Donaldson and Emmons
The 33'rd and 40'th highest peaks in New York State with elevations of 4,140 and 4,040 ft.
The 33'rd and 40'th highest peaks in New York State with elevations of 4,140 and 4,040 ft.
Climbed with my son Nathan, buddy Paul, and his son Peter on Sunday 5-29-16. We got up and left Speculator after 5 am and drove to the Corey's Road parking lot. We signed in and were on the trail toward the Seward's a little before 7:30 am.
The parking lot was crowded but not quite full. There were a couple spots open and available for us. The forecast was for thunder and lightning storms in he afternoon but you would never know because it appeared clear and sunny as we started to hike. We took the foot trail not the horse trail and when we got to the truck road we went right. If you continue straight you will end up at the lean to's and the trail to Seymour, which we did last fall. Today we were headed to D and E. It took us a little over an hour to hike on a mostly level or slightly descending trail to the overturned metal bucket marker on a pile of rocks just before Calkins Brook. At the bucket you go left and start to climb towards the mountains.
The trail is not bad from here on out as Adirondack trails go but mostly up with very little flat to catch your breath. I have a hard time with constant up so I was bringing up the rear. The other three went up ahead and we did meet up a couple of times just to make sure we were still all together. I reached the col or more accurately described as the "T" where the trail spits at 10:50. If you go left and down at this point you go toward Seward. We had originally planned on doing all three so the intent was to come back after summitting the other two and do this as well. The weather changed our plans which I will described later. I headed right and so did the others I found out shortly at 11:00 when we all met at the Donaldson summit.
There are some good views and especially from the opposite side of the mountain, although not technically the summit the views are better there and you can see a lot toward Seward.
The parking lot was crowded but not quite full. There were a couple spots open and available for us. The forecast was for thunder and lightning storms in he afternoon but you would never know because it appeared clear and sunny as we started to hike. We took the foot trail not the horse trail and when we got to the truck road we went right. If you continue straight you will end up at the lean to's and the trail to Seymour, which we did last fall. Today we were headed to D and E. It took us a little over an hour to hike on a mostly level or slightly descending trail to the overturned metal bucket marker on a pile of rocks just before Calkins Brook. At the bucket you go left and start to climb towards the mountains.
The trail is not bad from here on out as Adirondack trails go but mostly up with very little flat to catch your breath. I have a hard time with constant up so I was bringing up the rear. The other three went up ahead and we did meet up a couple of times just to make sure we were still all together. I reached the col or more accurately described as the "T" where the trail spits at 10:50. If you go left and down at this point you go toward Seward. We had originally planned on doing all three so the intent was to come back after summitting the other two and do this as well. The weather changed our plans which I will described later. I headed right and so did the others I found out shortly at 11:00 when we all met at the Donaldson summit.
There are some good views and especially from the opposite side of the mountain, although not technically the summit the views are better there and you can see a lot toward Seward.
After a short snack break we headed on toward Emmons. This is really the mentally hard part of climbing for me. The trail toward Emmons obviously goes down again before it starts to go up to the summit. I like down as opposed to up but I'm smart enough to realize that every step down is a step up in the opposite direction when I'm even more tired. Mentally and physically i have to just keep putting one foot in front of the other and try not to think to much about it just keep pressing on. I'm not sure we had actually seen any other people to this point but now we had started to see a couple as it had gotten later in the day and a few people passed us on the way to Emmons. Nathan and Peter kept up the pace out front and I actually caught up to Paul, who was now slowing a bit, and we hiked the last bit together in this in between section. As we were almost at the summit Nathan and Peter had returned and encouraged us to keep up the pace because they had been to the Emmons summit and seen the rain clouds quickly moving towards us. Shortly after that we all summitted Emmons at 12:20, Paul and I for the first time, Nathan and Peter for the second.
We took a few pictures and then got back down as the rain, thunder, and lightning started at about 12:30. We did put on our lightweight rain gear and covered our packs so we would stay dry, we thought. I'll jump ahead a little to tell you that we all got soaked to the bone and even though the rain did let up a little in spots it basically down poured until we got back to Corey's at 5:30. As the lightning strikes started, and were quite close, Nathan went into his Deerfoot Lodge counselor mode and made all of us get off the mountain and off the trail and wait for the thunder to pass before he would let us move along. At this point we did have one single guy and one couple pass us on their way to the summit of Emmons. They took a short break but then decided to keep moving past us as we were coming down and they were going towards Emmons. A bit later they all past us as they were moving towards Donaldson and out. We didn't know it then but we would meet the couple again later in the day. When we got over Donaldson we were beat and especially because of the storms there was no way we would attempt Seward this day. We would return yet another day to complete this range. The descent was a bit slippery because of all the rain and Paul actually slipped a couple of times. The descent always seems a bit longer to me than I remember but eventually we got back to the intersection with the overturned bucket and it was really down pouring at this point. This is where we met the couple from earlier between Donaldson and Emmons. They were walking towards us. The guy was smoking and they both appeared nervous and very frigidity. The guy asked "where we were headed" and I said "to the Corey's parking area". He then said we were headed the wrong direction. I asked where they were headed and he said to the Blueberry lean to. I said he was the one headed in the wrong direction. They had been that direction and had turned around and walked back to this point. It was raining but I asked if he had a map. He said he did and so I told him to get it out. After a little convincing with the help of the map I was able to convince him I was right and he was confused. The woman from behind his back held her hands together and mouthed the words "thank you". It is kind of scary to think of getting lost and especially if you are wet and cold. Any way after we set them straight I'm sure they got back to the lean to for the night. We continued walking the right direction and they passed us because the trail was slightly uphill and i was dragging now. When crossed the horse trail and then when we got to the truck trail we turned left for the last push towards the parking area. We arrived there at 5:30. The rain let up a bit at this point just enough for us to get into the truck and towel off a bit. I was soaked and shivering at this point so after a quick stop at Stewart's in Tupper Lake Nathan drove the rest of the way back to Speculator. All in all another good climb and excited to only have Seward, Cliff, Redfield, and Allen remaining!
We took a few pictures and then got back down as the rain, thunder, and lightning started at about 12:30. We did put on our lightweight rain gear and covered our packs so we would stay dry, we thought. I'll jump ahead a little to tell you that we all got soaked to the bone and even though the rain did let up a little in spots it basically down poured until we got back to Corey's at 5:30. As the lightning strikes started, and were quite close, Nathan went into his Deerfoot Lodge counselor mode and made all of us get off the mountain and off the trail and wait for the thunder to pass before he would let us move along. At this point we did have one single guy and one couple pass us on their way to the summit of Emmons. They took a short break but then decided to keep moving past us as we were coming down and they were going towards Emmons. A bit later they all past us as they were moving towards Donaldson and out. We didn't know it then but we would meet the couple again later in the day. When we got over Donaldson we were beat and especially because of the storms there was no way we would attempt Seward this day. We would return yet another day to complete this range. The descent was a bit slippery because of all the rain and Paul actually slipped a couple of times. The descent always seems a bit longer to me than I remember but eventually we got back to the intersection with the overturned bucket and it was really down pouring at this point. This is where we met the couple from earlier between Donaldson and Emmons. They were walking towards us. The guy was smoking and they both appeared nervous and very frigidity. The guy asked "where we were headed" and I said "to the Corey's parking area". He then said we were headed the wrong direction. I asked where they were headed and he said to the Blueberry lean to. I said he was the one headed in the wrong direction. They had been that direction and had turned around and walked back to this point. It was raining but I asked if he had a map. He said he did and so I told him to get it out. After a little convincing with the help of the map I was able to convince him I was right and he was confused. The woman from behind his back held her hands together and mouthed the words "thank you". It is kind of scary to think of getting lost and especially if you are wet and cold. Any way after we set them straight I'm sure they got back to the lean to for the night. We continued walking the right direction and they passed us because the trail was slightly uphill and i was dragging now. When crossed the horse trail and then when we got to the truck trail we turned left for the last push towards the parking area. We arrived there at 5:30. The rain let up a bit at this point just enough for us to get into the truck and towel off a bit. I was soaked and shivering at this point so after a quick stop at Stewart's in Tupper Lake Nathan drove the rest of the way back to Speculator. All in all another good climb and excited to only have Seward, Cliff, Redfield, and Allen remaining!
Donnaldson #41
Emmons #42
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