fishing the Cold River. One of them had just caught a 17 inch brook trout. We didn’t see it, but we took their word for it!
Another perfect night was spent at Lean-to #3. A yummy dinner, this time some Cabernet, and some more fishing! Chela enjoyed swimming and being swept along in the rapids. I should mention at this point that we have had great luck with the insects. Some black flies, but more buzzing about than biting, and some mosquitoes. Overall, their presence was not a great burden.
Day #4 we packed up early and headed toward Shattuck Clearing. We decided we weren’t up for wading across the river at this point so we kept on our journey. We headed down the Caulkin’s Brook horse trail towards the Seward parking lot. This trip was 10.6 miles. Due to the increased temps the black flies on our last lag were more of a problem, but we completed this stretch in about 4 hours. We really huffed it out b/c we were dreaming of cold beer and wings which we indulged in on the way home.
We thoroughly enjoyed this loop, and saw the Seward range from just about every angle. This trip is highly recommended for a longer distance hike with some fantastic sites along the way. Happy Trails.
