Movember

Mo-Vember on Hunter

I know that Hunter is a relatively simple hike up the Spruceton Trail despite a grueling 2400' in elevation gain, however it is one that I will recommend for anyone as it is absolutely beautiful; just one of NYS many forgotten places.  My boss and I left Rochester around 7:30 in the morning and drove straight to Spruceton road to head up Hunter for a quick overnight trip.  Nothing spectacular considering both of us could easily truck through the 8.6 miles of the loop in a few hours.  But we both needed a get away and I needed to hear the forests whisper in my ear as I slept, a beautiful sensation that I have missed most of this year.

Hunter Brook Bridge

The trek up Hunter was fairly uneventful as we followed the Spruceton Horse trail, which I wasn't a Huge fan of just because I really enjoy the more rugged and isolated trails.  A carriage path takes away from my childish sense of discovery, but that's my own feelings, as Steve LOVED the trail.  Don't let the carriage path fool you though, around 1 mile in it starts to climb and doesn't stop until you reach the Colonels Chair junction.  Its a real windbreaker, but it felt great on a 50 degree day with the sun shining in November.  We stopped to check out John Robb Lean-to, which is by far one of the most beautiful lean-tos I have ever seen.  The cliff side view  West through the valley is incredible; I bet sunsets are even better, but we missed that seeing how it was only 230 in the afternoon.  There are springs close by with spotless water and even a barrel if your trusted mare needs to refill.

After a beef stick at John Robb, we headed out to summit Hunter, which was pretty uneventful, although we did see a lot of trace snow along the way.  The summit of Hunter has no real view unless you go up to the second landing of the Firetower which we did despite the dropping temps and heavy wind.  Posing for a few pictures and slugging the whiskey a few times, we started to head down to Devils Acre to set up camp before the valley fades to darkness around 5.  But it was only 330 when we left and we knew the descent would be pretty simple and only 2.7 miles long so we headed off slowly at a leisurely pace enjoying the Balsams that closed in around us as we started down the yellow marked trail.

4044'

Devils Dump

Devils Acre is a dump, but who cares its a place to rest your bones if they are weary, but beware of the fire pit.  When we arrived we immediately noticed the beautiful supply of firewood right next to the firepit, how convenient we thought.  After smoking ourselves out in the lean-to we realized that the wood was there because this was a terrible design.  The lean-to is open to the valley, probably for the views that are mediocre at best, IF you happen to be there when the leaves have fallen.  The highlight for me was how spooky the whole place feels with the stunted silver birch trees, and possibly cherry (?) trees and all their gnarled crooked branches forming a very eerie ambience that make the Catskills magical; all that was missing was an ethereal being casting her wicked spell on me to do terrible atrocities in my sleep to any passerbys, which there were none the entre trip.  We enjoyed a homemade dehydrated Stroganoff dinner (if you want the recipe PM me), that was by far the best we have ever enjoyed on the trail, and Steve quickly dozed off leaving me to enjoy the surrounding darkness and frigid 27 degrees until I fell asleep a few hours later around 9. 

Mediocre Sunset

Morning was brisk as we quickly packed camp and started our stoves to heat up tea and breakfast.  His Jetboil and my Pocket Rocket were both struggling to heat quickly due to the cold weather condensing our fuel canisters, but we made it work and hit the trail for the remaining 3.6 miles out around 715.  I heard someone else mention that this is the most "uneventful" portion of the Devils Path, which I could say to be true, but I will also say it is by far one of the nicest trails I have hiked.  It was welcome relief from my typical ADK excursions to see different geology and ecology, but most of all, the trail wasn't degraded nor was there any litter.  The forest was heavy and interspersed with old property lines aka cobblestone walls and even foundations, giving evidence of the history from Washington Irving and Rip Van Winkle to George Washingtons moonshining days.  Diamond Notch Falls is stunning and a place I look forward to bringing my kids for a swimming trip.  We finished the whole endeavor by 930 and were back in Rochester by 245 that afternoon.

Diamond Notch

In hindsight I would love to do this hike again, however I would do it in reverse and stay at the John Robb Lean-To instead.  Maybe arrive earlier and hit Rusk and Southwest Hunter as well....hmmmmmm winter snowshoe hike in the works I think?????