It was a long day.  We started in spikes as the trail looked thin at the start and expected to run into more open spaces.  It was a bad choice as it was soft enough that we were making divots in the trail and not really gaining much speed wise.  About 1/2 way down the Calkins Brook Truck Trail we switched to snowshoes.  After that it wasn't bad.

At this moment, I have 19 high peaks left to complete my winter round of 46.  I went out on the first day of winter and got Colden, and found that winter hiking is what I remember, and did better than I expected on the hike.  That is good because I have a bunch of long hikes ahead of me.  At the moment, this is what I have left, and my concerns on each of the hikes.

This weekend, I did the Seward Range, the 4 furthest most west high peaks.  This area is actually slightly familiar to me as I worked at a summer camp not far from there when I was in my teens.  I also had hiked Ampersand mountain, which is just north of the Sewards, when I was 12, camping at that scout camp my first time.  These being the furthest west, that also meant they took about 3 hours for me to reach, unlike everything else I've done that has been 2-2.5 hours.  I went up via Indian Lake, Blue Mountain Lake, Long Lake and Tupper Lake, the latter 3 being tourist a

This coming weekend, I'll be doing the Sewards.  Here I will be parking at the end of Coreys road, and hike about 4.5 miles in to set up camp on Friday afternoon.  Saturday, I will then go up Seward (4361', #24), Donaldson (4140', #33) and Emmons (4040', #40) then back over Donaldson and Seward for an 8.4 mile hike.  Alternatively, as the descent is easier than going down Seward per reviews, I may go back up Donaldson, and then go down the trail there and around, making it at 13 mile day (most on relatively flat land).  This is the loop shown on the map below.  Sund