For my first ever visit to the Seward range, I decided to attempt Seymour Mountain. I grabbed the second-to-last parking spot and started off at 7am (p.s. when I left, I saw a lot of cars parked on the dirt road, perhaps that is permitted here).
To get to the Seymour unmarked trail, you need to hike 6.3 miles on the Blueberry Trail which then becomes the Ward Brook Trail (this trail eventually leads to the Northville-Placid Trail). This trail has no significant incline and runs along private property which a great number of signs will remember you about (why so many?). There are many brook crossings (1 bridge) which are easily managed at this time. At present, there is also a whole lot of mud, mosquitoes and black flies. Going through the mud pits requires a balance between going slow enough to choose your footing and brisk enough to avoid mosquito swarms. On the way out, I was focused on the latter.
This is Blueberry Lean-to – Mosquito HQ would be a more apt name. I did see some campers at Ward Brook Lean-to which is a little further off. I don’t know how many survived.
Turn off for Seymour is easy enough to spot (look for cairn with a shovel in it), but the bugs don’t seem to be aware of it and mostly hang to Blueberry Trail.
The trail follows some sort of unnamed drainage and starts off with a low grade (the type you can almost run down on your way back). After a mile or so, it gets a lot steeper and there is a series of rock surfaces (mostly wet) to climb. But the steepness relents, and the last 0.4 mile is quite easy if not effortless.
The summit area is small but very nice. Although the view is partial (180o East facing), a ledge just before the summit allows to contemplate all the rest. There are great views of the Macintyre range, the Santanoni range South-East, the neighboring Sewards, Lyon Mountain to the North and many many more.
Marcy & friends:
The other Sewards (from the ledge):
The trip down was a lot easier than last week’s long descent of Nippletop through Elk pass. I crossed a gentleman with a saw sticking up from his pack – he mentioned he was taking care of some of the blowdown – thank for your service, sir! Back on the access trail, I no longer caring about keeping my feet dry, I just went through the mud without slowing down. By then, the bugs were quite bad. Still, I guess it could have been worse since I never decided to wear my head net. This tree fell across the path 100' ahead - I heard it more than I saw it:
Round-trip took me 8.5 hours including breaks.
To get to the Seymour unmarked trail, you need to hike 6.3 miles on the Blueberry Trail which then becomes the Ward Brook Trail (this trail eventually leads to the Northville-Placid Trail). This trail has no significant incline and runs along private property which a great number of signs will remember you about (why so many?). There are many brook crossings (1 bridge) which are easily managed at this time. At present, there is also a whole lot of mud, mosquitoes and black flies. Going through the mud pits requires a balance between going slow enough to choose your footing and brisk enough to avoid mosquito swarms. On the way out, I was focused on the latter.
This is Blueberry Lean-to – Mosquito HQ would be a more apt name. I did see some campers at Ward Brook Lean-to which is a little further off. I don’t know how many survived.
Turn off for Seymour is easy enough to spot (look for cairn with a shovel in it), but the bugs don’t seem to be aware of it and mostly hang to Blueberry Trail.
The trail follows some sort of unnamed drainage and starts off with a low grade (the type you can almost run down on your way back). After a mile or so, it gets a lot steeper and there is a series of rock surfaces (mostly wet) to climb. But the steepness relents, and the last 0.4 mile is quite easy if not effortless.
The summit area is small but very nice. Although the view is partial (180o East facing), a ledge just before the summit allows to contemplate all the rest. There are great views of the Macintyre range, the Santanoni range South-East, the neighboring Sewards, Lyon Mountain to the North and many many more.
Marcy & friends:
The other Sewards (from the ledge):
The trip down was a lot easier than last week’s long descent of Nippletop through Elk pass. I crossed a gentleman with a saw sticking up from his pack – he mentioned he was taking care of some of the blowdown – thank for your service, sir! Back on the access trail, I no longer caring about keeping my feet dry, I just went through the mud without slowing down. By then, the bugs were quite bad. Still, I guess it could have been worse since I never decided to wear my head net. This tree fell across the path 100' ahead - I heard it more than I saw it:
Round-trip took me 8.5 hours including breaks.
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