Our trip on the Seward Range was planned as an out-and-back climb, leaving Seymour out for another time; due to our general lack of physical fitness and also a lack of desire to make it a multi-day trip. It’s worth noting that most people we encountered were camping overnight, and the 13+ hours we spent on the trail was pretty brutal. If you’re going for all 4, we’d recommend camping over night.

We took the loop counter-clockwise, heading to Donaldson first, then Emmons, back to Donaldson, over to Seward and then out on the Blueberry Trail. It’s worth noting that both sides of Seward are the hardest part of this hike; if you prefer to get it out of the way first, you should go up the loop clockwise. Our total distance was around 16 Miles, but felt like a whole lot more.

This trail really is a tough one, and people online describe specific parts of it as being extremely steep or difficult. I would say this is a bit of an exaggeration, but the trail is genuinely relentless; the issue is less that “the far side of Seward is extremely steep” and more that “the far side of Seward is pretty steep consistently for over a mile without much of break at all.”

• Although there is a pretty decently sized parking lot here, it tends to be full on the weekends since lots of people in this area are camping overnight.
• This trail can be quite muddy, but we did it on a hot summer day, so the trail was pretty manageable. Be on the lookout for weather and trail conditions, I imagine this being a whole lot worser right after a heavy rain.
• The Blueberry Trail is LONG, be prepared for it if you’re coming in or going out on it.
• Fresh and filterable water is present on both sides of the loop, but nowhere between the mountains on the range.