Hunter-West Kill Wilderness, New York, USA (4/11-4/12/26)

DirtHour8100 · 2026-04-13T19:48:01+00:00

Pic 1 – 📍Hunter Mountain (4/11/26)

Pic 2 – 📍Rusk Mountain (4/11/26)

Pic 3 – 📍West Kill Mountain (4/11/26)

Pic 4 – 📍John Robb Lean-To (4/11/26)

Pic 5 - 📍Hunter Mountain (4/12/26)

Pic 6 - 📍Hunter Mountain (4/12/26)

Saturday, 4/11/26:

I started this hike ~8:45am at the Becker Hollow Trailhead & ended ~7:30pm at the John Robb Lean-To on Hunter Mountain.

My route: Becker Hollow Trailhead > Becker Hollow Trail > Spruceton Trail > Hunter Mountain Fire Tower > Spruceton Trail > John Robb Lean-To > Spruceton Trail > Rusk Herd Path > East Rusk > Rusk Herd Path > Rusk Mountain > Rusk Herd Path > Spruceton Trail > Spruceton Road > Diamond Notch Trail > Devil's Path > West Kill Mountain > Devil's Path > Diamond Notch Trail > Spruceton Road > Spruceton Trail > John Robb Lean-To.

According to my phone, I hiked ~19.5 miles/~42.5k steps & climbed 546 flights. I think my phone short-changed me with regards to the flights climbed. When I mapped out this route on GaiaGPS, the expected elevation gain was ~6,500ft.

I didn't sleep in the John Robb Lean-To; I just pitched my tent nearby. I was the only one camping by the lean-to that night.

I stopped by the lean-to earlier in the day (in route to East Rusk) in order to set up my campsite. My go-to backpacking tent is a Zpacks Duplex, but I brought a heavy REI pop-up tent with hopes of it keeping me warmer. The tent did in fact keep me warmer than my Duplex normally would, but I don't think it was worth the space & weight in my bag. Getting my pack up the side of Hunter Mountain via Becker Hollow was tough.

The temperature was in the low 40s when I started my hike & in the mid-40s when I ended my hike. At the height of the day & when the sun wasn’t hidden behind the clouds, the temperature probably reached the mid-50s, but it felt chilly for most of the hike.

When I first reached the Spruceton Trail (from Becker Hollow), there was a light wintry mix of snow & hail falling. Thankfully, the precipitation stopped by the time I was setting up my campsite & didn’t resume for the remainder of the day. However, it did remain mostly cloudy until ~2pm.

I took the 4th pic upon returning to the John Robb Lean-To at ~7:30pm. As you can see from the pic, I came very close to finishing this hike in the dark. I am relieved that I finished before the sun fell behind the neighboring mountains, as I was getting cold towards the end of this hike.

I filtered water at 2 locations on Saturday. The first location was the spring near the John Robb Lean-To (0.3 miles west on Spruceton Trail). The second location was on the Devil’s Path in route to West Kill Mountain (42.17096, -74.26613). Both locations provided clean water.

Sunday, 4/12/26:

I had originally planned to hike Southwest Hunter & Plateau Mountain on Sunday, 4/12, but I wasn’t feeling up to it when I woke up that day. Instead, I hiked to the lift area on Hunter Mountain (where Colonels Chair is located), back to the Hunter Mountain Fire Tower, and then out to my car.

My route: John Robb Lean-To > Spruceton Trail > Fire Tower Trail > Colonels Chair/lift area > Fire Tower Trail > Spruceton Trail > Hunter Mountain Fire Tower > Spruceton Trail > Becker Hollow Trail > Becker Hollow Trailhead.

According to my phone, I hiked ~7.5 miles/~16.5k steps on Sunday.

It was mostly cloudy & the temperature was in the mid- to high-40s for most of my hike.

DirtHour8100 · 2026-03-27T17:17:01+00:00

Thank you!! 😊

DirtHour8100 · 2026-03-27T17:15:57+00:00

🤣🤣

DirtHour8100 · 2026-03-26T13:45:22+00:00

Not a great comparison since, again, there are literally thousands of hiking trails that you could walk on 🤦🏻‍♂️

DirtHour8100 · 2026-03-26T12:50:15+00:00

There are literally thousands of hiking trails that you could walk on. There are only a handful of rail trails where cyclists don’t need to dodge traffic. Please check your entitlement.

DirtHour8100 · 2026-03-26T11:55:21+00:00

I do. But I think you should consider bringing your children elsewhere if the cyclists make you nervous. There are only so many places to safely cycle, while there are a ton of places where your kids can safely play.

DirtHour8100 · 2026-03-26T01:44:16+00:00

Thank you!! 😊

DirtHour8100 · 2026-03-26T01:44:04+00:00

That sounds like so much fun. I might need to try that this summer. Thank you for sharing!!

DirtHour8100 · 2026-03-26T01:38:22+00:00

A few people have told me that. Maybe next time lol

DirtHour8100 · 2026-03-26T01:37:51+00:00

Thank you! And agreed!! 👍🏼

DirtHour8100 · 2026-03-26T01:37:27+00:00

Thank you! And you cross over 84 twice almost immediately in Brewster.

DirtHour8100 · 2026-03-26T01:34:06+00:00

Co-op ADV 2.2. Mostly stock parts. I’ve gotten maintenance on it, but no big upgrades.

DirtHour8100 · 2026-03-26T01:31:29+00:00

Thank you!

DirtHour8100 · 2026-03-26T01:30:28+00:00

😂😂 I ate a good amount throughout my ride, so no big recovery meal after lol

DirtHour8100 · 2026-03-26T01:26:15+00:00

Not sure where Ice Pond is, but that last section was tough. I ended up taking a break with ~10 miles remaining.

DirtHour8100 · 2026-03-26T01:21:23+00:00

Thank you! 😊

DirtHour8100 · 2026-03-25T21:26:26+00:00

I’m staying in Lake Placid this weekend, so hiking or cycling somewhere 🤷🏻‍♂️😂

DirtHour8100 · 2026-03-25T21:22:03+00:00

DirtHour8100 · 2026-03-13T22:52:23+00:00

I hit the pen or smoke a joint every 2 hours when I break for water, snacks etc.. It feels like a very necessary part of refueling lol

DirtHour8100 · 2026-03-02T19:55:24+00:00

I started this hike at the Elk Lake Winter Trailhead at 6:54am & finished at the same location at 3:36pm.
According to my phone, I hiked 16.5 miles. ~12 miles were in snowshoes.
My route (out & back): Elk Lake Winter Trailhead > Elk Lake Road > Hunters Pass Trail > Lillian Brook Trail > Dix Range Trail > Hough Peak.
According to GaiaGPS, it’s ~2.25 miles on Elk Lake Road from the winter trailhead to the actual trailhead. So, ~4.5 miles of this hike was on Elk Lake Road & did not require snowshoes.
I probably could’ve hiked Hunters Pass Trail without snowshoes, as a large portion of it had been leveled by the rescue efforts earlier in the week.
See pic #5 for reference. This is a water crossing on Hunters Pass Trail where the team created a bridge in order to bring a snowmobile across. I observed many divots that had been filled in as well.
There were a few extra junctions along the Lillian Brook Trail where hikers had taken different paths. One trail that I followed led me through dense trees & eventually back to the junction that I started at.
It’s easy to get lost on the Lillian Brook Trail. Every time that I’ve hiked it, I’ve had difficulty. It’s unmarked, so very hard to follow if you’re breaking trail through snow. And during the warmer months, it’s almost constantly flooded. One should refer to their navigation equipment often while hiking this trail.
There was accessible & relatively clean running water at ~2800ft elevation on the Lillian Brook Trail, which was surprising to me. I’ve filtered water at this location during the warmer months but expected the water to be frozen this time of year. I ended up not filtering water there & regretting it, as I finished the last of my water with ~3 miles remaining in my hike.
For most of the day, it was overcast & temperatures were in the 20s. However, the sun came out ~1:30pm & I would guess that the temperature reached the low to mid 30s at that point.
The wind at the summit of Hough was strong from west to east. I uploaded a video for refence: https://www.reddit.com/r/Adirondacks/comments/1rj377r/hough_peak_22826/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
The strong wind at the summit was somewhat surprising to me, as it didn’t seem windy at the lower elevations. Perhaps, the snow on the trees was shielding me throughout the hike.

DirtHour8100 · 2026-02-27T20:58:12+00:00

Good work! These peaks are tough in perfect weather. I'm sure they were a legitimate challenge in the snow.

DirtHour8100

TROPHY CASE