rusk trail

[Adk_dib]

Is the rusk trail obvious? book says sfter crossing a steam trail turns sharp right and a old road goes straight. Is this the trail to rusk? I want to do the loop of rusk, hunter and sw hunter. Also where is the sw hunter trail and is it obvious. Do rusk and sw hunter have summit signs?

 

[MattC]

I don't know of any reliable herd path on Rusk, although there are old roads in the area. What I've always done is to follow the Spruceton Trail (jeep road/horse trail) up to the switchback and then take compass bearing for Rusk. I don't aim directly for the summit, but rather for the ridge a little east, climb to the ridge, then traverse over to the summit. Then you can follow the ridge back over towards Hunter, descend on the Hunter Mt. Trail and head to SW Hunter.

The herd path to SW Hunter is an old rail grade that follows a contour, then you have to climb a little ways up to the summit. I would highly recommend returning to the Devils Path to descend from SW Hunter. Descending down to Diamond Notch off-trail can be rough during leafout season.

No signs on any Catskill peaks except West Kill. About 14 of the trailless peaks have canisters, including Rusk and SW Hunter. Nettles will likely be an issue on the lower parts of Rusk, especially in wet areas. The higher ridges shouldn't be much of a problem, although the aforementioned leafout will make orienteering more difficult than it would be in the winter or late fall.

Matt

 

[imarchant]

There is no trail to rusk. The turn off point at the turn in the trail/road is obvious, but there is no true herd path.

Edit: I see Matt beat me to the answer

 

[Mark Schaefer]

SW Hunter (Leavitt Peak)

Some SW Hunter herd path details. It begins from the Devil's Path, about 0.2 mile west of the lean-to, at a flat height of land. There may or may not be a cairn depending on whether the cairn busters or builders were last there. I have seen these GPS coordinates posted in other threads for the junction:

N42.16702, W74.23378​

They look correct and are depicted at the center cross on the following topo map:
http://mapper.acme.com/?ll=42.16702,-74.23378&z=15&t=T

Perhaps another clue. The last time I was there (September 2004) I noticed that the red trail markers on a tree just west of the rail bed had faded to near yellow. Also there is a another path a short distance further west off the Devil's Path that dead ends at some marginally legal camp sites (3500'). If you find yourself at such a spot, return to the Devil's Path and look again a bit to the east.

Follow the sometimes overgrown, rail bed for about 0.5 mile. Initially it heads south, but soon gently curves on a level contour to the west. After the half mile on the rail bed the herd path turns left and climbs up a small drainage. I have heard there is a tree with an "H" carved into the trunk at the turn off. There may or may not be a cairn. The climb up the drainage gains most of the last 200' elevation to the flat summit area. The path meanders a bit but does lead to the canister. You may need to do some searching as side paths may lead in multiple directions. It can be one of the more challenging canisters to find. But you may also find it easily.

 

[Mark Schaefer]

SW Hunter rail bed map

Remembered another item. One of the members over at the adkhighpeaks forum is the mapmaker of the Venture Out Catskill map, and is preparing an updated and improved 2008 version. To give proper credit; a link to a draft SW Hunter area map was posted here. More easily, here is the map link (click the map to show full size):
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y9/beav700/HUNTER.jpg

 

[halia and flammeus]

Flammeus and I did Rusk a few weeks ago. There is no herd path for most of the way up. We managed to find a great herd path through the cliffs. Once atop the cliffs, the herd path is well defined and leads straight to the canister.

We did SW Hunter last year and, as our first cannister, came away from the experience thinking "Cool! Bushwhacking is easy!" That herd path was marked by a cairn (Mark S. has the location directions covered), and the description in the Catskills Trails book (edited by the Whites) was accurate. It got us there.

Beware of nettles! Rusk will have plenty by now.

 

[mtnbound]

The cairn to SW Hunter was there on Saturday 6/21 and the path was pretty easy to follow.

 

[Tom Rankin]

The cairn to SW Hunter was there on Saturday 6/21 and the path was pretty easy to follow.

Were you on BLM this weekend?

 

[mtnbound]

no- we just did SW Hunter and Hunter starting at the eastern most trailhead on CR 6. We went counterclockwise up DN > DP and shortly before leanto we bushwacked SW to SW Hunter Summit than back to DP trail > HU > SP back to cars.. It was a beautiful day!

 

[Tom Rankin]

no- we just did SW Hunter and Hunter starting at the eastern most trailhead on CR 6. We went counterclockwise up DN > DP and shortly before leanto we bushwacked SW to SW Hunter Summit than back to DP trail > HU > SP back to cars.. It was a beautiful day!

Ok, there were 3 people from Hopewell up there this past weekend!

 

[mtnbound]

small world- we had thought about doing Rusk on the way back down but instead went to Skytop for apres-hike beers.

 

[Tom Rankin]

small world- we had thought about doing Rusk on the way back down but instead went to Skytop for apres-hike beers.

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