Rusk Mountain is a peak located in the towns of Jewett and Lexington in Greene County, New York, United States.

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.

Its runoff helps feed Schoharie Reservoir, part of the New York City water supply system.

According to Kudish, Rusk boasts, in the upper reaches of Ox Hollow, one of the few virgin stands of Eastern Hemlock he has so far identified in the Catskills.

This is followed, making for easy crossings of Hunter's unnamed tributary and the intermittent Ox Hollow drainage brook.

Not only does the slope becomes steeper and rockier, immature seedlings become denser in the forest understory, making it necessary to gently shove them away and duck underneath or step around them.

Hikers who reach the 3,500-foot (1,100 m) cutoff elevation for High Peak status will find themselves at the base of the shale cliffs around the promontory.

While they are not very sheer and present a number of safe routes to a climber willing to use his or her hands, it can take some time to find one and reach the top.

A comparatively easy traverse through the cliffs exists, but is not immediately evident, especially in warmer weather when vegetation limits the view.

Climbers who turn due north at this point, towards the obvious higher ground, invariably find the herd path that leads toward the 3500 Club summit canister.

When Hunter and Rusk are climbed on the same outing it is common to follow the ridgeline from the Spruceton Trail at Taylor Hollow between the two peaks.

The herd path from the promontory is fairly strong (though some sections near its start can be almost imperceptible in summer when the surrounding ferns grow waist-high) and gets wider and easier to follow as it gets closer to the canister, located near the northwest corner of the summit.

There are few views that equal the viewpoint early on the herd path, though some limited ones to West Kill and its neighbors are available for those who search around in the brush south of the canister, especially if leaves are down.