calkins brook trail to sewards.

[Adk_dib]

I did all 3 sewards in 11 hours from parking lot. Have to admit i did not spend a lot of time at the summits. I left at 6:00 am and was worried about getting back to the car by 8:00 pm. I was soaking at the motel pool by 6:00 pm using this trail. I heard horror stories about getting lost and taking 18 hours to go up side of seward. the horse trail to calkins brook is 1.2 miles or about 20-25 minutes from the parking lot. where trail splits and left side says foot traffic only, take this trail. the right hand turn there comes out at same spot but is full of mud. at one point I spent 10 minutes getting through one mud spot. when you see sign to calkins brook lean to take a right. about 2.2 miles you will hear the brook. before you reach the brook you will see a cairn at the left side of the road. this is the start of the trail. a few minutes later you will come to the brook. there is a large cairn here, cross at this point. there looks like there is a trail on the left side of the brook, do not take it. from here to the ridge trail is is a nice gradual climb. I kept wondering when it was going to get steep. plenty of level trail to rest up. at 31oo feet and 3500 feet there are good water suppies. I actually did not fill my bottles until i reached the large cairn at calkins brook. At that point I only filled one bottle becouse i knew there would be a chance to fill up later. why carry all that water weight up the mountain. at 3500 feet I filled up all my bottles becouse i only have a few hundred feet to the ridge. once you reach the ridge trail it is only about 100 feet to the summit of donaldson. the calkins brook trail comes out about half way up donaldson. there is a nice lookout on the right just as you come to the top. a little ways farther there is another lookout on the left. the trip to emmons looks easy on the map but dont be fooled. there is a lot of ups and downs (along with mud and blowdown). it took me 3 hours from parking lot to ridge trail intersection. it took me 2 hours to go from donaldson to emmons and back. when i reached the cairn for the calkins brook trail on way back i almost continued down the calkins brook trail again. i stopped myself in time and went down the trail to get to seward. the calkins brook trail is wide, easily defined and soft on the feet. the opposite for the trail over to seward. it is overgrown in some places i couldn't even see thr trail. the trail is so narrow that the trees are whacking you constantly. eye protection would be a good idea. plus pants or gaitors (maybe catchers shingaurds!). the next mourning my shins were black and blue and scratched up.the trail at one point starts going downhill a little to much for my comfort. I thought i was heading down to cold river. I actually backtracked all the way back to the col between seward and donaldson. not seeing any other trail I went back on same trail. this added a few hundred feet and 1/2 hour to the day but needed the exersise. On the way up to seward i met 2 guys that said the trail up seward was steep, wet and slippery. at the summit i met another guy that left the parking lot 10 minutes before I did. he had 20 years on me and could probably hike me into the ground. I did all three summits by the time he did one becouse he got lost on the way up and had to bushwhack up. i never did find the summit to seward. i looked all around at the top and did not see any trails to a lookout.I started down seward and saw 3 faint trails. I took one and within 50 feet I saw 3 more faint trails. I just talked to 2 guys who said the trail is steep amd slippery, and another guy that got lost. add that to some trail reports on this website that said they went back to calkins brook trail, and I decided to do the same. the trail back to calkins brook intersection might have some more climbing i didn't plan on but at least i would get lost. plus the decent would be so much easier on this trail. It takes only about 1/2 hour to get back to the calkins brook trail so it was worth it. it took me 3 hours to climb to this point, but it took me 3 hours 45 minutes to get back to the car (10 hours, 15 miles and 3500 feet will do this to you). i actually stopped for 10-15 minutes at calkins brook to soak my feet, ahhhhhhhh! plus the horse trail out is a little uphill on the way out. I didn't notice this in the mourning. then i took the left turn at the horse trail sign instead of going staight to the bluberry trail. thats when i ran into all the mud which slowed me down some more. 33 and counting, 13 more to go! at least i dont ever have to go up these mountains again.

 

[Motabobo]

Hi adk_dib.

I think it was me you met on Seward…Obviously I was the only one stupid enough to loose the path. Anyway, when I talked to you, you had like 5 more steps to go, the yellow summit sign was 10-12 feet over your head. You can say you made it and it was a wise choice to go down via the Calkins Brook. I came up the Ward Brook way because I had done Seymour earlier in the morning !

 

[Adk_dib]

I was wondering why I didn't see you until seward. The other guy at the trailhead said you were going by way of calkins brook trail so I figured I would run into you between emmons and donaldson. If you did symour first and then seward you were moving pretty good, and I was right (you could hike me into the ground). I never heard of anyone doing all four in one day, usually they save seymour for the second day. Anyways, did you read the trail conditions section. Some guy called us weenies for using the calkins brook trail.

 

[Motabobo]

I told him I was to go down this way but I know my less-than-average english have confused more than one

I think you are speaking of powhnd, yeah I just read it. I think he's jealous that the conditions have improved so much over the years, when getting to Marcy was a 3-day backpack

 

[bubba]

Ah, I don't think anyone doing Calkins Brook is a weenie, rather smarter!! No doubt that Motabobo got mixed up on the way up -- the trail is not a suggested route these days!!

Mota - wasn't Seymour a sweet peak?? You had a nice day!!

George - I think you were on a different trail going over to Seward!! The trail I took a couple years ago wasn't close at all. The trip over was pretty straight forward with a rock/crack scramble up to the summit. Much of the elevation is gained right after the Donaldson/Calkins Brook intersection heading over. There are plenty of old herd paths and I'm thinking you picked one of those and sorta whacked your way over.

And... you're right!! I forgot about the Horse Trail being uphill on the way out. Totally -- all you don't need near the end of a long hike.

Glad you're getting them all in. If I'm following your progress correctly you have some big one's still in front of you?? Where's the finish planned??

 

[Adk_dib]

I have all the "easy" ones left. I have allen and santanoni's. Then grey and skylight, cliff and redfield. You know all the short ones! I plan on finishing on sawteeth next year on my 50th birthday. picked a easier one to finish on so I could enjoy it.

 

[Neil]

I really enjoyed your report ADK_dib. Great reading!

THISand THIS sum up a nice day we had there a while back.

 

[AntlerPeak]

plus the horse trail out is a little uphill on the way out. I didn't notice this in the mourning.

Dib---Nice TR I enjoyed it and it sounds like you really had an enjoyable trip.

Now on those "little uphills" I'd hate to tell you how many I didn't notice on the way in. Which is just as well because they make such nice surprizes for the way out.

 

[bubba]

I thought so -- the easy ones!! Maybe we'll get a chance to do some together! Sawteeth is a great finish!! Keep us posted...