U
Unregistered
Guest
Cliff, Redfield and Gray
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ADKTC and I hiked in Thursday June 24th from Heart Lake going by way of Lake Arnold. Our plan was to stay two or three nights at the Feldspar lean-to and leave after bagging our mountains. We made pretty good time despite the weather and soon were at the washed out bridge a little upstream from the lean-to when it started to pour. Due to the rain, the stream was too high to rock hop so we had to take off our boots and take turns using the one pair of Teva's we had between us.
We arrived and set up at the lean-to. The next day was beautiful with clear blue skies. We set out for Cliff and Redfield first. In no time we were at the cairn on the trail which denotes the trailless path to those peaks by the Uphill Lean-to. We began our way and after another 2 tenths of a mile were at the next cairn which marks the split to Cliff and Redfield. This cairn has some rusted pieces of metal on top. We went right for Cliff at the Cairn. The way was pretty muddy due to the rains before, but we made good progress as the trail is in otherwise great shape. The path was obvious all the way to the summit sign. We had great views on this perfect day.
After a few pictures and snacks, we headed back down the mountain to the cairn and then went up Redfield. The trail is beautiful along the brook with many waterfalls and pools and great views. After a while, the trail is more or less in the brook. Eventually, the trail left the brook to the summit which again gave us great views.
Next, on to Gray. We made our way back down the mountain as we wanted to get to Gray on the same day in case the weather turned worse the following morning. At Lake Tear of the Clouds we found the cairn which marks the path to Gray. We made steady progress until we came to this big rock wall which presented a challenge for us. We were not sure if we were supposed to climb over this pretty steep rock area so we looked around and found an alternate root to the right of the wall which someone (probably the forty-sixers) had cut making it possible to avoid risking our lives. So we were happy to find the way and soon back on the trail and soon on the summit. We had great views of Marcy, Skylight and Lake Tear of the Clouds from the south facing rock that we took a break on.
We headed out the next day which by then the weather had turned worse. Just before reaching Heart Lake, it started to sprinkle a little off and on, but we made it to the car dry for the most part.
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ADKTC and I hiked in Thursday June 24th from Heart Lake going by way of Lake Arnold. Our plan was to stay two or three nights at the Feldspar lean-to and leave after bagging our mountains. We made pretty good time despite the weather and soon were at the washed out bridge a little upstream from the lean-to when it started to pour. Due to the rain, the stream was too high to rock hop so we had to take off our boots and take turns using the one pair of Teva's we had between us.
We arrived and set up at the lean-to. The next day was beautiful with clear blue skies. We set out for Cliff and Redfield first. In no time we were at the cairn on the trail which denotes the trailless path to those peaks by the Uphill Lean-to. We began our way and after another 2 tenths of a mile were at the next cairn which marks the split to Cliff and Redfield. This cairn has some rusted pieces of metal on top. We went right for Cliff at the Cairn. The way was pretty muddy due to the rains before, but we made good progress as the trail is in otherwise great shape. The path was obvious all the way to the summit sign. We had great views on this perfect day.
After a few pictures and snacks, we headed back down the mountain to the cairn and then went up Redfield. The trail is beautiful along the brook with many waterfalls and pools and great views. After a while, the trail is more or less in the brook. Eventually, the trail left the brook to the summit which again gave us great views.
Next, on to Gray. We made our way back down the mountain as we wanted to get to Gray on the same day in case the weather turned worse the following morning. At Lake Tear of the Clouds we found the cairn which marks the path to Gray. We made steady progress until we came to this big rock wall which presented a challenge for us. We were not sure if we were supposed to climb over this pretty steep rock area so we looked around and found an alternate root to the right of the wall which someone (probably the forty-sixers) had cut making it possible to avoid risking our lives. So we were happy to find the way and soon back on the trail and soon on the summit. We had great views of Marcy, Skylight and Lake Tear of the Clouds from the south facing rock that we took a break on.
We headed out the next day which by then the weather had turned worse. Just before reaching Heart Lake, it started to sprinkle a little off and on, but we made it to the car dry for the most part.
