For a time before Arnold Henry Guyot identified Slide, either Hunter or nearby Black Dome, central peak of the Blackhead Mountains, was thought to be the range's highest, in contrast to the claims of nearby hoteliers for Kaaterskill High Peak. A popular local legend has it that Hunter, or some other later landowner, went to the summit with a hand level in order to be sure they had indeed purchased the Catskills' highest peak, and were satisfied until an "unknown" peak appeared on the southern horizon - Slide Mountain, the range's true highest peak but not identified as such until 1886 (which makes this legend unlikely to have any basis in fact, as the necessary clearing at the summit for the fire tower was made well afterwards). It is not known when the mountain was first climbed, or by whom. Like the town and the village, Hunter takes its name from John Hunter, a somewhat despised local landlord. Originally named Greenland Mountain, in the mid-19th century the mountain was renamed. Hunter Mountain, Twilight (1866) by Hudson River school artist Sanford Robinson Gifford, showing the devastation wrought by years of tanbarking and logging. While Hunter is traversed by the Devil's Path hiking trail and is often considered part of the range of the same name, it is distinct from the Devil's Path topographically due to the fork in the range. Regardless of the stream, all of Hunter is part of New York City's watershed, as the Esopus is impounded in Ashokan Reservoir and the Schoharie in the similarly named reservoir downstream. The cirque on the southwest gives rise to a Schoharie tributary, the West Kill, also fed by Hunter Brook. On the southeast corner, the route is much more direct, as water follows Stony Clove Creek to Esopus Creek and thence to the Hudson. The entire mountain is in the Hudson River watershed, with runoff from the north taking a circuitous route to it via Schoharie Creek and the Mohawk River.
![hunter mountain hunter mountain](https://assets.simpleviewinc.com/simpleview/image/fetch/q_75/https://assets.simpleviewinc.com/simpleview/image/upload/crm/newyorkstate/Hunter-Mountain-in-the-Fall_803b46f7-ce89-8681-8df62efc82d675f7.jpg)
Beyond that ridge, the slopes again steepen, reflecting the glacial cirque between Southwest Hunter and Hunter that opens up into the Spruceton Valley. However, a ridge splits off at a level area, known as Devil's Acre, midway along the mountain, rising to a 3,740-foot (1,140 m)) summit unofficially known as Southwest Hunter Mountain. On the south side, slopes are equally steep and challenging to the southeast. The relative steepness of the mountain's north slopes facilitated the growth of the ski area, but have made it an otherwise unattractive route up the mountain (only one of the several trails to the summit comes to it from the north). 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.
![hunter mountain hunter mountain](https://s.hdnux.com/photos/16/75/47/3922398/3/rawImage.jpg)
Hunter takes the shape of a medium-length ridge, rising steeply from Stony Clove Notch in the east, then gently to the summit in the center, and gently back down to the west where the land makes a much less steep drop into Taylor Hollow, the col between it and neighboring Rusk Mountain. 4.3 Colonel's Chair Trail from ski area.4.2 Devil's Path and Hunter Mountain Trail.2.3 Site of key conversation in Clinton impeachment.