Cliff and Redfield Mountains
The 44'th and 15'th highest peak in New York State with elevations of 3,960 ft. and 4,606 ft.
Climbed with my son Joshua and Nathan on
Saturday 8-6-16. We got up and left Speculator after 5:15 am and drove to the Upper
Works parking lot in Newcomb, NY. The parking lot was almost full with only a
couple empty spots. We signed in at the trail register and set out at 6:45 AM.
We arrived at the David Henderson Monument at 8:40 AM.
After spending a few
minutes there at Calamity Brook we started out again. At the next water
crossing we opted for the suspension bridge. The water was low but bridges are
a little unusual so when we find one I like to take it. On the way back we
would just rock hop over this waterway.
We reached the lean-to and next trail
register at the flowed lands in a few minutes at 8:50 AM. This is a very
picturesque spot but we had to keep moving since we had a lot of miles yet
ahead of us.
We went left at the flowed lands and passed the cairn marking the
trail to Marshal at 9:15 AM. We climbed down the ladder to the lake Colden Dam
at 9:25 AM. We met a group of five there that were also headed to Cliff and
Redfield, three of who were planning to finish on Redfield.
They set out ahead
of us and Nathan suggested we stop here and take a snack break. I found this a
little peculiar because he never wants to stop but always wants to keep moving.
I would understand why on the Cliff summit.
There are a number of camp sites
and at least one lean-to in this vicinity. This would be a nice spot to return
to some time. At the next water crossing there was another suspension bridge
this one a bit older, longer, and bouncier that the previous one.
After this
crossing we passed the group of five and would not see them again until Cliff
Mountain. At this point we started to gain some elevation. We knew that the
heard path split was after the uphill lean-to so we expected to go up a bit. We
didn’t expect to descend again but you do give back some of the elevation gain
before you get to the lean-to. When we got close we smelt something like
perfume or deodorant right before we saw people. We had to laugh because Josh
said out loud “what is that smell” before we realized we were almost right on top
of the people who were the source of the smell. Almost immediately after that
we found the cairn marking the Cliff / Redfield path.
There was a couple
sitting on a log there that I recognized. I said “hey aren’t you the two we met
a couple weeks ago on Donnaldson and Emmons?” They said they were the ones
going the wrong way and had become disorientated in the rain that I had to convince
to turn around and head the same direction we were going. She thanked me again
and said I was their guiding angel that day. We then said our goodbyes and set
out toward Redfield at 10:35. The trail to the summit was much like Allen and
Marshal, it was alongside and somethings in the river.
The trail was unique and
really interesting to me. There were many waterfalls and pools along the way.
There were also several deep gorges that had been cut in the rock with much
water over many years.
We reached the Redfield summit at noon.
There were two
other guys there having lunch. The summit is mostly treed in but there is a
rock big enough for one person to climb up on the right side just before the
summit that has a vantage point for some good views of the Great Range.
As we
set out to descend another father and daughter summited. We headed back down a
little slowly because of the conditions and because Josh’s knees were really
bothering him.
We were back at the trail split at 1:40 PM. The trail to Cliff
was extremely muddy at the start. There were muddy spots all along this trail
but really muddy at the start.
We passed a group of three coming down Cliff
headed to Redfield. They said the ascent to Cliff wasn’t too bad just to be
careful on the three rock cliff sections and watch for hand holds and we would
be fine. In the end I didn’t much care for this climb and liked Redfield much
more. The distance was supposedly only 0.8 of a mile but you had to go over a
false peak so if felt like climbing two mountains to only get one. I hate false
peaks especially later in the day. The rock cliff sections were a little tricky
but not nearly as scary as the cliffs of Saddleback.
We met more people coming
down from Cliff than we had the rest of the day. Most people this day appeared
to do Cliff then Redfield the opposite of what we had done. We reached the
Cliff summit at 2:45 PM.
After pictures I went to move Nathan’s pack and could
not believe it was so heavy. He then proceeded to take out a whole watermelon
from the bottom of his pack that he had carried all day to celebrate my 46’th
peak. That explains why he was more interested in taking breaks and not going
his usual speed. After the best tasting watermelon of our lives we headed down.
We passed a few more hikers on the way down and were back at the heard path split
at 4:10. From here it was one section of up just past the uphill lean-to and
then mostly down until we got to the flowed lands. Along the way were some nice
river waterfalls that Nathan took advantage of for a quick waterfall shower and
swim in a cool clear pool. This was the first time I saw the advantage he had
in hiking in sandals. No socks or boots to contend with just take off your
shirt and jump into the river with your sandals on.
The hike back out wasn’t
too tough but it was very long.
We finally arrived back at the Upper Works
parking lot and signed out at 7:30 PM. All in all a great day to finish and
almost 20 miles in 12.75 hours. On the way back to Speculator we stopped for
dinner at Basil & Wick’s Restaurant in North Creek, NY. After dinner we
stopped at Stewarts across the street for our traditional coffee shakes for the
drive home. It has been a great experience over these past five years hiking
the 46 High Peaks. It was personally the hardest physical thing I have accomplished
in my life. I have many pleasant memories of friends I experienced it with, people
I met, and things I have seen along the way.
The End.
Or is it???
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