Halcott.... I could swear i read on Catskill Trail Conditions someone complaining that the southern branch of the loop i did was overgrown and difficult to follow. I must be wrong because i did the northern side of the loop up and found that to be the case. So it you want a good bushwhacking challenge, go up the spine like i did. The herd path is good for about 1/3 of a mile, then is disappears until your reach the ridge.  It has been ages since I've done a bushwhack, so it was a good change of pace.

Overall the trail along the ridge is pretty decent, only at the point where it turns left did i lose it, find it again, and ended up backtracked for 1/4 miles or so..... My fault for not verifying bearing there. Second time through though i had no issue.

The peak is as I expected, no view, and an orange canister for me to sign in as proof I did the peak.  Rather anti-climatic considering the difficulty I had in  in getting up there.

The trail down was much better. It was almost a trail! Rather steep on the top, and I surely slipped and fell a few times because of unstable ground.... But definitely a much better path than the bushwhack i did. Mud and bugs were minimal. The only mud really was on that little bit that runs parallel to the road. The hike took enough out of me that i didn't continue and do the other ones i was going to do today.

7 down, 33 to go. Maybe I'll pay a little more attention to trail reports for bushwhacks in the future