Rusk Mountain
| Rusk Mountain | |
|---|---|
Rusk in autumn from near the summit
of neighboring West Kill Mountain |
|
| Highest point | |
| Elevation | 3,680 feet (1,125 m) |
| Prominence | 760 feet (230 m) |
| Listing | Catskill High Peaks |
| Coordinates | 42°12′02″N 74°16′37″W / 42.20056°N 74.27694°WCoordinates: 42°12′02″N 74°16′37″W / 42.20056°N 74.27694°W |
| Geography | |
| Location | Jewett / Lexington, New York, U.S. |
| Parent range | Catskills |
| Topo map | USGS Lexington |
| Climbing | |
| Easiest route | ridge south of Ox Hollow |
Rusk Mountain is a peak located in the towns of Jewett and Lexington in Greene County, New York, United States. At 3,680 feet (1,121 m) in elevation, it is the 20th-highest peak in the Catskill Mountains and considered a member of the Catskill High Peaks. While there is no maintained trail, a bushwhack to the summit is considered relatively easy, and required for membership in the Catskill Mountain 3500 Club.
Rusk is the highest peak (and the only High Peak) on what Catskill forest historian Michael Kudish calls the Lexington Range, the northern of two that fork off from nearby Hunter Mountain, the second-highest Catskill peak. Between Rusk and Taylor Hollow, the col between it and Hunter to its east, there is an unnamed 3,640-foot (1,109 m) summit referred to as East Rusk. The range continues to Evergreen and Packsaddle mountains to the west before ending at Lexington.
The mountain is within the Schoharie Creek watershed. Its southern slopes are drained by an unnamed brook that flows down Ox Hollow into Hunter Brook just above where that stream joins the West Kill, which later drains into the Schoharie. The northern slopes drain directly into the Schoharie headwaters just below them. Its runoff helps feed Schoharie Reservoir, part of the New York City water supply system.
While Rusk is dwarfed from the perspective of the Spruceton Valley by 3,880-foot (1,183 m), it is more impressive due to a greater rise from the valley floor. The north face can be glimpsed in its entirety from NY 296 just north of its junction with NY 23A.
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Wikipedia