Rusk Mountain #2

I had done Rusk Mountain the previous summer by myself. That was before Travis had joined me and my hiking adventures in the Catskills. It is early spring and we wanted to check out Rusk Mountain again. This time, we would explore further beyond the summit!

The hike to the top of Rusk Mountain just under 2 miles long, but it's super steep!! In just about mile, near the beginning, you gain over 1300 feet in elevation. That might not sound like a big number, but in one mile, in the Catskills, that is a great amount of gain. It wears you down a lot.

It's early spring, but the weather was gloomy. Dark clouds linger overhead but we knew that nothing would ruin the day. Maybe a snow shower or two, but no rain. Most of the time, if not all the time, you don't want to encounter rain when you're hiking, especially when its cooler out. It was in the mid 40's, so it wasn't hot or cold. But when it's at that temperature and it rains, the risk of hypothermia is at a greater level. In the colder temps, like the winter, you prepare yourself to avoid the risk of hypothermia by wearing more layers. In the cooler temps and the rain, your body is more exposed to the cold air due to your clothes being cold. Combine the cold air with your cold clothes and you'll be in the hypothermia stage. Travis and I were prepared for both the cold and the rain, having our winter coats and our rain jackets.

Now Rusk is also a bushwhack hike. If you are unfamiliar with hiking terms, it means that there is no trail. You have to find your own way to the top either using a GPS system or just a good old map and compass. I studied the map and terrain, and we were going to hike Rusk using my navigational skills. We would also be navigating to some ledges that are rarely visited.

The way up is very steep. Almost 98% of the hike is a steep uphill battle. The good thing is that you don't have to deal with any obstacles till you get near the top. When you're near the top, fallen ledges and rock have made climb into a sort of an obstacle course that you have to navigate around. Huge rocks cover near the top of Rusk, and make the climb a little bit more difficult. On the way up, you could see that spring was definitely on its way!!

We knew we were getting closer to the top when we started hitting the fallen rocks and boulders. It was a challenge, but I think we ventured to far west and we could of avoided those boulders. After the short boulder scramble, we hit flatter ground and started to run into some very interesting tree growth.

Now the reason that the trees look so distorted and twisted, are that they are very old trees. Most of the trees on the top of the higher peaks are first growth trees. They have never been harvested by man. Most of the trees in the lower elevations in the Catskills were harvested for many things in the previous days like firewood, bark for tanning, logging and many other things. Some of the trees at these high elevations could be as old as 300 years!!

We made it to the top and signed in at the canister.

We then headed to a special view that I found on my previous hike when I was up here. This view overlooked the stunning Blackhead Range.

After the little view, we headed to another viewpoint that is rarely visited. This gave us great views of the Spruceton Valley, Westkill Mountain and even some of the southern Catskills in the distance.

Below is a photo of the southern Catskills. Slide Mountain to the left, Panther Mountain in the middle and I believe Doubletop to the right. The mountain closest in the picture is St Annes Peak.

The sun was starting to appear while we checked out more of the ledges. Westkill Mountain is in the photo below.

Looking West at North Dome, Sherrill and Balsam Mountain. This is a different Balsam Mountain than the 3500 Balsam Mountain.

We stayed at the ledges for quite some time, enjoying the beautiful views while the sun periodically showing itself here and there. The weather was just at that spot to where it wasn't too cold to rush off the mountain or too warm that the backflies were all over you. We soaked in the view one last time and headed back up to the top so we could descend back down once again. Another mountain successfully crossed off of TRAVIS'S 3500 list ;-)