The actual summit, some distance from the ski area, is graced with a fire lookout tower, the highest in the state and second-highest in the Northeast.

As with its eastern neighbor Plateau Mountain, there is a considerable amount of level ground above 3,500 feet (1,067 m), the cutoff elevation for inclusion in the Catskill High Peaks.

A proposal to amend the state constitution and trade land closer to the summit ridge to the ski area for holdings elsewhere was vigorously opposed by environmentalists and failed to pass the legislature in the early 1990s.

According to the Starr Report, on Memorial Day weekend in 1996, Monica Lewinsky told a family friend, Dale Young, about her affair with President Bill Clinton, during a vacation at a weight-loss spa in the Catskills.

Ironically, the summit of Hunter itself would remain in a thin corridor known as the Rusk Mountain Wild Forest, to accommodate uses of the Spruceton Trail that would not be permitted in a wilderness area.

According to Kudish, it is clear from a popular viewpoint over Southwest Hunter near a trail junction a short distance east of the summit that there has been a great disturbance in the forest.

Its telltale red spruce understory and birch canopy are also evident along the long level section of the Devil's Path just under 3,500 feet (1,067 m) leading to the Acre from the east.

The fire damage and steep slope have also led to a small patch of boreal forest growing on the Hunter side of NY 214 as it ascends into Stony Clove Notch.

Two offer the possibility of climbing Southwest Hunter on the same trip as well, an option frequently taken by peakbaggers aspiring to join the Catskill Mountain 3500 Club.

Eventually, 0.5 miles (0.8 km) from the trailhead, it reaches a hairpin turn commonly used as a jumping-off point by hikers beginning the bushwhack up Rusk.

In the next one-half-mile (0.8 km) it will climb 600 feet (183 m) to a spring where a barrel and a hitching post has been installed (again for the benefit of horses) and the site of the John Robb Lean-to, a popular log shelter that burned from causes still unknown in late 2005.

After the lean-to fir and spruce become more pronounced in the surrounding woods, and at about the Colonel's Chair Trail junction the 3,500-foot (1,067 m) line is crossed and the forest becomes boreal.

The trail climbs a bit more, then begins long level stretches through the boreal forest with only occasional uphill portions.

Drainage is poor in this area, and many hikers are reminded of the Adirondacks by the muddy patches and deep puddles that develop during periods of heavy rainfall.

The next 1.15 miles (1.85 km) is a pleasant, level stroll through the heavily logged areas now dominated by paper birch and red spruce.

This route allows hikers to view the scenic Buttermilk Falls at the junction of Devil's Path & the Diamond Notch Trail.

The yellow-blazed Colonel's Chair Trail begins at the ski area's "summit" lodge at the end of the promontory on the eponymous ridge, about 3,300 feet (1,006 m) in elevation.

This route, at 2.3 miles (3.7 km) and 700 feet (213 m) of ascent, is probably the easiest way up Hunter, since the resort runs at least one chairlift to the summit year-round.

It is only 2.05 miles (3.3 km) to the summit from here, but the vertical ascent of 2,270 feet (692 m) is the greatest of any approach and as a consequence the trail is infamous for being a continuous upward slope with no level stretches.

However, this is an optical illusion similar to that experienced at the top of Mount Davis, Pennsylvania's highest peak, where lower bumps on the same ridge appear higher since there is nothing nearby for the eye to establish perspective with.

A wooden fire tower had been in existence at the summit since the state's Forest, Fish and Game Commission built it in 1909, during Fenwick's logging operations, but once those ended it was replaced by a steel one in 1917, then the current one in 1953.

Despite being closed after fire lookouts were no longer needed in 1990, its staircase and cab remained easily accessible to visitors and it was frequently climbed to provide a 360-degree view not normally found in the Catskills.