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Clark Fork
10-07-2004, 02:22
In the book, The Maine Woods, Henry David Thoreau makes this comment:

"Ktaadn, whose name is an Indian word signifying highest land, was first ascended by white men in 1804."

If that is so, this years marks 200 years of reaching the summit by at least the non native population. It seems to me that is cause for celebration or at least some parenthetical mention in the trail journals completed this year that include the trip to Katahdin summit....

Regards,

Clark Fork in Western Montana



“The tops of mountains are among the unfinished parts of the globe, whither it is a slight insult to the gods to climb and pry into their secrets, and try their effect on our humanity. Only daring and insolent men, perchance, go there. Simple races, as savages, do not climb mountains,--their tops are sacred and mysterious tracts never visited by them. Pomola is always angry with those who climb to the summit of Ktaadn.” From “The Maine Woods” Henry David Thoreau, August-September 1846

TJ aka Teej
10-07-2004, 21:38
"Ktaadn, whose name is an Indian word signifying highest land, was first ascended by white men in 1804."

If that is so, this years marks 200 years of reaching the summit by at least the non native population. It seems to me that is cause for celebration or at least some parenthetical mention in the trail journals completed this year that include the trip to Katahdin summit....
I made note of this in the Katahdin section of the ALDHA 2004 Thruhiker's Companion. A fellow named Charlie Turner organized an expedition, led by Penobscot guides, that summited on August 13th. They climbed along the route now called the Hunt Trail which the AT follows today. They left a lead tablet with their names and the date on the peak, an artifact that has been lost to time.
No official notice of the anniversary was made by the Park, but several thruhikers I spoke to that day were thrilled to be summiting on the anniversary. The members of the Penobscot Nation I spoke with about this were of the opinion that August 13th, 1804 was probably the first time what is now called Baxter Peak had been reached by anyone. Indians, they explained, would've had been far too busy with hunting and harvesting for recreational exploration.
TJ