Outblog No. 102

Saturday, September 16, 2006

Pok-o-Moonshine. Hiked up Pok-o-Moonshine up the steep (main) trail. It's really quite the hike, only being a little over a mile but very steep, climbing over 1,200 feet in that mile. It seems like the climbing goes on forever, and it can be relatively strenous after a while, though it's really not that bad. It was increadibly humid but not so hot when going up it.

Once you get to the remains of the Ranger's cabin, the hike is a lot less steep and enjoyable. The mountains to the south where viewable along this next section of range, and then you go a little bit further and you've reached the top. That part is really impressive. You can see for miles in three directions (all but due West—probably viewable from higher up on the firetower), although the haze kind of shrowed out the views.

Spent about 3 hours up top just looking around and taking notes, reflecting on all the beauty that was around me. It was such a beautiful place, inspiring me to think about the world around me and how small I am as individual in comparision. It was really great up there, and I got a lot of writing done (which needs to be added to this site shortly).

I took the Jeep trail back down. That route was significantly longer (not surpisingly), and while not as steep in most parts was still very tough on the knees. There was a lot of beaver swamps I passed and some good opporunities for photos, had I only gotten the metering right on my camera in this difficult to photograph weather. The trail also dumped me about one mile from where I was parked, meaning I had to walk up a big hill to get to my truck on Route 9.

Other then that, not a lot of wildlife observed except for some birds chriping in the distance, crickets, and the constant roar of the Adirondack Northway down below. It was quite nice, except for all that darn traffic noise. Reminded me a lot of the Pine Bush preserve in that way. P'Link