una_dogger
Well-known member
I met up with HighonLife thursday, 9/13 at the Loj to take a leisurely stroll out to Colden, enjoy the sunshine on the summit, discuss and warm up our legs for our big hike planned for friday. We then headed over to Corey's and staged ourselves in the lot for some final trip planning.
The hood of my Outback was littered with books, maps and the final planning stages were in effect. Our goal? All four Sewards in a dayhike. We knew that we'd need an early start, and estimated the trip would take 14 hours. But still undecided was whether or not to tag Seymour first or last. Our shared philosophy has always been to get the highest or farthest summit first. We had done some asking around, and were offered differing yet carefully considered opinions and advice from several others that we respect.
We decided to stick with our gut feelings, and summit Seymour first. Our reasons:
1. Farthest out.
2. Would allow us to get the two major climbs done in the early part of the day.
3. Once Seward was behind us, we'd be on a traverse course and the other peaks would happen.
4. Caulkins Brook herdpath would be a welcome treadway for tired feet, and a better descent choice should we be delayed and coming down in the dark.
This meant that we'd be doing back to back 2000ft ascent-descent-2340ft ascents. We knew we could handle this, and wanted to do it all on fresh legs. We folded up our maps, packed our essentials, checked and rechecked batteries, then went to bed. I was wired so I lay in my sleeping bag reading and rereading Barbara McMartin's description of the Ward Brook and the ascent of Seward from the herdpath just beyond the Blueberry Lean too.
The night was broken by an attack of killer mice attempting to break into our sleeping quarters, but we managed to sleep and bleary eyed we emerged when the alarm went off at 3:45 am. I fed Terra; we ate a quick breakfast, we checked our gear again, and struck off in the dark at 4:36 am. It was an easy hike in the dark down the footpath and we covered the 5.2 miles into the Ward Brook Lean too in just about two hours. Dawn was breaking; and we found the cairn marking the paths to Seward and Seymour easily.
The herdpath up to Seymour gains 2000 ft in 1.5 miles. The trail is soft down low but travel is slowed by the masses of roots that underlay the trail. About twenty minutes onto the trail, it reaches a beautiful flume, and begins to climb steeply now. Some herdpaths break off to the right, but the main path is alongside the flume, and then within a couple more hundred feet, the path enters the slide; where it remains until just a couple hundred feet below the summit. There is a well defined path on the right side of the slide, which enters the woods during steeper sections. We knew this, but on our way up, we did venture out along and across the slide. The sun was rising, but clouds were moving in and our views of the sunrise were, unfortunatley, quite limited. After some very steep sections, we recrossed the slide and remained on the right hand side until the end of it. Although there were some hairy sections, the slide was good to us, always offering a root or handhold or crack in the rock to aid us in climbing.
The trail leaves the slide and re enters the woods but maintains its steep character until it reaches a long headwall of about five feet tall. We followed the headwall to the left until we found a good strong tree to assist us and a good crack as a toe hold. Nancy went first, then I lifted Terra, and I came up last. We backtracked right to the main herdpath and squirrelled our way along Seymour's upper reaches, sticking to a main path that head in a southerly direction to the summit, which we reached at 8:20 am. Yippee! Number 33 for me, a summer Seymour for Nancy.
On our way up I had noticed a section of trail on the right of the slide that seemed to go down about 150 feet with a good root ladder. We aimed for it on our return, and made it down the slide pretty quickly. We reached the small tributary about fourty minutes later and I filtered water to top off our camelbacks for the rest of the day.
Back on the Ward Brook Trail we met up with a fisherman who was backpacking back to Ampersand from Duck Hole, and a hiker who had abandoned a backpack of the Sewards from Caulkins Brook yesterday; coming back for Seymour with a lighter pack and a spring in his step. We congratulated him on his return and gave him beta on the slide paths we'd used.
We turned onto the herdpath for Seward just about 10:00 am. We had no idea what this trail would be like, it would be a new experience for us both. The trail is gentle at first, then climbs up the left of the slope, avoiding some major mud bogs. It then crosses a stream, and begins a continuous climb up the right bank. Making its way through a tight path; we were grateful it was friendly fir and not spikey spruce. The climb is 2.1 miles and gains 2340 ft. Initially, we thought it would be a gradual steep to moderate climb, but when Barbara McMartin calls a climb strenous, she means it! We remained in the trees for about a mile, the woods here are beautiful; quiet and mystical, especially in the mist. The trail is easy to follow, and there has been some recent cutting of blowdown...thanks!
The trail enters the stream bed and small cairns direct the climber to cross and recross in the lower reaches of the stream. The climb steepens, and soon remains wholly on the stream, which is characterized by steep, flat stretches of slab. This climb is alot more serious than the slide on Seymour and we were glad to be going up, not down it. Huge boulders litter the upper reaches, the climb becomes a relentless battle of strength and will and hand-over-foot climbing predominates the last half mile. I highly recommend this trail for someone looking for this type of challenge, and discourage it for those who do not enjoy tedious picking and climbing.
I like to remain positive about these challenges but found myself wondering after about 30 minutes of tough climbing , "when will this end?". A *very* broad headwall is reached, much more impressive than the one on Seymour. Again, we followed it left for a distance until it came down to about 5.5 feet tall, and first Nancy scaled it, using a tough root as a handhold as I boosted her. I lifted Terra, handed Nancy my pack, took a few deep breaths, grabbed the root and lifted with all my might, my two feet digging into the wall as Nancy pulled on my elbows. We did it. Yippee!
We retraced back to the main herdpath and continued south until we reached the Seward summit (on the very north end just beyond and to the right of the headwall is a rock outcrop that probably has great veiws on a nice day!). The wind was gusting, the summit was totally socked in. We put on rain jackets and braced ourselves against the wind. I wondered how much of this ridge was open, had we been in the Whites, I would have considered this traverse too risky in these conditions, but with the exception of Seward, we were well under cover the rest of the way.
Very quick pictures were taken, then we continued to Donaldson, dropping about 600-800 feet off Seward. The herdpath was in excellent shape and easy to follow. We reached Donaldson's northern end and negotiated a couple of squirrelly herdpaths and rejoined the main path near the summit. Quick pictures, the wind is howling again and the sky was spitting a bit of rain. I was beginning to worry about freezing rain with the deteriorating weather, and we hotfooted it to Emmons.
We dropped off Donaldson and entered very beautiful woods. Very peaceful and green, and the wind vanished. Emmons was a safe harbour in an otherwise rough weather day. I was happy about this, because it being Nancy's birthday, and the day she would complete her second round; I had the little singing candleholder she used on my birthday on Blake, and I really wanted to be able to light the candle. We had agreed Nancy would summit first for her big finish on Emmons. I slowed and took the rice crispy decorated as a Red Sox baseball, the candle holder with its now broken candle, and the waterproof matches out of my pack. I heard a big Whoop and Holler come from up the trail, and I knew that she and Terra had found the summit.
I joined them, candleholder playing "Happy Birthday" and little broken candle feebly resting on top of the Red Sox crispy. Two failed attempts to light left a smoldering whick, but that was OK. I was soooooo happy for Nancy! She's a 46+1 times two, and she has accomplished this since finishing her first round on her birthday last year on Esther. Go Nancy! She is truly HighonLife and I am so grateful to have found a hiking partner who enjoys pushing the limits and training hard! (plus she likes dogs ) I was now a 36er, having started June at ADK peak No. 10 and fully committed to the 46. I've climbed 23 of those 26 peaks this summer with Nancy. Its been a great run and culminated in our goal of climbing all four Sewards today, reaching Emmons in 9 hours 45 minutes from the start.
We retraced our steps over Donaldson and turned left by the small cairn and pink flagging tape, descending the Caulkins Brook, a gift for tired feet. The mist lifted as we decscended through intensely green, moss covered woods. This is a gem of a trail!
Back on the horse trail, the weather improved and we enjoyed a brisk walk on easy footing for the next 3.3 miles back to the parking lot; arriving at 6:15 pm, 13 hours 20 minutes after our start.
Thank you Nancy for a great hike and I'm glad you got Emmons for your Bday!
Desc: 19.7 miles, 6000 gain. Ward Brook Trail to Seymour Herdpath/Slide Climb, Seward Range Herdpath, Caulkins Brook Trail, Caulkins Horsepath.
HighonLife: 46+1 Second Round Finish!!!!!
Una_dogger: 36/46
Terra: a good trail dog enjoying a good day
The hood of my Outback was littered with books, maps and the final planning stages were in effect. Our goal? All four Sewards in a dayhike. We knew that we'd need an early start, and estimated the trip would take 14 hours. But still undecided was whether or not to tag Seymour first or last. Our shared philosophy has always been to get the highest or farthest summit first. We had done some asking around, and were offered differing yet carefully considered opinions and advice from several others that we respect.
We decided to stick with our gut feelings, and summit Seymour first. Our reasons:
1. Farthest out.
2. Would allow us to get the two major climbs done in the early part of the day.
3. Once Seward was behind us, we'd be on a traverse course and the other peaks would happen.
4. Caulkins Brook herdpath would be a welcome treadway for tired feet, and a better descent choice should we be delayed and coming down in the dark.
This meant that we'd be doing back to back 2000ft ascent-descent-2340ft ascents. We knew we could handle this, and wanted to do it all on fresh legs. We folded up our maps, packed our essentials, checked and rechecked batteries, then went to bed. I was wired so I lay in my sleeping bag reading and rereading Barbara McMartin's description of the Ward Brook and the ascent of Seward from the herdpath just beyond the Blueberry Lean too.
The night was broken by an attack of killer mice attempting to break into our sleeping quarters, but we managed to sleep and bleary eyed we emerged when the alarm went off at 3:45 am. I fed Terra; we ate a quick breakfast, we checked our gear again, and struck off in the dark at 4:36 am. It was an easy hike in the dark down the footpath and we covered the 5.2 miles into the Ward Brook Lean too in just about two hours. Dawn was breaking; and we found the cairn marking the paths to Seward and Seymour easily.
The herdpath up to Seymour gains 2000 ft in 1.5 miles. The trail is soft down low but travel is slowed by the masses of roots that underlay the trail. About twenty minutes onto the trail, it reaches a beautiful flume, and begins to climb steeply now. Some herdpaths break off to the right, but the main path is alongside the flume, and then within a couple more hundred feet, the path enters the slide; where it remains until just a couple hundred feet below the summit. There is a well defined path on the right side of the slide, which enters the woods during steeper sections. We knew this, but on our way up, we did venture out along and across the slide. The sun was rising, but clouds were moving in and our views of the sunrise were, unfortunatley, quite limited. After some very steep sections, we recrossed the slide and remained on the right hand side until the end of it. Although there were some hairy sections, the slide was good to us, always offering a root or handhold or crack in the rock to aid us in climbing.
The trail leaves the slide and re enters the woods but maintains its steep character until it reaches a long headwall of about five feet tall. We followed the headwall to the left until we found a good strong tree to assist us and a good crack as a toe hold. Nancy went first, then I lifted Terra, and I came up last. We backtracked right to the main herdpath and squirrelled our way along Seymour's upper reaches, sticking to a main path that head in a southerly direction to the summit, which we reached at 8:20 am. Yippee! Number 33 for me, a summer Seymour for Nancy.
On our way up I had noticed a section of trail on the right of the slide that seemed to go down about 150 feet with a good root ladder. We aimed for it on our return, and made it down the slide pretty quickly. We reached the small tributary about fourty minutes later and I filtered water to top off our camelbacks for the rest of the day.
Back on the Ward Brook Trail we met up with a fisherman who was backpacking back to Ampersand from Duck Hole, and a hiker who had abandoned a backpack of the Sewards from Caulkins Brook yesterday; coming back for Seymour with a lighter pack and a spring in his step. We congratulated him on his return and gave him beta on the slide paths we'd used.
We turned onto the herdpath for Seward just about 10:00 am. We had no idea what this trail would be like, it would be a new experience for us both. The trail is gentle at first, then climbs up the left of the slope, avoiding some major mud bogs. It then crosses a stream, and begins a continuous climb up the right bank. Making its way through a tight path; we were grateful it was friendly fir and not spikey spruce. The climb is 2.1 miles and gains 2340 ft. Initially, we thought it would be a gradual steep to moderate climb, but when Barbara McMartin calls a climb strenous, she means it! We remained in the trees for about a mile, the woods here are beautiful; quiet and mystical, especially in the mist. The trail is easy to follow, and there has been some recent cutting of blowdown...thanks!
The trail enters the stream bed and small cairns direct the climber to cross and recross in the lower reaches of the stream. The climb steepens, and soon remains wholly on the stream, which is characterized by steep, flat stretches of slab. This climb is alot more serious than the slide on Seymour and we were glad to be going up, not down it. Huge boulders litter the upper reaches, the climb becomes a relentless battle of strength and will and hand-over-foot climbing predominates the last half mile. I highly recommend this trail for someone looking for this type of challenge, and discourage it for those who do not enjoy tedious picking and climbing.
I like to remain positive about these challenges but found myself wondering after about 30 minutes of tough climbing , "when will this end?". A *very* broad headwall is reached, much more impressive than the one on Seymour. Again, we followed it left for a distance until it came down to about 5.5 feet tall, and first Nancy scaled it, using a tough root as a handhold as I boosted her. I lifted Terra, handed Nancy my pack, took a few deep breaths, grabbed the root and lifted with all my might, my two feet digging into the wall as Nancy pulled on my elbows. We did it. Yippee!
We retraced back to the main herdpath and continued south until we reached the Seward summit (on the very north end just beyond and to the right of the headwall is a rock outcrop that probably has great veiws on a nice day!). The wind was gusting, the summit was totally socked in. We put on rain jackets and braced ourselves against the wind. I wondered how much of this ridge was open, had we been in the Whites, I would have considered this traverse too risky in these conditions, but with the exception of Seward, we were well under cover the rest of the way.
Very quick pictures were taken, then we continued to Donaldson, dropping about 600-800 feet off Seward. The herdpath was in excellent shape and easy to follow. We reached Donaldson's northern end and negotiated a couple of squirrelly herdpaths and rejoined the main path near the summit. Quick pictures, the wind is howling again and the sky was spitting a bit of rain. I was beginning to worry about freezing rain with the deteriorating weather, and we hotfooted it to Emmons.
We dropped off Donaldson and entered very beautiful woods. Very peaceful and green, and the wind vanished. Emmons was a safe harbour in an otherwise rough weather day. I was happy about this, because it being Nancy's birthday, and the day she would complete her second round; I had the little singing candleholder she used on my birthday on Blake, and I really wanted to be able to light the candle. We had agreed Nancy would summit first for her big finish on Emmons. I slowed and took the rice crispy decorated as a Red Sox baseball, the candle holder with its now broken candle, and the waterproof matches out of my pack. I heard a big Whoop and Holler come from up the trail, and I knew that she and Terra had found the summit.
I joined them, candleholder playing "Happy Birthday" and little broken candle feebly resting on top of the Red Sox crispy. Two failed attempts to light left a smoldering whick, but that was OK. I was soooooo happy for Nancy! She's a 46+1 times two, and she has accomplished this since finishing her first round on her birthday last year on Esther. Go Nancy! She is truly HighonLife and I am so grateful to have found a hiking partner who enjoys pushing the limits and training hard! (plus she likes dogs ) I was now a 36er, having started June at ADK peak No. 10 and fully committed to the 46. I've climbed 23 of those 26 peaks this summer with Nancy. Its been a great run and culminated in our goal of climbing all four Sewards today, reaching Emmons in 9 hours 45 minutes from the start.
We retraced our steps over Donaldson and turned left by the small cairn and pink flagging tape, descending the Caulkins Brook, a gift for tired feet. The mist lifted as we decscended through intensely green, moss covered woods. This is a gem of a trail!
Back on the horse trail, the weather improved and we enjoyed a brisk walk on easy footing for the next 3.3 miles back to the parking lot; arriving at 6:15 pm, 13 hours 20 minutes after our start.
Thank you Nancy for a great hike and I'm glad you got Emmons for your Bday!
Desc: 19.7 miles, 6000 gain. Ward Brook Trail to Seymour Herdpath/Slide Climb, Seward Range Herdpath, Caulkins Brook Trail, Caulkins Horsepath.
HighonLife: 46+1 Second Round Finish!!!!!
Una_dogger: 36/46
Terra: a good trail dog enjoying a good day
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