teejay
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I met up with Audrey, Pat, Marge and LittleBear at the Coreys Rd. trailhead in heavy rain for the hike in to the Calkins Brook campsite on Sunday, Aug. 14. After extensive deliberation and waiting for what seemed to be an eternity (maybe as long as 20 minutes) for the rain to pass, we reached the group decision to climb the Sewards as a day hike on Monday. The rest of Monday afternoon was spent under the tarp (cabin roof) at Northwoods Cabins near Tupper Lake. BTW, this is probably the closest motel/cabin to the trailhead, about half an hour total including the road in to the trailhead. It’s not fancy at all, a bit worn out and seedy, in fact, but we were all very comfortable there.
That evening we dined on camp food cooked over a stove on the porch of the cabin. Lentil soup, tortellini with Alfredo sauce and home-made blueberry sauce on pound cake with Cool Whip topping. We ate well.
Monday morning, after a hearty breakfast, we were off to the trailhead at an early hour. Mostly clear skies were overhead as we hit the trail at 6:16 AM and walked the easy 3.3 mile hike to the start of the herd path, which was reached at 7:28. We set a rapid clip trying to keep pace with a highly motivated Audrey.
The herd path, as has been written here many times, presented minimal challenge to follow. It is very well defined its entire length. The blowdown which is encountered is more annoying than difficult. The climb is fairly continuous with some easy scrambles. As the herd path approaches the ridge line, there are some limited views of Ampersand and Seward to the left. When the herdpath meets the Seward-Donaldson path near the ridge, there is an awesome and somewhat intimidating (we would agree later) view of Seward. This junction is very obvious with a well defined herd path leading left and down toward Seward and the trail to Donaldson up and to the right. Total time to this point was 3 hrs. 50 mins. including stops.
Just a few minutes after the junction a wonderful western view point just 50 -75 ft. to the right of the main trail is reached. A second viewpoint (“AFV”-Audrey) is reached at a high point shortly afterward (4 hrs. 5 mins.). More about this later. Continuing on we reached what appeared to be the summit but could find no sign or disk. I climbed on what seemed to be the summit rock and looked back at the previous highpoint, which appeared higher. Had we walked right past the summit?
The trail begins a slow descent with some interesting scrambles then ascends and stops on a rock at a highpoint. Emmons, there is a disk high in a tree. The summit is mostly tree covered but there are limited views to the west toward Tupper Lake and north toward Seward providing a different perspective from what we had seen earlier. We reached the summit at 11:31, 5 hrs. 15 mins. from the start.
We started back toward Donaldson determined to find the summit and regrouped at the second viewpoint mentioned above for a long lunch break. It was there that Marge noticed the summit disk high in a tree behind us. Yes, for the first time in memory, I had actually walked over a summit without realizing it. The trip between Donaldson and Emmons had taken a bit over an hour in each direction.
The view is about 180 deg. looking east. The High Peaks are spread panoramically in front of you from Seymour to Couchsacraga. Perhaps it was my low expectation initially from Burnside’s view rating (40th), but I think this is one of the more spectacular vantage points in the western High Peaks, clearly superior to Panther’s (21st), my only other western peak. We did Emmons, we savored Donaldson.
Throughout the hike the group had shifted its focus from completing the range that day to completing the hike while we still had some energy remaining for the hike down and the tedious walk out to the parking area. Seward would have to wait. We reached the cars, 3 ½ hours after leaving Donaldson’s summit, at 5:02 PM. Total time including rest/filter/regroup/summit stops, 10 hrs. 46 mins., 15+ miles.
Back to the Northwoods Cabins for a second night. See, we really liked the place.
Lessons learned: Donaldson is a destination. The herd path draws about as much blood as any other. Roots, no matter how they look or how you step on them, are slippery. And you WILL slip. Guaranteed. Roots are your friend only if can grab them.
That evening we dined on camp food cooked over a stove on the porch of the cabin. Lentil soup, tortellini with Alfredo sauce and home-made blueberry sauce on pound cake with Cool Whip topping. We ate well.
Monday morning, after a hearty breakfast, we were off to the trailhead at an early hour. Mostly clear skies were overhead as we hit the trail at 6:16 AM and walked the easy 3.3 mile hike to the start of the herd path, which was reached at 7:28. We set a rapid clip trying to keep pace with a highly motivated Audrey.
The herd path, as has been written here many times, presented minimal challenge to follow. It is very well defined its entire length. The blowdown which is encountered is more annoying than difficult. The climb is fairly continuous with some easy scrambles. As the herd path approaches the ridge line, there are some limited views of Ampersand and Seward to the left. When the herdpath meets the Seward-Donaldson path near the ridge, there is an awesome and somewhat intimidating (we would agree later) view of Seward. This junction is very obvious with a well defined herd path leading left and down toward Seward and the trail to Donaldson up and to the right. Total time to this point was 3 hrs. 50 mins. including stops.
Just a few minutes after the junction a wonderful western view point just 50 -75 ft. to the right of the main trail is reached. A second viewpoint (“AFV”-Audrey) is reached at a high point shortly afterward (4 hrs. 5 mins.). More about this later. Continuing on we reached what appeared to be the summit but could find no sign or disk. I climbed on what seemed to be the summit rock and looked back at the previous highpoint, which appeared higher. Had we walked right past the summit?
The trail begins a slow descent with some interesting scrambles then ascends and stops on a rock at a highpoint. Emmons, there is a disk high in a tree. The summit is mostly tree covered but there are limited views to the west toward Tupper Lake and north toward Seward providing a different perspective from what we had seen earlier. We reached the summit at 11:31, 5 hrs. 15 mins. from the start.
We started back toward Donaldson determined to find the summit and regrouped at the second viewpoint mentioned above for a long lunch break. It was there that Marge noticed the summit disk high in a tree behind us. Yes, for the first time in memory, I had actually walked over a summit without realizing it. The trip between Donaldson and Emmons had taken a bit over an hour in each direction.
The view is about 180 deg. looking east. The High Peaks are spread panoramically in front of you from Seymour to Couchsacraga. Perhaps it was my low expectation initially from Burnside’s view rating (40th), but I think this is one of the more spectacular vantage points in the western High Peaks, clearly superior to Panther’s (21st), my only other western peak. We did Emmons, we savored Donaldson.
Throughout the hike the group had shifted its focus from completing the range that day to completing the hike while we still had some energy remaining for the hike down and the tedious walk out to the parking area. Seward would have to wait. We reached the cars, 3 ½ hours after leaving Donaldson’s summit, at 5:02 PM. Total time including rest/filter/regroup/summit stops, 10 hrs. 46 mins., 15+ miles.
Back to the Northwoods Cabins for a second night. See, we really liked the place.
Lessons learned: Donaldson is a destination. The herd path draws about as much blood as any other. Roots, no matter how they look or how you step on them, are slippery. And you WILL slip. Guaranteed. Roots are your friend only if can grab them.
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