Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1920-01-22

OF Mt. Ktaadn too and can say de-
liberately and honestly. that while
Ktaadn Is 1000 feet less In altstud
than Washington and 1900 less than
Mitchell, it is still preeminent IN
scenic beauty and rugged grandeur.
Make of Ktaadn a national park
with proper transportation facilities
and suitable housing: let the people
know about 1t and thousands VIII De
able to enjoy it annually to the
scant hundred of enthusiasts who
now brave all the difficulties and
hardships of the present.
One may arrive within sight OF
Ktaadn over night but the nearest
railway point Il over 80 miles away.
Steamboat canoes and guides may
put the traveller in touch with Abel
Slide in one full day, but then only
meager accommodations are avail.
able, and when, as is usual, the third
day is used to make a rush for tn.
summit. the whole day is consumed
in coming and going with but little
time left for sightseeing or explor
ing. Read Thoreau's Maine Woods
and Winthrop's Life in the Open
Air. and know the long and Difficult.
journeys they made only to find when
they neared the summit that 1t was
indeed "in the sky. and that while
they had enjoyed a delectable jour-
ney they were not to see the Knife
Edge. Pamela and the Chimney. the
Great Cor South Basin. the crumb .
ling cliffs right under their feet. nor
the wonderful, enchanting view Of
forests. mountains. rivers and lakes.
The approach from the west or
Hunts trail may have the same
starting point (Norcross). using
York's Camp or Hunts Camp for
over night; or one may go yia Green
vile (Moosehead lakel to Lilly Bay.
thence over the Great Northern Pa
per Co.'S automobile road (32 miles,
to the West Branch carry below
Ripogenus Dam. Seven miles walk
down the carry brings one to the
dam near the mouth of Sourdnatunk
stream: thence north. 1t is five miles
to York's Camp. or six miles to
Hunts Camp. The round trip to the
summit is IA miles from oYrk's and
16 miles from Hunts. The trip from
either cap is long days effort. II
the weather Is fine one will enjoy
the beautiful panorama to the west
and south. the interesting plateau
{about 1850 feeD, views into the
North Basin, the lain Peak (5a73
feeD. the East Peak (525S feet), the
Ertf
Pamola's Summit (4S19 feet), and
most wonderful Of all, the Great
South Basin. There is no camping
place at the summit and hence only
little Of the Knife Edge may be
negotiated. and there is no time at
all to descend into either Basin and
get those wondrous views from the
East
Another approach is from Stacyviile
previous arrangement the two. camps
are available enroute. one at Lunkas oos
Ferry talas a ferry no longer) eight
niles. and one at Cushman's on the
south side of ktaadn lake, % miles in
Chimney pond in the Great Basin is an.
other 10 miles. The entire distance has
teen covered in one long day. but few
tenderfeet take less than two days and
those with sufficient leisure will allow
three days. stopping one night at the
ferry" and the second at Cushman's
There is a permanent camp at Chin.
rey pond and one must carry food and
camping material. The way as far as
Cushman's is described as a tote road
and stoNt pair of horses will haul in
a blackboard" with SOo-lo0o pounds OF
freight. but it, is hard to imagine a
worse read. One side may be a glacial
drift and boulders a foot in diameter
while the other side NAV be axle deep
Ii mud. On the II miles journey be.
tween LInkssoos and Cushman's the
trampers beat the wagonc at least two
hours. Horse-drawn jumpers. made BY
mailing a board platform about three
feet square. three feet from the thick
end of pair OF saplings. can be used
over the five or six miles between Cush-
mans and Sandy Stream pond. Thence
the trail is rough AID steep-IioO feet in
about fout miles, and if horses are used
the freight must be packed on their
backs to Chimney pond.
Neither Thoreau nor Winthrop saw
the summit Of ktaadn except in mist
and they saw nothing of the South
Basin with its perpendicular cliffs, bu,
Winthrop in 1860 termed 4. 1.-THE best
mountain in the widest wild to be had
on this side of the continent" and
Thoreau was not less enthusiastic. What
adiectives and enthusiasm may be per-
mitted to those of US who have been
vouchsafed views from both sides OF
the mountain, and on and from the
summit in good weather. and who were
comfortably housed in the Great Basin
for 10 glorious days
In the spring of 1916 bulletin of the
Appalachian Mountain Club thus de-
scribed the proposed Augusta camp:
Chimney pond $50 feet of the mountain
in the heart of the Great Basin and
surrounded on three sides by the Basin
walls. rising perpendicularly 300 feet
or more" That was the magnet that
drew the author to the mountain. There
was no exaggeration and he hopes by
means of his pictures to bring our au-
dience to at least fraction of his own
enthusiasm. l don't know what causes
have kept this most wonderful and
meautiful of New Englands natural
scenery from being made properly &C
cessihie years and years ago. but if we
are to have any regard for the great
out-of-doors. the beautiful and sublime
in nature. the inspiration and uplift of
the mountains. and the forests a-d the r
health-giving atmosphere. the time ID
NOW q Mace this rnnaf ,rl.rnDrs-, -,