Seward Mountain

"Hiked up Seward today to finish off the range. Another overcast day with threats of rain(No summit views). Being Deb and I did all the rest we figured we would do a loop, up Calkins Brook over the summit and down the North Side Herd path to the Ward Brook trail and then out! Calkins Brook trail was great, actually dry enough that our boots stood clear of mud. The hike to the summit was steep but still not that wet and muddy. The herd path down the North end was wet and muddy slop! But we had fun and on the way down the sky cleared enough to get some views." — hbotc • Aug 12, 2017

"Solo. Donaldson, Emmons, Seward. At this point in the day I was strongly considering orphaning Seward and coming back for it, but the thought of having to re-gain all of my elevation on a different day, possibly in the same crap conditions, kept me going. The cairn wasn't fully buried yet but I brushed some snow off of it for future travelers and began an immediate horrible descent down that I wasn't entirely sure I could get back up later as I butt-slid a great deal of it. It had snowed all day and by the time I was mid-way through slogging through mud pits and kicking slush off of my snowshoes, it began to lightly hail. Awesome. I had been getting sporadic cramps so I ate some energy gels and a poptart, washed down with Gatorade and a bunch of ibuprofen. I made much better time on this ascent, probably because I just wanted to be done. The herd path was fairly easy to follow despite the fact the trail hadn't been walked since this past weekends storm- it was kind narrow in some spots. The upsy-downsies leading to the summit were a real morale killer.. Nothing compared to when I got to the summit only to discover that my phone had had enough of the cold and had shut off. With my G..." — kellieirene • Oct 25, 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

"Followed the long trail to the herdpath after the lean-to. Rugged ascent up. The summit has no views, but there are 2 great viewpoints along the herd path on either side of the summit. The way I went up had a great view to the north, so I could see Ampersand. The other viewpoint on the other herd path heading towards Donaldson, you could see Donaldson, Emmons, and a long ways to the west. Steep chimney descent on the way to Donaldson. The first of 3 mtns today." — newenglandwarrior • Aug 7, 2015

"Enjoyed a nice winter hike to climb Don, Emmons and Seward today. Temps were brisk in the am with a forecast of mid-teens and then a storm coming in late in the day. As it turned out the winds would pick up by mid morning and the storm would be upon us by noon which made for some tough conditions. Headed in via the horse trail to Caulkins Brook HP (roughly 3 miles) then up to Donaldson (~ 6 miles in), over to Emmons( ~7 miles in) back to Don and over to Seward (~ 8.5 miles in) and down to Ward Brook and out (~ 5 miles once at Ward Brook junction). All trails were broken out except Seward which was windblown due to the storm. CB trail up to Don is a nice easy trail, Don to Emmons and back has a few dips which are fun and some nice views, small boundary peak in between Don and Seward and a short steep section which was well iced in when we were there. Trail down Seward to Ward Brook was tight with branches and blow down and has never been a favorite for us but the Ward Brook trail out was nicely trenched and is a long flat trip to the car. Movign a bit slower than typical, roughly 16.3 miles to summer trailhead (luckily still open and passable with 4WD for us this late) in ~11..." — deb-and-rob • Feb 21, 2015

"Hiked ~ 17 miles - Corey Rd Seward entrance to Calkins Brook to Donaldson, Emmons, Donaldson and Seward. Down the north side of Seward to the Ward Brook trail and back out. Great hike - wet conditions on Emmons and lower trails, snow on some of the Seward descent." — deb-and-rob • May 25, 2014

"Third peak (also did Donaldson & Emmons) of the day! The steep descent into the col was a bit tricky, the up to the summit challenging (after 2 peaks already). It was a perfect fall day!" — PJSelmer • Sep 29, 2013

"Hiked into Ward Brook and set up camp before heading up the very steep herd path up Seward. Black flies and mosquitos were brutal! I did a face plant and put a sharp stick through my hand on the way up. I would never descend this herd path unless it's a dry day & you've got good knees" — johngilligan • Jun 22, 2013

"Met Joan Collins and her 8 year old son, William Yellot at the Seward parking lot. Started up the herd path and lost it. Bushwacked our way up to the top while receiving several bee stings. T+ran over to Emmons and then decide to get Seward to, knowing that we would be descending in the dark." — hoche46er • Sep 3, 2000

"Frank, George, Johnny, and I traversed Seward, Donaldson, Emmons from Ward Brook Leanto, then bushwhacked down toward Oulaska Leanto because it was getting dark and wanted to be off summit ridge. I took a terrible fall landing on my backpack, but we continued. Frank took a fall in the stream and it was 11 p.m., so we bivouacked through a long, chilly night using space blankets. Next day, we proceeded to Oulaska Leanto, then back to Ward Brook where our cozy sleeping bags had gone empty all night!" — barbaratraver • Sep 8, 1997

"Back to the Sewards to help friends working on their W46. Initially we followed a broken trail made by five guys who started in on the Ward brook herdpath before us. They gave up w/o reaching the summit so we finished breaking to the canister. Last group signed in a day after New Years." — Nimblefoot • Feb 16, 1997

"After spending 4 days at Camp Peggy O'Brien and a night at Mtn Meadows B&B we headed into Blueberry leanto in order to bag some of the Sewards. We broke the Ward Brook herdpath all the way to the summit of Seward. After signing into the canister we realized it was going to be too much work for the two of us to break trail all the way to Emmons. Return to leanto leaving two stragglers." — Nimblefoot • Feb 22, 1995

"MH-ADK backpack to the Seward range. Drove up last night after work, reached Ward Brook leanto by 2:30 am and hit the sack by 4am. Today we did the 3-pack of Seward, Donaldson and Emmons with very fine rain overhead and muddy trail under our feet. " — Nimblefoot • Sep 24, 1994

"From Ward Brook Leanto Long day including backpack in from Corey's. Banged my head, knocked dizzy by tree trunk stretched across herdpath at eye level. Frank was ahead and oblivious to what happened. Went on to both Donaldson and Emmons. Hiked in with man and his dog who just played rest of the day. He rued this because rain spoiled his plans to climb next day. I heard him sobbing during the night because he had once again lost his chance to complete these elusive peaks." — barbaratraver • Jul 4, 1986