Cliff has a bad rap!

So Saturday was the day we would hike Cliff. Over the past couple of years I have heard nothing but bad stories about this mountain. It's horrible, it's a mud bath, the blowdown is insane, people only climb it if they are going to climb them all, etc.

Simply put, we didn't find this to be the case at all.

We started from Upper Works and made it to Flowed Lands in just under 2 hours. We found a cool trail around the b ase of Flowed Lands, thus avoiding the rocky up and down. Just had to take our socks and boots off for the last 2 minutes to cross the stream.

We ate our first lunch at Uphill Brook lean-to at about 10:45 and then started for Cliff. We took the Redfield trail and then quickly turned on to the Cliff trail about a hundred yards in, per the trip report from adkhighpeaks.com (thank you Mavs). There was a little bit of mud but nothing as bad as I had thought and sure there was a TON of blowdown but the trail was really easy to follow. I wasn't huffing and puffing because it took a while to climb over the trees.

It took us about 1.5 hours to climb up to the summit where we stopped for about an hour to check out the AMAZING VIEWS... yes CLIFF has really GOOD views. From the top we easily saw Iroquois, Algonquin, Colden, Marcy, Redfield, and I think I may have seen Whiteface in the distance, somebody correct me if I'm wrong, I thought it was between Algonquin and Colden far off in the distance.

Anyways, it's a great climb, don't believe the hype. Pick a sunny day to do it though.

-Shayne

I agree,back in 2001 we climbed Cliff and Redfield from the Loj on a day trip,and found it very enjoyable.Besides going under and over some blowdowns from Floyd it was not bad at all.

I agree!

I did Cliff and Redfield on the fourth of July, which was a pretty nice day. just a bit before the Uphill lean-to I ran into a ranger who asked where I was headed, and when I told him , he cautioned me to allow plenty of extra time for Cliff, describing it as horrific, (even though he had never been there). I found the herd path easily and followed it without any problem to the summit. I did have to do the limbo a few times, but didn't think it was that bad. some decent views to be had also. I did get off the path on the way down and spent 20 minutes thrashing around in the thick stuff, but that was my own fault for not going back to where I got off the herdpath. Other than that , I thought it was a pretty good hike. I suppose if one is used to meticulously maintained, marked trails, Cliff may seem a bit of a pain. But compared to Scar Ridge (NE 100 Highest) its a walk in the park.

Cliff and even the Sewards get a bum rap when I have found them to be very rewarding hikes. The only hike I don't like in all of the Adirondacks is the approach on the trail to the Santanoni's, I really get sick of mud!

Thumbs up for Cliff!

Arm and I did Cliff and Redfield in a day from Feldspar last summer and thoroughly enjoyed both! We even got to meet a fellow VFTTer (RonandJon) on Redfield (BTW, where is that guy?)

Offhand I can't remember what I said in my trip report for Cliff, but I think it was something like it was difficult but not nearly as bad as others had led us to believe. I think I said the mountain had "character." There were also decent views on top, courtesy of Floyd. We did it in one long day from Upper Works. Raymond and family summited just as we were leaving the summit. Of course, time and hikers have worn a clearer path (still some head scratchers) and the edges off some of the blowdown, and I'm sure it was harder just after Floyd. Sherpa, RonandJon is alive and well...I've hiked a few times with him since your meeting. He hangs out some on ADKForum.

Perhaps my expectations were set so low that I was pleasantly surprised. I was expecting a lot of compass work.

I was really surprised to see a group of 20 going up that mountain just after us and we met 5 people at the summit!

I'm sure the fact that it was dry helped too. I was ready to come back looking like a mud monster. Instead I could smell that great fragrance of dry evergreens the whole way.


-Shayne

spaddock said:

Perhaps my expectations were set so low that I was pleasantly surprised. I was expecting a lot of compass work.
-Shayne

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Seems like every time I do a hike that is supposed to be "bad" it turns out to be no big deal. However, the last klick into Bradley Pond LT was bad. Luckily I didn't know it was supposed to be bad and went in april. Now that was bad.

Congrats on Cliff. How many left?

Neil said:

Seems like every time I do a hike that is supposed to be "bad" it turns out to be no big deal.

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Four left, getting closer!

The only "bad" hikes I've ever had have been on Seward and Allen. Both times I vastly underestimated the time and got back to camp around midnight!

Perhaps the lesson here is to start early and give yourself the best chance for success. With our 6:15am start we had lots of time to take worry free breaks. Had we started at 10am we probably would have had to motor and not had as much fun.

Hmmm, the last three trips I haven't needed my headlamp.... must be the long days...


-Shayne

I agree that the views are better than advertised, however, I am one who did not like the climb. I did it as a dayhike from the Loj, along with Gray. Of course, it was a rare 90 degree day up there and I was not all that pleased to be climbing up, under and through a jungle gym. I was tore up, cramped up and generally ornery when I got done with that hike.

But, yeah, it wasn't as tough as advertised. None of them are. Unless, the weather is bad, then all of them can have their own element of nastiness.

BTW was the summit sign still up?

Will I climb Cliff again? Probably. I need to have something to complain about

Silverback said:

BTW was the summit sign still up?

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The summit sign is there. A piece was cracked off of it. There was also a yellow disk up on a tree with "Cliff" written on it in marker.

Cliff & Gray would wear me out too.


-Shayne

Silverback said:

I agree that the views are better than advertised, however, I am one who did not like the climb. I did it as a dayhike from the Loj, along with Gray. Of course, it was a rare 90 degree day up there and I was not all that pleased to be climbing up, under and through a jungle gym. I was tore up, cramped up and generally ornery when I got done with that hike.

But, yeah, it wasn't as tough as advertised. None of them are. Unless, the weather is bad, then all of them can have their own element of nastiness.

BTW was the summit sign still up?

Will I climb Cliff again? Probably. I need to have something to complain about

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I guess I really didn't like the climb either...I just didn't think it was as bad as I thought it would be. In particular, route finding was much easier than expected. I did it in the winter also (from Flowed Lands). Others thought it was a piece of cake, but it was much harder than summer for me, as I've not had a lot of mountain climbing experience in winter. Still, not a bad hike. When I think of "bad" hiking, the first one that comes to mind is Marshall, when I went with a much-too-fast ADK group on a 90-degree summer day in June when the black flies were about as bad as they could ever be. The flies were so bad that filtering water was an issue - so I didn't, and was dehydrated. After falling into a mud wallow, I called it quits and turned around. We summited the following year with no problems.

I'll probably try Cliff again when the new trail is cut.

A bad day on Cliff is better than a good day at work!!!!

Thanks for the shout-out, Dick.

Cliff was Susan's least favorite (actually tied with Redfield, I think), and my initial climb of it (on September 12, 2001) was one of my toughest hikes.

I also thought the view was pretty good.

Anybody remember? Wasn't the sign originally on the opposite side of the summit clearing?

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