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Mount Katahdin ( ) is the highest mountain in the U.S. state of Maine at . Named Katahdin, which means 'Great Mountain', by the Penobscot Native Americans, it is within Northeast Piscataquis, Piscataquis County, and is the centerpiece of Baxter State Park. It is a steep, tall massif formed from a laccolith weathered to the surface. The flora and fauna on the mountain are typical of those found in northern New England, with the summit hosting fragile and endangered alpine tundra.
Katahdin has been known to the Native Americans in the region for thousands of years and was known to Europeans since at least 1689. It has inspired hikes, climbs, journal narratives, paintings, and a piano sonata. The area around the peak was protected starting in the 1930s by Maine Governor Percival Baxter, who spent much of his personal fortune purchasing the mountain and surrounding lands after being unable to convince the state legislature of the wisdom of protecting it. Katahdin is the northern terminus of the Appalachian Trail and is near a stretch known as the Hundred-Mile Wilderness. Though part of the Appalachian Mountain system, Katahdin is isolated from the range, and sits largely on its own as a Inselberg. The nearest higher mountains in any direction are the high peaks of the Presidential Range, around to the south-west.
In 1967, Mount Katahdin was designated as a National Natural Landmark by the National Park Service.
The mountain is commonly called just "Katahdin", though the official name is "Mount Katahdin" as decided by the US Board on Geographic Names in 1893.
In Baxter State Park, many outcrops of have striations, whereas Katahdin Granite and Traveler Rhyolite lava have weathered surfaces on which striations are commonly not preserved. Bedrock surfaces of which were buried by glacial sediments and only recently exposed have well preserved striations, as in the vicinity of Ripogenus Gorge 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 Patten 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.
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.
There is low lake country to the south and west of Katahdin, and lowlands extending east to the Atlantic Ocean and north to the Saint Lawrence River in Canada.
The summit of Katahdin offers some of the longest unbroken lines of sight in the United States, and on clear days can be seen all the way from the White Mountains of neighboring New Hampshire; a distance of .
Katahdin's height and isolation earns it significant coverage in indigenous and post-colonial Maine culture and literature. Katahdin's profile is distinctive and the indisputable centerpiece of Baxter State Park. Katahdin and nearby Hamlin Peak are the only two areas to host a subarctic climate in Maine. In winter, the snowcapped east and west faces of Katahdin resemble "the Kilimanjaro of New England", and it dominates the otherwise flat and endless forests of the North Maine Woods. Katahdin is also the northernmost mountain in the eastern United States with an elevation over .
Among some Native Americans, Katahdin was believed to be the home of the storm god Pamola, and thus an area to be avoided.
The first recorded climb of "Catahrdin" was by Massachusetts surveyors Zackery Adley and Charles Turner, Jr. in August 1804. The letter describing the ascent of Charles Turner Jr. states that they began at the (West Branch Penobscot) at 8:00 a.m. and arrived on the summit at 5:00 p.m. guided by two Native Americans who were initially cautious but when the "cold part of the mountain" was reached and sensing the determination of the others became ambitious to reach the top first. Turner lists his party as: William Howe, Amos Patten, Joseph Treat, Samuel Call, William Rice, Richard Winslow, Charles Turner, Jr. In the 1930s Governor Percival Baxter began to acquire land and finally deeded more than 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.
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. 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.
Elizabeth Oakes Smith "climbed Mount Katahdin in 1849—reportedly the first white woman to do so".White, Jonathan W., Shipwrecked: A True Civil War Story of Mutinies, Jailbreaks, Blockade-Running, and the Slave Trade, Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield, 2023, p. 47.
Mt. Katahdin has several trails leading up to Baxter, Pamola, or Hamlin Peaks 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. Even for experienced hikers, Katahdin is often considered one of the most challenging hikes in the entire Appalachian Mountain range. 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).
The most famous hike to the summit goes along Knife Edge, a glacial arête which traverses the ridge between Pamola Peak and Baxter Peak. There have been more than 60 deaths on Katahdin since 1933 including October 8 and 9, 2020. The park as a whole typically sees a need for roughly 40 search-and-rescue events per year (1 in 2,000 hikers), with a peak of 70 in 2013. The vast majority of incidents occur in the summer months, and the primary causes are leg injury, exhaustion, dehydration and disorientation. Because of this, Katahdin and New Hampshire's Mount Washington are routinely near the top of the most deadly "low mountains" on Earth, with more fatalities per foot of elevation gained than some much higher mountains in the Himalaya.
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