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Climbing Mt. Redfield this past Saturday was for us a last minute decision, and we almost postponed. We were aware of the possibly serious weather forecasted for the weekend, but Saturday’s prediction seemed to be looking OK (cloudy AM, gradually clearing to partly sunny). As it turned out, the weather was picture perfect and sunny most of the day, and didn’t cloud up until later in the afternoon. Having recovered from our 17+ mile dayhike to Cliff five days earlier, we felt charged up and started making good time – until just past the second crossing of Calamity Brook. From that point on, most of the trail was almost nothing but muck and flowing water (the Henderson monument, though located in a section of the trail that is normally boggy, has been virtually inaccessible this summer). Similar conditions were found on the stretch between Flowed Lands and Colden Dam, and from Colden to Uphill Lean-to. What a difference five days and some rain makes! Of course, Joanne had to stop to take a picture of every flume going up the Opalescent, so that slowed us down even more (but the shots were worth it!). We encountered a noticeable difference in the trail conditions once we got onto the Redfield path, the first part of which was soft, dry footing on a path that was cleared amazingly well by the 46ers, who did a superb job! (ALERT: MINOR WHINE FOLLOWS): So many people reported how easy Redfield was, that we were expecting a quick walk in the park. On the contrary, we thought this was one tough mountain, though perhaps the 17+ mile dayhike to Cliff, which we had done only days before, took its toll. However, I can only imagine how it must have been before the trailwork! Once the trail approaches Uphill Brook, the character changes significantly, and the next third or more of the path is spent weaving in and out of the brook. The stretches that were in the brook went quickly. Although the brook was flowing quickly, the rocks and slabs gripped well under foot, unlike Allen Brook’s rocks, for example. Of course, we didn’t know this going up, so we were more cautious ascending. Cairns and ribbons guide hikers most of the way, so it’s hard to get lost. Eventually the brook peters out and it becomes your “usual†steep winding herdpath, reminding us of the final climb to Marshall. The summit views are mostly south, and we found them to be stunning. Front and center was Allen, in all of its glory. Closer and just to the right of Allen is a nice pond, which is un-named on my map (maybe someone can identify it for me?). The mountains closer and to the left of Allen appeared to be McDonnel and Little Nippletop. There is a nice sittin’ rock near the summit, which we tried to share with gear. It’s big enough for two, but if anything falls off the south edge, kiss it goodbye. Descent was uneventful, though considerably faster (unlike many of our hikes), as there were no real ledges to negotiate. We were surprised to meet so many people on this mountain. There was a group of three and two solo hikers while ascending. One of the solo hikers flew by us, but we never saw him again, leading us to wonder where he might have gone. Descending, we met a party of two and a party of three. One in this last group of three women concurred that Redfield was not an easy hike – and they were only half-way up. Descending, we were amazed to find the entire Colden Dam and Flowed Lands area, on such a nice Saturday, virtually deserted. No doubt Hurricane Charlie kept folks away. An eerie feeling. We crawled out of the woods at just about sunset. Two more to go! 
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