"Seven of us rendezvoused at the end of Gillespie road for an off trail loop of Roundtop and KHP. As usual we did see a variety of blue blazes of the old trail on our way up to the cairn marking the summit of Roundtop. Down to the small view looking toward KHP, that was the inspiration for Thomas Cole’s famous painting, then dropped straight down and eventually pickup a herd path. After signing into the canister on KHP we dropped down to the plane crash site, for some folks to see it for the first time, then down to the small view out toward the Hudson River. Back up to Hurricane ledge for a lengthy lunch break in the sunshine, quite nap inducing. A final whack brought us back to the cars by 1:30 and only 5 miles under our feet so I had time for a solo romp up Rusk mountain that I need for the month of May. Feeling frisky and using a herd path for efficiency I was able to put in a round trip hike, after a short chat with a friend in the PA, in under two hours. Unfortunately the time I saved was spent an hour later changing a punctured rear tire to a “donut” spare tire in the parking lot of Kenco outdoor store. Plus driving only 50 mph the rest of the way home was both tedious a..." — Nimblefoot • May 17, 2024

"A twosie of Halcott to close the month of April for my 5th grid and Rusk just to make a fuller day. Four hours of driving and four hours of hiking not something I want to make a regular habit of, prefer a 2:1 of hiking to driving. The forecasted showers never materialized though there was a mix of clouds and blue sky/sun with short periods of total cloud cover. A bit on the humid side but the clouds and slight breeze kept things comfortable. Red trilliums, trout lillies and Dutchman’s breeches are all popping out along with those dreaded black flies." — Nimblefoot • Apr 30, 2024

"A loop of the two Hunters and Rusk after clearing two small blowdowns on my adopted section of the Diamond Notch trail. Getting some peaks for a winter round before the “Big Storm” comes in a day or two. Overnight flurries that continued into the early AM put a dusting of snow on the ground hiding the various ice patches leading to micro spikes going on and off all day. Wonderful day looking like a winter wonderland on the ground and blue patches with bright sun in the sky." — Nimblefoot • Jan 5, 2024

"Sherri and I joined Richard in getting his last three peaks to close out the month of December for his grid. Beautiful day in the winter wonderland with snow still hanging on the trees. Fortunately all trails and the rail bed/herd path to SWH were broken out making for work for us. The knuckleheads who broke a track over East Rusk to Rusk and down to the Spruceton trail need to improve their game in trail braking. It was great that they did it but they plowed through stuff that was totally unnecessary and missed the entire herd path coming off of Rusk. Great day of laughs, giggles and the occasional slip and fall that we labeled as performance art in the slippery powdery snow." — Nimblefoot • Dec 13, 2023

"Three peaks for the month of November. Chilly morning start of 29* with a dusting of snow on the ground that would disappear as the day warmed up to the low 40’s. A quick stroll up to the tower on BLM first followed by a climb of Rusk and Halcott in the afternoon. Almost decided to pass on Halcott as it was 3:30 when I reached the small PA. Managed to reach the canister, sign in, then leave right at 5:00. Ironically I managed to return to my car right at sundown, 5:51 pm according to my watch. Todays cool temps and frost on my windshield upon leaving home was a good wake up to put scrappers/brushes and micro spikes back in the car in preparation." — Nimblefoot • Nov 2, 2023

"For a day forecasted with showers and T-Storms not a single drop fell from the sky from 9 am on. First up was Big Indian then Eagle from the Seager PA using the Seager trail which I haven’t used since access to Doubletop was terminated. To add some fun and reduce the mileage I bushwhacked from the canister on Eagle down to the Seager leanto, sort of a hypotenuse, to regain the Seager trail. After changing out of the sweat soaked clothes and wet trail shoes from numerous water crossings I headed to Spruceton road to visit the canister on top of Rusk mountain. Fortunately there was plenty of room to park at the TH. The day was improving weatherwise, with more blue sky and sun breaking through the clouds, as I plodded up the herd path. I guess the less than stellar forecast kept many folks home as I didn’t encounter any other hikers all day on the trails with the exception of the couple at the summit of Eagle." — Nimblefoot • Sep 9, 2023

"Loop of the two Hunters and the two summits of Rusk with Richard and Pat on a lovely day. My first time hiking with Pat and she is certainly a new friend. She is a local, knows all the who what and where of the Catskills, and likes to cook and bake. Richard and I got our fill of her delicious home made chocolate chip cookies….one per peak plus some extras…my kind of hike(!)." — Nimblefoot • Aug 23, 2023

"Loop of the two Hunters and Rusk from Spruceton road. Early on the Devils Path I met up with Tim, aka Hilltop, who was out doing a onesie of SW Hunter. We discussed teaming up for some mid week traverses in the Catskills. To mix things up a bit I eliminated the east peak of Rusk and put in two bushwhacks between SWH and Hunter. They saved time and were fun to fine tune for future group hikes." — Nimblefoot • Apr 28, 2023

"A loop of Rusk, East Rusk, Hunter and SW Hunter from the Spruceton trail PA which wasn’t plowed out at 8:30 am. Bare booted up the Spruceton trail to the hairpin turn where I hopped onto a rough snowshoe track. Bare booters put numerous divots in the track over the weekend and now they are frozen. Spikes went on for the climb up to the canister then switched to snowshoes for the trek over the East peak of Rusk. Two tracks between the peaks and down to the Spruceton trail looked like they were made by two squirrels running around. Up to the tower on Hunter for the month and day #216 of 366 for the 4K/day challenge. Bit blustery on the summit with wind blowing through the tower that sounded like an airplane. Got out lunch then headed on for SWH, so far haven’t seen a soul. Did a short bushwhack to cut off some mileage hitting the DP near the rail bed rather than right at which was my original intention. After signing into the can on my final peak I continued on the rail bed before taking a wonderful plunging bushwhack descent down to the bridge over DN falls thus avoiding the monotonous descent on the DP. Good decision as the DP was poorly broken out from what I saw after crossing..." — Nimblefoot • Mar 7, 2023

"Two easy short peaks, Rusk and Halcott, in the morning with Peter, Miyon, Mimi and Barbara. We managed to get up to the canister on Rusk without spikes since the only ice patches were on the last pitch. Most of the way was bare ground. The other four put on spikes for the descent while I just whack around the ice on the herd path. Halcott was similar though we all put on the micros for the slippery frozen leaves as much as the crusty snow while whacking up and down for a direct route avoiding the usual rocky herd path. Mimi and I bid adieu to Peter, Miyon and Barbara, who had enough, before heading to Rt 47 to go tag Panther. We both lucked out and got parking spots in the lot at the hairpin curve with numerous cars parking off both sides of the road. We managed the out and back without spikes being judicious with our foot placements. Most folks that we encountered were heading out so it was no surprise upon returning to the parking lot that there were only two other cars besides our own. Time head home to refuel before going horizontal then return tomorrow so we can play in the mountains again with the early springlike weather." — Nimblefoot • Feb 19, 2023