elhefe007a
New member
Pictures and all that good stuff at:
http://www.forthoseabouttorock.net/climb/adk/RedfieldCliff/RedfieldCliff.html
Little late start than what I was hoping, I reached the Upper Works parking lot at 7:45 and was on the trail at a little after 8:00. Only one other person had signed in for the day at this point, although as I was getting ready, someone else had pulled in. I believe he said he was headed for Marshall.
The trail was fairly muddy, but nothing compared to other places in the ADK's (Bradley Pond Trail for example). At Flowed Lands I ran into a group camping, the first people I had seen in the woods. Excellent trail from there to Lake Colden, my first time there. From Lake Colden to Uphill Brook, I passed a group of backpackers heading up. As I approached the Uphill Brook Lean-To, I noticed the trail markers changed from Red to Yellow. This is where the old Twin Brook trail (and the current path to Cliff) intersects, marked with a Cairn. This is only about 100 yards from the Redfield herdpath. At the Lean-to, I had a quick snack and water break. 7.4 miles in at this point. From here, almost directly accross the main trail from the side trail to the Lean-to, the herd path to Redfield starts.
The Redfield Lean-to is in great shape, and one of the nicest climbs I've ever seen. The brook that you follow for part of the way is amazing. On a negative note, I saw a snake, not my favorite things in the world. The climb up Redfield isn't difficult, it's just a constant uphill to the summit, with great views on the way up, and when you reach the top. I could easily see people on Skylight and Marcy. On the way down, I passed by a father/son combo climbing up.
I took another quick break at the Uphill Brook lean-to, and then started up Cliff. All I can say is, what a f'n disaster this herd path is. One of the toughest climbs I have done, Cliff really took it to me. The bottom part is complete boot sucking mud (which you can skip around, I'll get to that after). As you continue up the Twin Brook trail, you'll reach a cairn marking a path to the right. (The first of two). Take the first one, it's a more direct and cut route to the cliffs. After climbing through lots of blowdown, and trying to stay on the path as best as possible, you start climbing some near vertical cliffs all the way to the top of the false summit. The entire way, is blowdown blowdown and more blowdown. Once you reach the flatish top of the false summit, you just start running into walls of tree's, where herd paths just splinter all over the place. It's not too bad to follow through it all, and eventually you descend the false summit to the col, and climb back to real summit, which is marked by the broken sign. I took a couple picture, swore for the 100000 time on the way up, and started heading down.
As I climbed back up to the false summit, I ran into a huge blowdown field, with no path to be seen going around it. I could see some marks where people had gone over it, I took a quick bearing and started climbing over it all. After a bit, I reached the main herd path, and started heading down. Next thing I knew, I was back in the col between the false summit and main summit...damn you Cliff! Stupid me, I didn't recheck my bearings. So I tried it again, this time made it succesfully, and started dropping down the Cliffs. Once I got down, I again picked a different herdpath, and ended up at a second cairn on the twin brook trail, a little farther up from the first one I turned on. Also, as you reach the very muddy section, you will see some flagging on the right, follow this and it leads you to the Redfield herdpath, where you can bypass the majority of the mud.
Final thoughts - Cliff is a tough tough mountain. Lots of swearing, some spilled blood, lots of bruises and soreness. I would recomend long pants or gaiters (I wore gaiters). Definatly some headwear, at least a baseball cap to deflect getting stabbed in the head. Once I was finished, I was already sore, and I knew the last 7.4 miles was going to be rough.
#85 and #86 on the NE111, and #25 and #26 on the ADK46.
http://www.forthoseabouttorock.net/climb/adk/RedfieldCliff/RedfieldCliff.html
Little late start than what I was hoping, I reached the Upper Works parking lot at 7:45 and was on the trail at a little after 8:00. Only one other person had signed in for the day at this point, although as I was getting ready, someone else had pulled in. I believe he said he was headed for Marshall.
The trail was fairly muddy, but nothing compared to other places in the ADK's (Bradley Pond Trail for example). At Flowed Lands I ran into a group camping, the first people I had seen in the woods. Excellent trail from there to Lake Colden, my first time there. From Lake Colden to Uphill Brook, I passed a group of backpackers heading up. As I approached the Uphill Brook Lean-To, I noticed the trail markers changed from Red to Yellow. This is where the old Twin Brook trail (and the current path to Cliff) intersects, marked with a Cairn. This is only about 100 yards from the Redfield herdpath. At the Lean-to, I had a quick snack and water break. 7.4 miles in at this point. From here, almost directly accross the main trail from the side trail to the Lean-to, the herd path to Redfield starts.
The Redfield Lean-to is in great shape, and one of the nicest climbs I've ever seen. The brook that you follow for part of the way is amazing. On a negative note, I saw a snake, not my favorite things in the world. The climb up Redfield isn't difficult, it's just a constant uphill to the summit, with great views on the way up, and when you reach the top. I could easily see people on Skylight and Marcy. On the way down, I passed by a father/son combo climbing up.
I took another quick break at the Uphill Brook lean-to, and then started up Cliff. All I can say is, what a f'n disaster this herd path is. One of the toughest climbs I have done, Cliff really took it to me. The bottom part is complete boot sucking mud (which you can skip around, I'll get to that after). As you continue up the Twin Brook trail, you'll reach a cairn marking a path to the right. (The first of two). Take the first one, it's a more direct and cut route to the cliffs. After climbing through lots of blowdown, and trying to stay on the path as best as possible, you start climbing some near vertical cliffs all the way to the top of the false summit. The entire way, is blowdown blowdown and more blowdown. Once you reach the flatish top of the false summit, you just start running into walls of tree's, where herd paths just splinter all over the place. It's not too bad to follow through it all, and eventually you descend the false summit to the col, and climb back to real summit, which is marked by the broken sign. I took a couple picture, swore for the 100000 time on the way up, and started heading down.
As I climbed back up to the false summit, I ran into a huge blowdown field, with no path to be seen going around it. I could see some marks where people had gone over it, I took a quick bearing and started climbing over it all. After a bit, I reached the main herd path, and started heading down. Next thing I knew, I was back in the col between the false summit and main summit...damn you Cliff! Stupid me, I didn't recheck my bearings. So I tried it again, this time made it succesfully, and started dropping down the Cliffs. Once I got down, I again picked a different herdpath, and ended up at a second cairn on the twin brook trail, a little farther up from the first one I turned on. Also, as you reach the very muddy section, you will see some flagging on the right, follow this and it leads you to the Redfield herdpath, where you can bypass the majority of the mud.
Final thoughts - Cliff is a tough tough mountain. Lots of swearing, some spilled blood, lots of bruises and soreness. I would recomend long pants or gaiters (I wore gaiters). Definatly some headwear, at least a baseball cap to deflect getting stabbed in the head. Once I was finished, I was already sore, and I knew the last 7.4 miles was going to be rough.
#85 and #86 on the NE111, and #25 and #26 on the ADK46.
