PressHerald.com: Each year, members of the Penobscot Indian Nation take a spiritual pilgrimage from Indian Island to Mount Katahdin as a way to honor their heritage and ancestors. The arduous journey – called the Katahdin 100 – takes place along the Penobscot River leading into Labor Day weekend. Some travel by foot, others by canoe.
The 100-mile journey has been followed by the tribe for centuries, said former Penobscot chief Barry Dana, although the modern inception of the Katahdin 100 dates to 1971. Dana, 58, has completed it each year.
But this year Dana will take a different – and far more challenging – route to the 5,267-foot Mount Katahdin, the central and spiritual place in the Penobscot’s aboriginal territory. He will attempt to hike the 314 miles from Mount Washington to Katahdin in eight days, covering 39 miles a day.
Read about a former Penobscot chief’s quest to speed-hike from Mount Washington to Mount Katahdin.