If you look a map, these small sub-summits look like easy targets as they’re just over a half mile from the Calkin’s Brook herd path and "only" around 3400' in height. If you zoom out a bit, you’ll see some of the surrounding peaks (infamous peaks like the Sawtooth Range, Van Dorrien, etc.) and realize that they’re probably not so easy. We found them to be a mix of both.
My buddy TBPDPTI and I arrived at the absolutely overflowing Corey’s Road trailhead around 7:20am. We were probably the 7th or 8th car to park along the side of the road. I’ve never it so crowded there but I guess that’s the new normal. We hit the trail a few minutes later and set a pretty blistering pace. We jumped onto the horse trail and before we knew it we were at the intersection with the truck trail.
We decided to follow the horse trail for another mile or so before jumping off into the woods. The trail is in decent shape. A little tricky to follow at a few points, but generally well-marked pretty dry. We noted that this trail is significantly lower in elevation than is shown on the maps. At around 2100 feet we left the trail and began our ~0.9 mile bushwhack up to the WNW peak of Seward. The going was pretty good down low although there was a lot of blowdown to navigate around. Right when the woods got really steep the woods also tightened up a bit. They were fairly thick but we were always able to thread the needle and find a good path forward.
After 2h15m of hiking we reached the summit ridge of WNW Seward. Things were pretty thick and scratchy up there but we were able to find some nice viewpoints. Seward and Donaldson loomed above us, with the view stretching from West Donaldson on the right to the Sawtooth Range on the left. The McIntyre Range was visible beyond the Sewards.
The descent from WNW to the col on the way to NW was atrociously thick. There were several cliff bands there as well. Took a lot of effort to get down to the col. From the col up to the NW peak was much better, at least until we got the ridge, which was once again thick and scratchy. We found some limited views but they weren’t as expansive as those on WNW. Took us about an hour on the nose to go from WNW to NW.
The initial descent of NW Seward toward the Calkin’s Brook herd path was also atrociously thick as we navigated around a blowdown field and then followed the main ridge to the SW. Thankfully, things opened up quite a bit as we lost elevation. We were back to Calkin’s Brook after 45 minutes of hiking and took a break on the rocks on the water.
After a short hike uphill to get back on the herd path, the rest of the trip was gravy. TBPDPTI grabbed one of the 2k peaks on his list right off the truck trail on the way out while I slowly meandered my way back to the car. We were outta there by 2:20pm.
QUESTION:
On the DEC trail sign at the intersection of the horse trail and the truck trail, one of the destinations is “Mud Mountain Trail Junction: 3.5 miles.” This must obviously refer to the junction with the truck trail and the trail starting by the Raquette River. However, I can’t find any “Mud Mountain” on any maps anywhere near that junction. Is that 2400’ mountain just to the northwest of the junction informally known as “Mud Mountain?”