Summit
Hunter's summit is a large clearing dominated by the fire tower and observer's cabin. The former may once again be climbed although the cab at the top is locked save for days when volunteer interpreters go up to help; the latter is locked but may eventually be turned into a small museum as has already happened with nearby Overlook Mountain and Balsam Lake Mountain.
Some hikers have believed the site of the former fire tower to be the actual summit, as the land at that area seems to be higher when viewed from the fire tower. 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 flat rock near the fire tower (and visible when looking down from it) indicates north, with the words "4040 FT" on it. It may be the actual high point, but it is hard to tell since like so many other Catskill summits Hunter is wide and flat.
Hitching racks, and a mounting platform similar to the one at the Spruceton trailhead, have been built and/or renovated recently.
Read more about this topic: Hunter Mountain (New York)
Famous quotes containing the word summit:
“The light that shined upon the summit now seems almost to shine at our feet.”
—Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924)
“What if it tempt you toward the flood, my lord,
Or to the dreadful summit of the cliff
That beetles o’er his base into the sea,
And there assume some other horrible form
Which might deprive your sovereignty of reason,
And draw you into madness?”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“The tops of mountains are among the unfinished parts of the globe, whither it is a slight insult to the gods to climb and pry into their secrets, and try their effect on our humanity. Only daring and insolent men, perchance, go there. Simple races, as savages, do not climb mountains,—their tops are sacred and mysterious tracts never visited by them. Pomola is always angry with those who climb the summit of Ktaadn.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)