This article is based on some notes I took last fall after climbing Pok-O-Moonshine. It finally appears on New York Cowboy about four months after it was first written. Make sure to browse our photo albums to see more pictures.

It is a warm and hazy day out in the woods. It was a steep short climb up the mountain for some amazing views of the Adirondacks. All you can see for miles is forest, especially to the south. There is Giant Mountain, Dix, and Whiteface Mountains all within a few miles of this area.

I pass an old ranger's cabin that has long since been burnt to the ground. All that is left is the chimney and a few other remains of what once was a life. Trees have some color but not much yet. There is a beautiful little leanto complete with lots of charcoal graffiti by hikers who would like to leave a little mark. Yet they have failed.

Instead, as I stand on top of these mountain it is apparent that I am just a dot left by god. I'm little more then just a footnote in history that is longer then any of us can even imagine. My words and my self will only last a short time, and I will be forgotten. They are no more significant then the writing on the leanto.

I might be in the wilds of nature, but I am never that far away from the massive impact of man. The Adirondack Northway is incredibly noisy. From the top of the mountain until the top I hear the Northway. Its not as obnoxious as it was part ways up the mountain, but it is still incredibly loud. Man has made his impact known.

We have a need for speed. I've driven the Northway dozens of times and never thought about the noise my truck makes as it starts the first big climb out of the Champlain Valley. Big trucks charge up the hill, and others roll down with their jake-brakes on. That's called commerce and making a living.They are bringing the cheap necessities to Walmart that will later be the air pollution we breathe in and garbage we dump in our landfills.

I hear a cellphone ring that another hiker has brought up here. It seems that nobody can really get away from our society of mass communication. There is really no freedom in our society anymore. I look down at the great swaths into nature that make up the Northway going south. It sure is convenient but so annoying, just like that cellphone the person is talking on.

Birds chirp and carry on their lives as thought we aren't really there. I climb the fire tower and overcome my fear of heights if only to see more of the world. I look at the fertile Champlain Valley and that small area that makes up Plattsburgh. The farms and forests make everything else look insignificant. Why should I be scared when there is such greatness around?

I hear gunshots ring out in the distance. I look down at the rocks around age old sediment that makes up the air that I stand on. I see farms not only to the North but also in the park. Somehow these small farms in the hills are so much beautiful then the those to the North. Somehow small farming's ethics over the larger farms in the fertile valley seem so nice.

I look to see Vermont over the lake and I don't see much. It's just too hazy out. Still the lake is beautiful. Then more people come up and they distract my thought and the peace I am enjoying for my few moments that I get to spend at this great place known as Pok-O-Moonshine. I promise myself I will come back and come back often.