Afternoon Run

Morning Weight Training

Mobility Core Stretch Flow

Non stop pow laps @ TheFace w City 💥

https://fastestknowntime.com/fkt/len-anderson-seven-summits-sewards-and-santanonis-ny-2025-08-01

Report: 

I did the traverse from Bradley Pond trailhead rather than from Corey's road as the plan was to
camp somewhere near Lake Clear afterward. I'll also note, I took the blueberry trail at the end
and not the horse trail cut-over, but the blueberry trail actually adds 0.2 mi so this would not
shave any time off.
The day started out a bit daunting with the terrain and miles ahead. Conditions going into
Santas weren't the muddiest, just the usual wet/bog areas. Saw a few folks on Santanoni Peak
and that would be the last summit I shared for the day. In true ADK fashion I sunk my left leg in
the Couch bog on the way there and sunk both legs past my knees on the way back. Thank
goodness for trail running shoes' ability to vent water! I saw a few hikers on my way back to
Time Square that I had seen earlier and they noted ‘You survived the bog!’
, but they didn’t
realize how many bogs were still ahead.
Took a nice break on Panther and soaked in the views of the Seward range. I knew I had about
a 10 mile stretch until reaching the next range so it was time to harden the mental bearings and
trudge onward. On my way down Panther brook, I filtered a couple liters to top off the bladder
and added a few scoops of Tailwind. I dunked my hat and splashed some water on my arms
and head to cool the body down and continued on my way to Bradley Pond.
I had never taken the Bradley Pond trail to Duck Hole so this section was curious. The trail
started off pretty wet and boggy with a few floating logs. Eventually I started to parallel a brook
and the forest transformed into Gnome haven. The forest floor was covered in moss and fauna
galore, it felt more untainted by humanity than many areas I've been in the ADKs. Once I
reached Duck Hole, I crossed over a degraded dam/bridge and looked across the wetland and
its massive expanse, a truly impressive wilderness area. The NPT section of trail was fairly
runnable and easy going which felt nice after coming off the Santa range.
Next up was Ward brook truck trail. I had done the other side of this trail and expected it to be
fairly smooth and it mostly was with the exception of a mandatory bog crossing. I reached a
large wet land area with tire tracks going through the center, expecting to see a way around or
some sort of bridge, but quickly realized the only way across was straight through. There were a
few floating logs but mainly this involved trudging through about a foot of water and muck, which
would be a no go in hiking boots.
At about 3:55pm I hit the Seymour herd path and was ready to finally start climbing again.
Though this climb is technical and demanding it seemed to go by relatively quickly and before I
knew it I was closing in on the summit with the panoramic ledge I had been thinking about
taking a break on. At this point, the day was feeling much less daunting and more attainable, a
nice morale boost. I saw one guy headed up Seymour on my way down which came as a
surprise due to the time of day.
At about 5:50pm I started up the Seward herd path. I stopped early into the climb to filter
another liter at the brook and changed out the water and bog-ridden socks I had been in for 25
miles. This climb though less technical and more gradual, seemed to wear on for a while. I had
been popping salt tabs before any of the big climbs which seemed to help prevent any
cramping. When I finally reached Seward summit sign, I felt a massive weight lift from my
shoulders as I knew all I had to do was get to Emmons and then down to the trailhead, this
seemed like an easy task compared to what was behind me.
As the sun started to set I made my way to Donaldson, a fairly pleasant section of trail with no
big climbs. On the backside of Donaldson I enjoyed a beer and the glowing sunset as I had hit
my 6th peak of the day. Heading over to Emmons proved to be a slow mile with plenty of
obstacles. Since sinking my legs in Couch bog wasn’t quite enough, shortly after leaving
Donaldson I sunk both legs in a nice green slimy bog! I tagged the Emmons summit sign and
went to the vista just below the true summit to watch the sun disappear behind the mountains, a
perfect ending to a perfect day.
It was about 8:34pm when I left Emmons and time for the headlamp to make an appearance.
The section back to Donaldson seemed to go a bit quicker than on the way there and I made it
to the Caulkins brook junction by 8:55pm for the final descent of the day. The first 1.5 mi down
Caulkins brook seemed slow due to reducing pace in the dark. Once on the horse trail it was
home stretch, I popped a fig bar, sucked down more tailwind and just jogged it out to Blueberry
trail and to the trail head. I actually beat Bec to the trailhead which was a nice bonus.
To finish up the day we had pizza, wings, and craft beer next to a beautiful camp fire on Little
Green Pond. This was a fantastic and epic route with many filtering, camping, and summit
opportunities.
Cheers to the Santanonis and Sewards!!!

Top Sports

Len A

Seven Summits of Sewards n Santas FKT (one-way)

11 Comments

Splits

Sign up to view more activities from Len A

Afternoon Run

Morning Weight Training

Afternoon Run

Mobility Core Stretch Flow

Non stop pow laps @ TheFace w City 💥

Want to see more?

The #1 app for runners and cyclists

Sign Up for Free. Track your progress and reach goals. Join 100 million active people on Strava.

See More from Len