3 CATSKILL 35 BUSHWACKS! (The "We Eat Ledges For Breakfast" Hike)

I had decided to hike at least 2 bushwack peaks in the Catskills with my hiking buddy Chris (FreezeFrame). We met in Schenectady and he drove us down to Spruceton, where we stashed bikes at the end of the bushwack of North Dome & Sherrill Mtns for the 2 mile road trip back to the car. We started off from the Trailhead at the end of the Devil's Path which leads up to Westkill Mtn. The trail was uphill but very easy. We enjoyed some early wildflowers and Chris even sampled some Ramps (Wild Leeks)...

We reached the height of land and left the trail for the difficult bushwack up North Dome Mtn. The slope was very steep and included many bands of cliffs that had to be climbed along the way...

There were some limited views through the trees as we climbed the ledges...

We finally reached the summit plateau and followed some herdpaths to the summit, and signed into the canister and had a bite to eat...

There was a little bit of snow still left up here as we headed off towards Sherrill Mtn. We came across some very large bear tracks in the snow along the way, but no bear. We dropped into the col between the mountains and then up to the summit canister on Sherrill Mtn...

We then started our descent down towards the bikes. There was one spot where Chris decided to descend a steep cliff, only to find out we could have bypassed it fairly easily, but that's part of the adventure! (It was at this point that we realized Chris had angered the mountains by writing that we "Eat Ledges for Breakfast in the Canister register!) We found the property line and followed that back towards the valley. We came upon old farm fields...

We then came to Bennett Brook just before it flows into the West Kill, and there was some nice waterfalls there, a pleasant surprise...

We reached the bikes shortly after and had a nice ride back to the car.

We decided we had enough time to attempt one more bushwack nearby before dark. We headed to the Spruceton Trail Trailhead for a climb up Rusk Mtn. We headed up the Spruceton Horse Trail that goes to Hunter Mtn. Shortly after crossing a bridge, we came to a hairpin turn and headed into the woods.

The climb was steep but the forest was open, we made good time getting to the ridgeline. There were some views towards Hunter Mtn on the climb...

When we reached the ridge, we found a herdpath and followed up to the summit and canister, we were glad to have climbed all 3 mtns in a day...

On our way down I spotted a view to the east from some ledges of Hunter and SW Hunter Mtns...

The light was getting dim so we headed back down to the trail and out to the car. A long day of bushwacking, but it was a great day to be out in the woods!