"He was a great way to start things off."

Memorable moments changed with the season.

Simon recalled "climbing up the ski jump at Placid at 20 below, it was the lower jump; covering the 90-Miler (canoe race) was fun; climbing Tongue Mountain in Lake George with Carl Heilman was great.

"We had been shooting in the Tupper Lake area with a logger named Paul Mitchell. We started before dawn, and it was really cold. As we finished up and headed back, we stopped on a bridge and saw something moving in the distance. It was a bobcat. Paul was waiting for us back in his truck, and when we told him what we saw, he didn't believe it."

But they caught it on film.

EDITING IT DOWN

The biggest challenge in production, Simon said, was to simmer months of film into a two-hour comprehensive look at the park, its people and policies.

"That's a pretty daunting task. I felt that every day," Simon said.

Emerging from the material, the Adirondack story told itself.

"It's real, it's genuine, it's so unlike the rest of America -- you know, strip-mall America."

Filmmakers worked under the assumption that 95 percent of viewers know nothing about the Adirondacks.

"In the end," Simon said, "if the audience understands it and appreciates it, we will have done our job."

Grant said screenings have been well received.

"Outside of the park, there wasn't the full scope of awareness of the public/private nature of the Adirondack Park. I think that's always something people are surprised by or at least surprised they didn't know."

FINANCING