Mount Katahdin

Katahdin is in Baxter State Park, which is in east central Piscataquis County, about 25 mi (40 km) northwest of Millinocket. It is on the drainage divide between the East and West branches of the Penobscot River.

The mountain massif itself consists of multiple peaks. Baxter Peak is the tallest, and is the official northern terminus of the Appalachian Trail. South Peak and Pamola Peak are southeast and east of Baxter Peak, respectively, along the Knife Edge ridgeline, while Hamlin Peak lies to the north.

The third highest mountain in Maine, Sugarloaf Mountain at 1,295 m (4,250 ft), is over one hundred miles to the southwest. There is low lake country to the south and west of Katahdin, and lowlands extending east to the Atlantic and north to the Saint Lawrence River in Canada.

It is commonly thought that Katahdin is the first place in the United States mainland to receive sunlight in the morning, but this is incorrect. Other mountains, lower in elevation but farther to the east or southeast, depending on the season, see the first sunrise of the day.[8]

Katahdin is part of a laccolith that formed in the Acadian orogeny, when an island arc collided with eastern North America approximately 400 million years ago. 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 ponds.[9]

In Baxter State Park, many outcrops of sedimentary rocks have striations, whereas Katahdin Granite and Traveler Rhyolite lava have weathered surfaces on which striations are commonly not preserved. Bedrock surfaces of igneous rocks which have been buried by glacial sediments and only recently exposed have well preserved striations, as in the vicinity of Ripogenus Dam. Several outcrops of sedimentary rocks along the Patten Road show striations, especially on the north side of the road at Hurricane Deck. A few outcrops near the Pattern Road just north of Horse Mountain are striated, as are several outcrops of sedimentary rocks along the road from Trout Brook Farm northward to Second Lake Matagamon.

Fauna include black bear, deer and moose as well as black flies and mosquitos in the spring. A subspecies of Arctic butterfly, known as the Katahdin Arctic (Oeneis polixenes katahdin) is specific to the area, and is currently listed as endangered.[10] Among the birds are Bicknell's thrush and various songbirds and raptors. A study of the animal communities was published by Irving H. Blake in 1926.[11] The flora includes pine, spruce, fir, hemlock, beech, maple, birch, aspen, and Diapensia lapponica.

Mount Katahdin

Mount Katahdin from Millinocket Camp, by Frederic Edwin Church, 1895

Katahdin is referred to 60 years after Field's climb of Agiokochuk (Mount Washington) in the writings of John Gyles, a teenage colonist who was captured near Portland, Maine in 1689 by the Abenaki. While in the company of Abenaki hunting parties, he traveled up and down several Maine rivers including both branches of the Penobscot, passing close to "Teddon". He remarked that it was higher than the White Hills above the Saco River.

Among some Native Americans, Katahdin was believed to be the home of the storm god Pamola, and thus an area to be avoided.[12]

The first recorded climb of "Catahrdin" was by Massachusetts surveyors Zackery Adley[13] and Charles Turner, Jr. in August 1804.[14] In the 1840s Henry David Thoreau climbed Katahdin, which he spelled "Ktaadn"; his ascent is recorded in a well-known chapter of The Maine Woods.[15] A few years later Theodore Winthrop wrote about his visit in Life in the Open Air. Painters Frederic Edwin Church and Marsden Hartley are well-known artists who created landscapes of Katahdin. On 30 November 2011, Christie's auctioned Church's 1860 painting Twilight (Katahdin) for $3.1 million.

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, named Baxter State Park after him. The summit was officially recognized by the US Board on Geographic Names as "Baxter Peak" in 1931.

The Appalachian Trail on Katahdin's Hunt Spur

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. Baxter State Park is open year-round, though strictly regulated in winter. The overnight camping season is from May 15 to October 15 each year. Capacity limits have been placed on day use parking at the trailheads to minimize the overuse of trails.[16]

Mt. Katahdin has several trails leading up to Baxter, Pamola, or Hamlin Peaks[17] These trails start right up the mountain, but each trail on the mountain ends up taking eight to ten hours round-trip depending on ability.[18][19][20] The rest of the trails go up the north side or west side of the mountain. These are accessed from the Chimney Pond Trail. For these trails, hikers must park at the Roaring Brook Campground and hike in. All trails are maintained by the Baxter State Park Authority, which runs the State Park. All of the trails on the mountain are classified as very strenuous, the highest classification the Park Authority gives, except for Saddle (strenuous), Hamlin Ridge trail (moderate), and Chimney Pond (moderate).[17]

The most famous hike to the summit goes along Knife Edge, a glacial Arête which traverses the ridge between Pamola Peak and Baxter Peak. The mountain has claimed 23 lives since 1963,[21] mostly from exposure in bad weather and falls from the Knife Edge. For about 3/10 of a mile the trail is 3 feet wide, with a drop off on either side. The Knife Edge is closed during periods of high wind.

• Two US Navy ships have been named USS Katahdin. Katahdin is also the name of a 1914 steamboat (later converted to diesel) owned by the Moosehead Marine Museum that plies the waters of Moosehead Lake in northern Maine.
• The Katahdin potato, which was certified by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in 1932, and is still popular in the Northeastern United States.[22]
• The Katahdin sheep.
• Composer Alan Hovhaness has composed a sonata for piano in 1987 titled Mt. Katahdin, dedicated to Carleton S. Coon for his 60th birthday.
• Katahdin is a monster in 1979 horror film Prophecy.

360-degree panorama from the summit of Baxter Peak on Mount Katahdin

• Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument
• List of mountain peaks of North America
  • List of mountain peaks of the United States
    • List of U.S. states by elevation
    • List of mountains of Maine
• Donn Fendler, author of book about being lost on Katahdin in 1939.

• More detailed Wiki on Katahdin Including Trails
• Katahdin Webcam
• Katahdin Webcam - Millinocket
• Katahdin Webcam - Twin Pine Camps, Millinocket
• Katahdin on Peakware (photos)
• Baxter State Park Authority Official Website
• Summit Log (October 2005 summit log)
• Katahdin at Summitpost many photos