DSettahr
Active member
- Joined
- Apr 23, 2005
- Messages
- 981
- Reaction score
- 142
Pictures Here
My friend Anna is definitely a trooper... she is just getting into hiking in New York, and has climbed few peaks here. I, however, had completed many of the trailed Catskill High Peaks, and am starting on knocking off many of the trailless ones... and she has graciously accompanied me already on Kaaterskill and Halcott, and now Rusk, as some of her first Catskill High Peaks. Quite an introduction. At least if she decides to pursue the rest of the High Peaks, she'll have some of the harder ones out of the way already.
We had originally planned on climbing Rusk, Hunter, and Leavitt all in one day, but a late start from Albany and having already hiked the previous two days convinced us to just take it easy and climb only Rusk.
The road in to the start of the bushwhack is in excellent shape, and you can't miss the switchback where the bushwhack traditionally starts. There's also a small cairn a few feet off in the woods to further affirm that you are leaving the trail in the correct location.
As bushwhacks go, this one was straightforward, second only in ease to Fir in comparison to the other Catskill High Peaks I've bushwhacked so far. Never very steep, never too much talus, never any significant blowdown. We immediately crossed the small stream coming down from the north, and headed straight up the drainage. We never saw any sign of the herd path shown on the Venture Out Catskills map, but the going was easy and straightforward. Some small nettles, but as we gained elevation, a lot of the herbaceous plants and even some of the woody ones started to show signs of frost damage- I wonder if this will hinder the growth of nettles this season?
Near the top of the ridge, we encountered a couple of rock ledges, but these were easily negotiated. On the top of the ridge, we turned left (west) and followed the height of land. There is a very faint herd path that runs along the ridge line, fairly obvious in some areas but impossible to follow in others. Following the ridge is a game of hide and seek with the herd path, which seems to come and go. Generally, the farther west you are and the closer you are the summit of Rusk, the more well-defined it becomes. There were a couple more ledges below the summit, but these two were easily negotiated. The first one can simply be walked around by tracking right (north) and the second one is easily scaled. We were soon on the summit. I never even pulled out my compass once to check our direction of travel; it was pretty simply: Just climb up to the top of the ridge, take a left, and continue to the summit.
After lunch, we continued back east along the ridge. Rather that continue back due south down the drainage we climbed up, we decided to continue east all the way over East Rusk and down to where the trail/road up Hunter Mountain crests the ridge. In retrospect, I cannot emphasize this enough: Do not climb Rusk this way. Do not even descend Rusk this way if you intend to climb Hunter immediately after. While not by far the worst bushwhacking I've ever done, it was bad enough that you'd almost certainly summit Hunter faster if you descended straight back to the switchback and continued up the trail, despite the added distance and elevation loss. For sure, the ascent of Rusk is much easier when made directly from the switchback.
The faint herd path continues over to East Rusk, where we lost it in the tangle of evergreens and downed trees. We did find a blue bandanna, evidence of others who've made the same mistake we did. The going was slow and not easy over East Rusk. Lots of dense thick evergreen stands, and some blowdown to hamper our travel. We also encountered some large ledges further east once we were back in the deciduous forest, which took us a little bit of time to negotiate and find a way to descend past safely.
Eventually, after what took a lot longer that it seemed like it should have, we were back on the trail. The going from here back to the trailhead was quite easy, and we were soon back in the car returning to Albany.
The blackflies were definitely out, but not a nuisance at all. I swatted a couple during the day, but they mostly left us alone.
My friend Anna is definitely a trooper... she is just getting into hiking in New York, and has climbed few peaks here. I, however, had completed many of the trailed Catskill High Peaks, and am starting on knocking off many of the trailless ones... and she has graciously accompanied me already on Kaaterskill and Halcott, and now Rusk, as some of her first Catskill High Peaks. Quite an introduction. At least if she decides to pursue the rest of the High Peaks, she'll have some of the harder ones out of the way already.
We had originally planned on climbing Rusk, Hunter, and Leavitt all in one day, but a late start from Albany and having already hiked the previous two days convinced us to just take it easy and climb only Rusk.
The road in to the start of the bushwhack is in excellent shape, and you can't miss the switchback where the bushwhack traditionally starts. There's also a small cairn a few feet off in the woods to further affirm that you are leaving the trail in the correct location.
As bushwhacks go, this one was straightforward, second only in ease to Fir in comparison to the other Catskill High Peaks I've bushwhacked so far. Never very steep, never too much talus, never any significant blowdown. We immediately crossed the small stream coming down from the north, and headed straight up the drainage. We never saw any sign of the herd path shown on the Venture Out Catskills map, but the going was easy and straightforward. Some small nettles, but as we gained elevation, a lot of the herbaceous plants and even some of the woody ones started to show signs of frost damage- I wonder if this will hinder the growth of nettles this season?
Near the top of the ridge, we encountered a couple of rock ledges, but these were easily negotiated. On the top of the ridge, we turned left (west) and followed the height of land. There is a very faint herd path that runs along the ridge line, fairly obvious in some areas but impossible to follow in others. Following the ridge is a game of hide and seek with the herd path, which seems to come and go. Generally, the farther west you are and the closer you are the summit of Rusk, the more well-defined it becomes. There were a couple more ledges below the summit, but these two were easily negotiated. The first one can simply be walked around by tracking right (north) and the second one is easily scaled. We were soon on the summit. I never even pulled out my compass once to check our direction of travel; it was pretty simply: Just climb up to the top of the ridge, take a left, and continue to the summit.
After lunch, we continued back east along the ridge. Rather that continue back due south down the drainage we climbed up, we decided to continue east all the way over East Rusk and down to where the trail/road up Hunter Mountain crests the ridge. In retrospect, I cannot emphasize this enough: Do not climb Rusk this way. Do not even descend Rusk this way if you intend to climb Hunter immediately after. While not by far the worst bushwhacking I've ever done, it was bad enough that you'd almost certainly summit Hunter faster if you descended straight back to the switchback and continued up the trail, despite the added distance and elevation loss. For sure, the ascent of Rusk is much easier when made directly from the switchback.
The faint herd path continues over to East Rusk, where we lost it in the tangle of evergreens and downed trees. We did find a blue bandanna, evidence of others who've made the same mistake we did. The going was slow and not easy over East Rusk. Lots of dense thick evergreen stands, and some blowdown to hamper our travel. We also encountered some large ledges further east once we were back in the deciduous forest, which took us a little bit of time to negotiate and find a way to descend past safely.
Eventually, after what took a lot longer that it seemed like it should have, we were back on the trail. The going from here back to the trailhead was quite easy, and we were soon back in the car returning to Albany.
The blackflies were definitely out, but not a nuisance at all. I swatted a couple during the day, but they mostly left us alone.
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