Neil
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I have often had to work very hard to attain my objectives in the Seward Range and I have scaled back trips on several occasion.
On my first trip, a 2 nighter in early December, we went in planning on doing all 4 but came back with Seward and Seymour. Then when we went back to do Donaldson and Emmons it took us 15 hours to do Donaldson alone. I returned to do Seward for Eric’s 46th and that took us 14 hours. And so on….
Yesterday I had my sights set on Donaldson West, Donaldson and Seward NW and was very content to settle for Donaldson West and Donaldson.
I walked to where the Calkins herd path begins and crossed the brook right at that point and headed southeast. I aimed for the beginning of a long ridge that curls downwards for about a mile from Donaldson West in a SW direction and then curls more due west and finally, NW. This added quite a bit of distance as opposed to going up the herd path and then cutting over but it made the hike a lot more interesting.
The woods lower down were typical lower elevation hardwoods with many huge yellow birches. It was still cool and I was in the shade so the first thousand feet of elevation gain went by well. I made a gradual turn to the east and followed the ridge upwards. The south side of the ridge was a mess of blowdown and broken trees so by dropping off the crest to the north I avoided most of it. Once or twice I unwittingly found myself stuck in some criss-crossed piles of tree trunks and slowly and carefully extricated myself.
There is a small bump just under a half mile from D-West and it looks very unassuming on the map but turned out to be very cliffy, which involved some zig-zagging and very strenuous climbing and chin-up type of exercise. The day was warming up and I pulled more frequently on my water hose. I had started out with 4 liters because it didn’t look like there would be any water on my route.
From a tiny bit of open rock I caught a visual (first of the day) of D-West only 500 yards away. It took an hour to cover the thick ground and just below the top was a magnificent 30 foot shear cliff that stood in the sunshine. I went around it and soon was standing a few feet below the summit with 360 degree views with the cliff below my feet. It was a scorcher of a day and my clothing was drenched. The summit area was composed of thick cripplebush which I ploughed through along a compass bearing. As I dropped, the woods opened up enough to permit to me to advance without arm strain. Down in the broad col en route to Donaldson there were multiple fields of blowdown that imposed an exaggerated zig-zag route. I travelled at a very slow pace because otherwise I overheated, tripped and fell down or both.
From the col to the summit entails about 500 vertical feet of ascent and this was the most demanding part of the day. What I got for my money was thick and steep with decayed and crumbling vegetation and sod holes underfoot which offered no purchase or foothold. The only thing was to be patient, go very slowly and reason that if I had gotten thus far that I would make the summit. My goal was to come out between the west and east viewing rocks and much to my satisfaction that is precisely where I hit the herd path. ( I had no gps on this trip).
I visited the main summit but was most interested in viewing my route from the west viewpoint and once I had removed my pack and my shirt realized I was knackered. Not only that but I had consumed all but a few mouthfuls of my water. It was 2:00 and the route up to Sewards’ bumps looked like an angry flesh-tearing piece of work exposed to the glaring sun. I was very happy to head down the herd path and was back at my car at 4:45. The woods were deathly silent. Not a single bird sang or chirped.
On my first trip, a 2 nighter in early December, we went in planning on doing all 4 but came back with Seward and Seymour. Then when we went back to do Donaldson and Emmons it took us 15 hours to do Donaldson alone. I returned to do Seward for Eric’s 46th and that took us 14 hours. And so on….
Yesterday I had my sights set on Donaldson West, Donaldson and Seward NW and was very content to settle for Donaldson West and Donaldson.
I walked to where the Calkins herd path begins and crossed the brook right at that point and headed southeast. I aimed for the beginning of a long ridge that curls downwards for about a mile from Donaldson West in a SW direction and then curls more due west and finally, NW. This added quite a bit of distance as opposed to going up the herd path and then cutting over but it made the hike a lot more interesting.
The woods lower down were typical lower elevation hardwoods with many huge yellow birches. It was still cool and I was in the shade so the first thousand feet of elevation gain went by well. I made a gradual turn to the east and followed the ridge upwards. The south side of the ridge was a mess of blowdown and broken trees so by dropping off the crest to the north I avoided most of it. Once or twice I unwittingly found myself stuck in some criss-crossed piles of tree trunks and slowly and carefully extricated myself.
There is a small bump just under a half mile from D-West and it looks very unassuming on the map but turned out to be very cliffy, which involved some zig-zagging and very strenuous climbing and chin-up type of exercise. The day was warming up and I pulled more frequently on my water hose. I had started out with 4 liters because it didn’t look like there would be any water on my route.
From a tiny bit of open rock I caught a visual (first of the day) of D-West only 500 yards away. It took an hour to cover the thick ground and just below the top was a magnificent 30 foot shear cliff that stood in the sunshine. I went around it and soon was standing a few feet below the summit with 360 degree views with the cliff below my feet. It was a scorcher of a day and my clothing was drenched. The summit area was composed of thick cripplebush which I ploughed through along a compass bearing. As I dropped, the woods opened up enough to permit to me to advance without arm strain. Down in the broad col en route to Donaldson there were multiple fields of blowdown that imposed an exaggerated zig-zag route. I travelled at a very slow pace because otherwise I overheated, tripped and fell down or both.
From the col to the summit entails about 500 vertical feet of ascent and this was the most demanding part of the day. What I got for my money was thick and steep with decayed and crumbling vegetation and sod holes underfoot which offered no purchase or foothold. The only thing was to be patient, go very slowly and reason that if I had gotten thus far that I would make the summit. My goal was to come out between the west and east viewing rocks and much to my satisfaction that is precisely where I hit the herd path. ( I had no gps on this trip).
I visited the main summit but was most interested in viewing my route from the west viewpoint and once I had removed my pack and my shirt realized I was knackered. Not only that but I had consumed all but a few mouthfuls of my water. It was 2:00 and the route up to Sewards’ bumps looked like an angry flesh-tearing piece of work exposed to the glaring sun. I was very happy to head down the herd path and was back at my car at 4:45. The woods were deathly silent. Not a single bird sang or chirped.
