"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 solo morning hike on a beautiful day before the snow tonight. Wore spikes the whole way on a snowy packed trail. Crossed a few streams in exposed sections at lower levels. No wind and temps in the 30’s. Upper sections had boot tracks. Snowshoes would have been better, but it was a short section! Climbed up to fifth level of Fire Tower. Temps at the top were warmer in the sun. Pretty frosty trees all around. Saw one person on the way down. Butt slid on sections at the top! 3 more winters!" — lfrancois • Mar 10, 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

"A twosie of Hunter in the morning and West Kill in the afternoon. Old crusty snow with about an inch of new fluff on top so it was bare boots all day with the micro spikes riding on the pack. A crisp temperature of 10 degrees at 9 am rising up to 22 degrees at 4 pm. Only met one other hikers at the summit of Hunter. Cleared a lot of tree debris off the Devils Path heading up West Kill from ice and wind storms back in December." — Nimblefoot • Feb 1, 2023

"A loop of West Kill and the two Hunters out of the Spruceton trail PA. Found a drone laying in the trail/road on my descent from Hunter at the end of my loop. It was right at the hairpin curve, jump off point for Rusk, so I carried it out to the register box near the PA." — Nimblefoot • Nov 21, 2022

"Did the classic loop of West kill, the Hunters and Rusk via East Rusk for the month of October. Saw my first icicles of the season on my climb of West kill. With the low temps and a bit of a breeze I almost put on hand shoes, aka gloves, but I toughed it out on my trip up and down West Kill. Only saw women hiking on West Kill then a couple near the summit of SW Hunter. Hunter was a ghost town which was a bit of a surprise and the two Rusk peaks were quiet which was not surprising. The descent off of Rusk was tricky in the steeper parts as all the fallen leaves were hiding the loose rock and roots adding slipping and tripping to the mix of fun." — Nimblefoot • Oct 20, 2022

"Loop of West Kill, SW Hunter and Hunter. Bushwhack off of West kill down to Diamond Notch then up to SW Hunter. Descent down went fast then the ascent up went much slower staying away from the spruce thickets and weaving my through the numerous ledges/outcrops. Unfortunately my phone battery basically died, I failed to put an external battery in my pack, so navigating to the canister on a plateau- like summit was interesting. Herd path and rail bed out to the Devils Path then all trails up and over Hunter and down to Spruceton road. Warmer and less breezy today, compared to yesterday, so back to shorts and fewer upper layers." — Nimblefoot • Sep 24, 2022

"Ed and I did a loop of the two Hunters and Rusk. We descended Rusk to get back on the Spruceton trail rather than going over the East peak of Rusk as a change of pace. After eating lunch at the cabin on Hunter we climbed the tower to get the views with the clear blue sky. Stopped for a pint at West Kill brewery then onto Brios for dinner." — Nimblefoot • Aug 13, 2022

"This was the hardest of the Catskill 3500 climbs so far. It was 2.5 miles of progressively steeper and rockier trail. It felt never ending and relentless. The views from the fire tower were spectacular. Lots of people on the trail today. Perfect day for a hike. I won’t have a problem sleeping tonight that’s for sure. " — HeyJoe • Jul 4, 2022