"The Seward Range with Meenu, Dennis and Mark was a memorably tough hike. Before we left, Jeff had warned us this was the toughest of all the hikes for the 46 peaks for him, which was daunting information. I knew it was going to be long and not easy, but didn't have that piece of information. We left Syracuse around midnight and arrived at the trailhead a little after 3:30 am. It was a little cold but not terrible and we started out with our headlamps at about 4. The first couple of hours were long because of the dark and we were so happy to see the first light of day. As we headed up to Donaldson I thought "this is not so hard" and predicted that we wouldn't actually run into ice. Both were proven wrong. Things started to take longer as we ran into mud. We summitted Donaldson in about 4 1/2 hours and started to worry a little bit that it was taking too long and the weather was going to turn colder and windier. We cut our break time short and headed towards Emmons and this is where mud started really getting rough. We slogged along and each had moments of being very over it ("eff all the mountains right now"), which ultimately provided some good quotes and lots of laughs. We reached..." — kvander • Oct 18, 2020

"Back to the Seward range this time for Kathryn’s 46R quest. Despite a 5:40 am arrival the Seward PA was full so we had to park along the short access to the PA. Fortunately we had much better weather than a month ago and for the most part the trails and HPs were drier. We did Seymour first then came back to the Ward Brook HP to do the other three then take the Caulkins Brook HP back down. Early on our ascent up Seward I made a poor assessment of a mud hazard and went in two feet deep with both feet....lovely! Lunch on Seward then over to Donaldson where I decided to forgo Emmons, as I didn’t “need” it, and descended down the HP while my cohorts went for Emmons. I didn’t get any sleep the night before so I was bit tired all day. Great views, numerous others out on the range and we got Kathryn up to #39/46 a good day for three of us. Tom and Kathryn got back to the PA just before 8 pm, for about a 14 hr day, tired but full of excitement." — Nimblefoot • Oct 3, 2020

"Teamed up with a couple of friends for a Seward range hike. We hiked the 3 peaks of Seward, Donaldson, and Emmons, dealt with mud and lots of rocks. Fun times and great views on Donaldson. " — newenglandwarrior • Sep 19, 2020

"Visiting the summits of Donaldson, Emmons and Seward for Tom’s 46r quest. Ascended via Calkins Brook then descended via Ward Brook and onto the long walk out. Ward Brook was a lot wetter and muddier than I remember, how things change over the years and decades. The overcast skies occluded any views early in the day then eventually the sun broke through the clouds giving us a view here and there and some needed warmth that the blustery wind took away. " — Nimblefoot • Aug 30, 2020

"A great day with great friends (Laurie, Su) who went the distance and concurred three mountains in the Seward Range Friday Jul26/2019 (Emmons, Donaldson and Seward) Via Calklin Brooks Trail. Couldn't have asked for better companions for a warm but scenic day in the mountains,, Not many views on treed summits other then Donaldson,, Got to share a little lunch and great convo with other like minded hikers along the trail, Trails were great with many mud holes along the way to concur, Not much water supply once you start to elevate closer to the summits, Crazy rock scrambles in a few areas that will test your will but very doable,, And what can I say about the longgg walk out to the car lol. All And all a perfect day Doing what we love!" — ramjet1963 • Jul 26, 2019

"Warm day, with light breeze on summits. Combined this hike - Donaldson, Emmons, Steward. Traveled with 2 friends (Roger and Laurie). Long day. Did manage to get turned around for about 1HR on the stream. Longest part of trip was last 2 hrs walking back on relatively flat trail. Good full day." — suzannerunciman • Jul 26, 2019

"Not a great day, cloudy, windy and drizzling at times. The weather report was totally wrong but we figured we will take on Donaldson and Emmons and depending on the time, shoot up Seward. We did not want to get home too late being it is Sunday and we need to get things done prepping for work on Monday. So we headed out a little late (7:30am) we started! Conditions we a bit muddy but we found the calkins brook trail really nice. We made good timing getting up to the cole between Seward and Donaldson, shot to Donaldson by 11am. and Emmons by 12. Views were no good but the sky was clearing, made our way back to Donaldson and finally got some clear skies for some good pictures. Got back to the Cole by 1:15PM. At this point we figured 2 hours out and back to Seward and then 3 hours out to the car. We have 1 1/2 hour trip home so in our eyes it was too late to hit Seward, we will come back. All in all a nice hike up these 2 mountains #38 and 39!" — hbotc • Aug 6, 2017

"Solo. Donaldson, Emmons, Seward. All 3 of these summits were terrible, unfortunately. I started out from Corey's Rd (gate is still open, road was dry!) at around 05:45. The first portion of the hike leading to the Calkins Brook herd path was largely uneventful, mud with a thin layer of icy snow on top of it, but bare boots were enough. There was a phenomenal amount of blowdown across this trail though WOW. It all looked relatively new, so I'm guessing this past weekends storm had something to do with it, maybe 20 trees laying across the path? After hitting the bucket cairn I hooked a left and started on the herd path. There were bare boot trails on the herd path, from a few people as well as a dog. The Calkins Brook initial crossing was extremely sketchy. The water was very high and moving fast - I just barely made it across with dry feet & it took some acrobatics to do so. At around 2000' I'm guessing, I stopped to put on my snowshoes, and shortly thereafter the bare boots tracks ended. Not sure if the folks turned around or what, but I didn't see their tracks anywhere in the rest of the range. The conditions were obnoxious today- large mud pits, deep sloppy snow, tight rock space..." — kellieirene • Oct 25, 2016

"4th of July weekend. Camped near Ward Brook lean-to. Party of 2 + Dog. Long Day. Grueling Hike. Was still on Seward when the sun went down. Fireworks echoing through the Brook sounded like a bear growling in the distance. Fun Times." — ndru-virus • Jul 3, 2016

"Journey across Seward - Donaldson - Emmons, with Jay and Nolan. The weather started nice, but began to look ominous at the summit of Emmons. Thankfully we were able to make the trip back over Seward and down the rockiest sections before we lost daylight, and the rain began to fall. The last few miles in solid rain and darkness made the return to the tents. " — Kazmuglin • Sep 19, 2015