From Freepedia
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Coordinates:
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45°54′15.68″ N 68°55′16.59″ W
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Topo map:
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USGS Mount Katahdin
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Type:
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granite
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Age of rock:
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Devonian
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First ascent:
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1804 by Joseph Turner
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route:
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hike
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Mount Katahdin (USGS name) is the highest mountain in
Maine. Called
Katahdin by
people local to the peak and by the Penobscot Indians: the term meaning "The Greatest Mountain".
It is located in east central
Piscataquis County about 25 miles (40 km) northwest of
Millinocket. It divides the East and West Branches of the
Penobscot River.
On the sides of Katahdin are four glacial
cirques carved into the granite by alpine
glaciers and in these cirques behind
moraines and
eskers are several picturesque ponds. Katahdin is one of the best sites to view glacial effects in the Eastern States. From the low lake country to the south and east, the mountain appears to be one of the tallest and most abrupt in the
Appalachian Mountains.
Fauna include bears, deer and Moose as well as swarms of blood thirsty
black fly (a sort of
midge) in the spring. Among the birds are
Bicknell’s Thrush and various songbirds and raptors. The mountain has its own indigenous butterfly related to an arctic type. The flora includes
pines,
spruces,
fir,
hemlock,
beech,
maple,
birch,
aspen, and
diapensia.
As the northern terminus of the
Appalachian Trail and southern terminus of the
International Appalachian Trail, Katahdin is a popular hiking and backpacking destination and the centerpiece of
Baxter State Park. Among the Native Americans at the time of contact, it was believed to be the home of the storm god
Pamola, and thus an area to be avoided. It is referred to 60 years after Field’s climb of Agiokochuk (
Mount Washington) in the writings of John Giles (Gyles) a teenage colonial who was captured near
Portland, Maine in 1689 by the
Abenaki. While indentured among the Abenaki they wandered up and down the rivers including the Penobscot, so he saw the “Teddon”. He remarked that it was higher than the White Hills above the Saco.
The first recorded climb of "Catahrdin" was by Massachusetts surveyor Joseph Turner in August of 1804. In the 1840’s Henry David Thoreau climbed Katahdin and his ascent is recorded in a well known chapter of "The Maine Woods". A few years later Theodore Winthrop wrote about his visit in "Life in the Open Air". The painters Frederick Church and Marsden Hartley are well known artists who created landscapes of Katahdin. The most famous hike up the mountain is called Knife's Edge.
In the 1930s Governor Percival Baxter began to acquire land and finally deeded more than 200,000 acres (809 km²) to the State of Maine for a park. Today, Baxter State Park is open year round, though strictly regulated in winter. The overnight camping season is from May 15th to October 15th of each year. Information about Baxter State Park can be found at the Park's official webpage: http://www.baxterstateparkauthority.com
Katahdin is part of a laccolith (an intrusion of magma underground) that formed in the Acadian orogeny, when an island arc collided with eastern North America approximately 400 million years ago.
Development in much of the area surrounding the mountain is restricted by the Seven Islands Land Company, a private land management company that owns approximately 1 million acres (4,000 km²) of forest in northern Maine.
Two US Navy ships have been named USS Katahdin after the mountain.
External link
