July 4, 2012 - Mount Redfield & Cliff Mountain

After a great night's sleep at Rick and Jenn's house, Jack and Rich put on our wet boots and drove back to the Upper Works to launch our assault on another set of challenging peaks.  Our objectives were Mount Redfield and Cliff Mountain; but if we had enough energy and daylight, we would also try Mount Marshall.  Aside from the wet feet, the early going was pretty easy and neither of us were too sore from the previous day's adventure.  We made it to the David Henderson memorial at Calamity Pond in well under two hours.

We didn't have a lot of sun which helped with the heat, but we did hear periodic rumbles of thunder off in the distance.  There were surprisingly few hikers on the trails given that it was a holiday, and all the lean-tos we passed were empty.  We stopped for a snack near the Flowed Lands, and made continued good time to Colden Dam. 

Once we reached the dam, the sun started to break through and we had a spectacular hike in the direction of Mount Marcy along the Opalescent River.  We were using an old guide book, so we were a little unsure where to find the juncture for the trails to Redfield and Cliff.  Jack had read that it might be the same point, so we were practicing with our new GPS and compass to see if we could find it, which we did with little trouble.  In fact, we were making such good time that Jack felt confident that Marshall was still a possibility.

The climb up Redfield was a little more rugged than we had hoped, and it took us a lot more time than planned.  We did spot a ferret on the trail, as well as a number of bright orange salamanders.  Once we reached the peak, we had a leisurely lunch and enjoyed a great view of Allen (our previous day's conquest).  Rather than continue to push ourselves, we decided at that point to slow it down and save Marshall for another day.

 Back at the juncture of the Redfield and Cliff trails, we met a hiker coming down from Cliff that gave us pointers on reaching that summit; basically, very wet and very steep.  In exchange, we gave him some advice on what to expect on Allen, since he planned to try that peak the next day.  We made it up the cliffs on Cliff much faster than the hour predicted by our new hiker friend, but we were both becoming extremely fatigued on the descent. 

We paused briefly at the cairn marking the trail to Marshall, but we didn't have nearly enough energy or daylight to pull it off.  Despite our sore legs and feet, we made great time on the five miles back to the car.  For good measure, the last mile was in fairly heavy rain (just to make sure everything was soaked).  Walking into the parking lot as the sun was setting, we could see from the trail register that we were the last group expected out that day.  Sadly, the battery on the car was dead, but that is another story.

The long hike was 19 miles in about 11:15.  Thirty-five High Peaks down; 11 to go.