Seward Range

April 22, 2017 - Hike along the Raquette River

Deb, Marc and I drove down to Coreys Road, stopping at the Lumberjack in Tupper Lake for second breakfast along our way. It was a bit drizzly, but not too bad as we hiked quickly along the horse trail. Numerous fens lined the river and pretty streams crossed our paths several times. A few sections of trail were flooded out, but easy routes around were found through the bush. We arrived at our intended leanto after a couple hours of hiking, just in time as the serious rain arrived, but what a pretty spot it was. As we were waiting under the roof for the next two hours, a couple approached who were out for a day hike. They had just come back from Raquette falls a little bit further up the trail and told us that it was well worth the visit. Since we still had a good portion of the afternoon free, this sounded like a great idea, so at the the next break in the rain, we struck out for a little walk. We found an old rusty tractor and a beautiful cabin with a well manicured lawn. We also found the falls, which was more of just a very swift flowwing river, but still was a lovely spot to explore. Curiosity satiated, we wandered back to camp and spent the rest of the evening relaxing around the fire.

Trail just a bit flooded in spots.

Our lovely home for the night.

The tractor was no help getting up the mountain, despite our best efforts.

The Raquette River "Falls".

Sunset from the porch.

April 23, 2017 - Seward Range

Deb and I awoke just after 05:00 and our stirring got Marc up shortly after. A clear though misty morning greeted us as we had our breakfast before packing up and heading out. We decided to take the direct route cross-country, so Deb led the way on a compass bearing of due east. Open forest made for easy travel, and in almost no time at all we had gained the horse trail that would take us to Caulkins Brook. We scampered along this muddy trail, following a single set of footprints which we assumed belonged to Neil Luckhurst who was hiking a solo circumnavigation of the Seward range this weekend. In glorious sunshine we reached the Caulkins Brook trail and headed up the herd path a bit before turning off trail into the woods to find a suitable camp site. We climbed a small knoll and found a perfect dry spot for two tents up here. We quickly set up our camp, dumped all the excess gear and then hitched up to climb the mountain. The creek crossing was easily accomplished and we walked through the forest up to about 900m elevation where the snow began. As we stopped to put on our spikes for the climbing to come we met a fellow here who was also putting on some crampons. We sped ahead and at about 1000m encountered fresh snow from yesterday. The warm sunshine was melting it out of the trees, and we were quickly soaked as we walked through the car wash of spruce boughs and the steady rainfall that descended from the branches above. As we climbed onto the ridge, the snow got very deep and after extricating myself from a full body posthole, I declared that it was time for snowshoes. This made travel easy again, and in no time we were on the summit of Donaldson, looking out onto clear views in the lovely sunny day. We stopped here for lunch, relaxing in our t-shirts. As we turned to leave the fellow from earlier arrived and we chatted briefly before heading on our way. The ridge over to Emmons was much more difficult. We started out by losing the trail, thus ensuing a nasty bushwhack to regain it. As we descended the south facing slope of Donaldson, the snow petered off to a snowspine, so we switched to microspikes and then back to snowshoes to climb the north face of Emmons. After an hour of this, we arrived on the summit to another good view. A quick snack and we were off again, somehow losing the trail on our descent. A bunch of searching had us back on track and we met the solo dude for the third and final time of the day. The remainder of the trip back to Donaldson was uneventful, but our trip to Seward was a whole new adventure. It took us nearly 45 minutes to find the herd path. We bushwhacked all over the col, looking for the trail and finding numerous spruce traps. We finally were about to give up when Marc said we thought he saw a sawn log. That was it! Seward was back in the cards. Travel along here was the most difficult of the day. Not only was the trail hard to follow under almost two meters of snow, a boot wide snow spine mixed in with bare rock, mud pits, and open water made things very entertaining. We switched back to spikes as snowshoes were becoming unweildy, but then still found ouselves either traversing bare rock, or postholing to our armpits from one moment to the next. Long sections of narrow snowspine had us practicing our balance technique, but finally we reached the top and sat down to another lunch, albeit with no views from this peak. The way back was a little easier as we figured out our trail loss mishap and managed to navigate fairly well for the rest of the day. We stayed in snowshoes for most of the descent, switching to microspikes after we found ourselves using the shoes to ford over mud as much as icy snow spine, finally switching to bare boots as we descended below the snow line. The only mishap was that Debbie lost her favourite hat, which slipped into a hole in the snow and being swept away by the running water underneath. As consolation prize to this loss, the mountain gave up an axe and a hunting knife. After a seemingly endless slog, we crossed Caulkins Brook and shortly after stumbled into the woods to find our tents. Marc and I failed in our mission to finish the whisky, but succeeded in replenishing most, but definitely not all, of the lost calories prior to heading to bed just as the sun set as the exhaustion set in from the twelve hours of hiking today. The four egg omlettes of the Lumberjack Cafe filled our dreams on this stary night.

Lovely day for a walk in the woods.

At around 900m the snowspine begins.

Time for snowshoes.

Summit of Donaldson.

Summit of Emmons.

Back at Donaldson, looking towards our next objective.

Trying to find the trail.

Summit of Seward.

Looking back at Donaldsone and Emmons.

Descending.

April 24, 2017 - Departure

Woke up with the sun, had a coffee and a bit of food as we packed up camp. The hike out was only about two and a half hours of easy trail and gravel road. We met Debbie's friend David Senecal along the way and stopped for quite a long chat. The four egg omlettes at the Lumberjack were excellent fuel for the drive home.

Breakfast at camp before heading out.

Three happy amigos along the trail.

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