Top of Mount Katahdin, Maine

Mount Katahdin is the tallest mountain in Maine, and its highest point is Baxter Peak. It is located inside Baxter State Park, most of which was amassed as private property by Percival Baxter, a former Governor of the state, who gave many thousands of acres of his land to the state to make a park, starting in 1930. He purchased the land that included Mount Katahdin from the Great Northern Paper Company, which had more than two million acres in Maine, and operated one of the largest paper plants in the country at the time, in nearby Millinocket. Baxter Peak is also the northern end of Appalachian Trail, 2,200 walking miles from its southern end, in Georgia. The trail was conceived by the visionary landscape engineer and theorist, Benton MacKaye, in 1921, and was completed in 1937, though its route continues to be adjusted. At least two million people walk a portion of the trail every year, and usually between 500 and 1,000 people walk its entire length every year, mostly from south to north. The speed record for an autonomous through-hiker is 45 days, but most through-hikers take four to six months.