This hike is about 23 miles long and goes over 4 of the Adirondack High Peaks. So, it is a great hike to get a couple of the 46 done in one go!
Seymour is not part of the Seward Range (Seward, Donaldson, and Emmons) but it is close enough to the range that you might as well tack it on to your hike. this trail has about 6,000 feet of elevation gain since you have to go up and back down Seymour before starting on the range. i started this hike on july 28, 2021 at 6am near Tupper Lake. it is an out and back trail that starts on the Blueberry Trail.
When I did this hike I started with Seymour. So to go up this one first, you follow the Blueberry Trail for about 5 miles until you reach the Ward Brook Truck Trail. you follow this trail for about a mile and then switch on to the Seymour Mountain Trail. here you will gain elevation pretty quickly, about 2,000 feet in 1.5 miles. It is such a great and tough trek up to the top so be sure to sit down and enjoy a break at the summit. There isn’t much of a 360 view, but there is plenty of space to sit up top and have a snack. I got to the summit at 9:50 a.m.
To get to the next couple of summits you just need to go back down the Seymour Mountain Trail then the Ward Brook Truck Trail, and then switch on to the Seward Mountain Trail. The Seward Mountain Trail will be to the left when you are coming down the Ward Brook Truck Trail. Previous hikers have also been thoughtful enough to place a rock cairn that signals where the Seward Mountain Trail is. At this point you are back down at 2,000 feet in elevation, and have to make the hike back up to 4,300 feet to hit Seward Mountain. to do this, just follow the Seward Trail which will take you directly to the top of Seward. The summit is around the 12 mile mark. I got to the summit at 2 p.m. There are no views on the summit but there is some nice shade to enjoy a break. When I was here it was really muddy and there was a little bird hopping around waiting for me to feed it some of my trail mix. I don’t suggest feeding the birds since it negatively impacts their ability to find food for themselves.
To get to Donaldson, continue along the same trail for about 1.5 miles and go down about 200 feet. there aren’t many views up here either so i just continued along the trail to Mount Emmons. this was an extremely muddy section of the trail and i was happy to have my trekking poles with me to keep from falling in or losing a boot. Emmons is at the 14 mile mark, and I think I got to the summit around 5:40 p.m. to get back to the parking lot. You have about 9 miles to go. to get down you walk back on the trail headed for Donaldson, but take a left on to the Calkins Brook Trail. This trail will take you to the Calkins Brook Truck Trail, and then eventually to the Blueberry Trail back to the parking lot. I got done around 8 p.m. when it was getting pretty dark out. so, the hike took me about 12 hours to complete.
Overall thoughts on the trail
I really enjoyed this hike since it brought me over 4 High Peaks in one day. It was pretty tough with the great elevation gain and loss at the beginning, but if anything this was just a nice warmup for the rest of the trail.
There are places to camp on the Blueberry Trail, so if you wanted to make this into a two day backpacking trip it is pretty feasible.
Some rocky sections of the trail were difficult to navigate, which just means that it might take you a couple moments to find the best route over rocks. Personally, these tricky parts of the trail are my favorite because it involves more than just putting one foot in front of the other.
This was also one of my most memorable hikes because I finished the book “Wild” by Cheryl Strayed while eating my post hike pizza. This is when I first had the thought to hike the Pacific Crest Trail.
what I brought
- 50 L hiking pack
- 2 L bladder bag for water
- 32 oz. nalgene with hydration mix
- first aid kit
- Merrel Moab 2 Mid-ventilator women’s hiking boots
- running shorts
- tank top
- extra long sleeve shirt
- bandana
- wool hiking socks (2 pairs)
- foot glide
- trekking poles
- sunglasses
- Food!
- cheese pizza (leftovers)
- trail mix
- peanut butter and jelly sandwich (that i forgot about and got squished in the bottom of my pack)
- homemade hiker bars
- apple
- cheese and crackers
- cliff bar
Hannah the hiker 
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