Poetry on the Peaks

Mt. Katahdin

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.

Henry David Thoreau
Excerpts from "Ktaadn" chapter of The Maine Woods
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Mt. Katahdin, 5,267 feet high, is the highest point in the State of Maine. Located in Baxter State Park, a wilderness area of 202,064 acres, it is the final landmark at the northern end of the 2000-mile-long Appalachian Trail. Rising above timberline, Katahdin is a broad massif of peaks, ridges, and cirques, which are huge, steep-walled basins carved by ancient glaciers. It is surrounded on almost three sides by a ring of lower summits, and its southern face rises directly from the Penobscot River to attain a height of 4,000 feet. To the north of Katahdin, Baxter State Park is a remote, forested wilderness of lakes, ponds, and relatively low mountains. The entirety of Baxter State Park was a gift to the State of Maine by former Governor Percival P. Baxter. In 1930 he made his first land purchase of 5,960 acres, which included Katahdin, and this land was given to the State in 1931. He continued to add to the park, and his final gift of 7,764 acres was made in 1962. He provided trust funds to ensure maintenance, and stipulated in his will that Baxter State Park and Katahdin be kept as much as possible in a "forever wild" state. Roads, campgrounds, and trails are deliberately kept primitive, and access for vehicles and campers is strictly controlled. Gov. Baxter stated: "Man is born to die. His works are short-lived. Buildings crumble, monuments decay, wealth vanishes. But Katahdin in all its glory forever shall remain the mountain of the people of Maine."

on top reading

Climb Date: October 4 to October 6, 2002
Guides: Andy Brower and Will Seeley, Seniors in the Unity College Outdoor Recreation Leadership Program, lead eight freshmen in the program to the summit, where they participated in the reading. The reading on Mt. Katahdin was organized by Rhoda Waller

Rhoda Waller is a poet and storyteller who lives in New York City and on a mountaintop in Freedom, Maine. Listed with the Directory of American Poets and Fiction Writers, she has published widely, and has taught poetry through New York State Poets-in-the-Schools, the Central Park Conservancy, and at universities, libraries, senior centers and other public forums. She holds a Master's degree in Comparative Literature, and is Founding President of Timelines Community Inc., a not-for-profit organization celebrating the wisdom and creativity of elders. She publishes Traces , a journal of elderwriting.

Unity College "America's Environmental College" is a small independent liberal arts college founded in 1965, located in the town of Unity, Maine. With a student body of approximately 500, it offers baccalaureate and associate degrees designed to educate students for professional preparation in fields of environmental science, natural resource management, wilderness-based outdoor recreation leadership, and related fields. Unity College, Unity, Maine 04988. 207-948-3131.www.unity.edu

Henry David Thoreau, poet, essayist and naturalist, is considered one of the most influential figures in American thought and literature. He was born in Concord, Mass. in 1817, graduated from Harvard, and taught school for several years, later earning a small living as a surveyor, and as assistant to his friend, Ralph Waldo Emerson. Thoreau helped to edit the Transcendentalist Magazine, The Dial, where he contributed poetry and prose. In 1845 he built a cabin on the shore of Walden Pond, where he lived alone from 1845 to 1847, keeping a detailed journal which provided the material for his masterpiece,Walden. His first book, A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers was published in1849. Reflecting on the night he spend in jail protesting slavery and the Mexican-American War, Thoreau wrote his essay "Civil Disobedience." Its message of nonviolent protest was later a strong influence on such leaders as Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King. In 1846 Thoreau climbed Katahdin's south side, and later canoed around its other sides. His book, The Maine Woods ,was published posthumously in 1864. Thoreau died in 1862 at the age of 44.