page_title: Poke-O-Moonshine Mountain
section_title: Geography
hierarchical_section_title: Poke-O-Moonshine Mountain / Geography
caption_attribution_description: English: U.S. Geological Survey map of Poke-O-Moonshine Mountain (spelled as Pokamoonshine on map) with informational layers showing recreational facilities on mountain and nearby roads)
context_page_description: Poke-O-Moonshine Mountain, spelled Pokamoonshine on U.S. Geological Survey maps, and sometimes known as just Poke-O, is a minor peak of the Adirondack Mountains. The name is believed to be a corruption of the Algonquin words pohqui, meaning 'broken', and moosie, meaning 'smooth'. It is located in the town of Chesterfield, New York, United States, on New York state Forest Preserve land, part of the Taylor Pond Wild Forest complex within the Adirondack Park. Due to its location next to the pass through which most travelers from the north enter the range, it has been called the "gateway to the Adirondacks".
  At its 2,180-foot summit is a disused fire lookout tower listed on the National Register of Historic Places. While many of those who reach it and take in the sweeping views of the High Peaks and Lake Champlain hike up one of two trails from U.S. Route 9 near the mountain's base, the stone cliffs ringing its summit have attracted climbers, although their activities are limited during the nesting season of the peregrine falcon.
context_section_description: Poke-O-Moonshine is located at the eastern end of a group of summits at the northeastern corner of the Adirondacks. Most of the peaks to its west are of similar height, though lower; Old Rang Mountain a mile (1.6 km) to the northwest is higher at 2,294 feet (699 m). To the east is a pass roughly 500 feet (150 m) wide, traversed by Interstate 87, locally referred to as the Adirondack Northway, and U.S. Route 9. Across it rises a similar unnamed peak with several summits, the highest of which reaches 1,620 feet (490 m).
  It is located in the southern portion of the town of Chesterfield, near its tripoint with the towns of Lewis and Willsboro. The nearest settlements are the central hamlet of Willsboro to the east-southeast and the village of Keeseville to the north-northeast. Both are approximately 6 miles (9.7 km) from the mountain.
  A ridge connects the mountain to Carl Mountain a mile to the west. On the mountain's east and south, the slopes rise steeply from the pass to the granite cliffs, their main scarp face 600 feet (180 m) high and a mile wide, that bracket the summit and the northeast ridge. The north side has a gentler, but deeper, drop into the valley of McGuire Brook, which drains into Butternut Pond to the north and then, via that body's outlet into Augur Lake, to the AuSable River. On the south, a steeper drainage goes to Cold Brook, which flows into the North Branch of the Boquet River. Both streams themselves drain into Lake Champlain, whose Willsboro Bay is 3 miles (4.8 km) east of Poke-O-Moonshine's summit.
caption: Map of Poke-O-Moonshine, showing trails to summit.
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