64 Dutcher — Mammals of Mi. lu/tahdin, Maine. 



Four Brothers, vary from about 2000 feet to 3000 feet in height. 

 Katahdin itself reaches 5200 feet. 



The top of this great ridge is an undulating plateau, shaped 

 in a very general way like an hour-glass. Its lowest point, 

 which is at the waist, is about 4200 feet, whence the sur- 

 face slopes gradually upward to the north and south. The 

 highest elevation is reached in the south peak, 5200 feet. The 

 two northern peaks, merely somewhat elevated points in the 

 general surface, reach to about 4700 feet. The plateau surface 

 measures probably four miles from north to south, and a mile 

 in width at the north and south expansions. The ground is 

 rock strewn and grassy, with an extensive area of fir scrub — 

 krummholz — near the constriction, and on the northwestern 

 promontory. From the plateau edges, the mountain falls rapidly 

 away. On the east, the north and south spurs, with precipitous 

 rock walls, enclose two great basins — the "north" and the 

 "great" — separated by a long sloping ridge that comes down 

 from the saddle. The more southern of these two basins is 

 itself imperfectly divided into the "south" and the "middle" 

 basins by another and smaller spur. The head of the middle 

 basin is inclined sufficiently to support vegetation, and by a 

 slide at its head affords easy access to the saddle by the old 

 Appalachian Trail. The only other trails to the top are the 

 Abol Trail up the steep south wall of the southwest promon- 

 tory, and an old unused trail up the crest of a long promontory 

 that leads north and'helps enclose a deep glacial basin on the 

 north face of the mountain. The western slopes are somewhat 

 less precipitous, and lead down to a wide flat valley, mountain- 

 locked by Katahdin and its daughter hills on the west. The 

 country surrounding themountain is comparatively level, almost 

 completely forested, and dotted with lakes, ponds, and sphagnum 

 bogs. The only forest denudation has been by fire. 



The floor of the great basin, in which I had one of my 

 camps, slopes from about 3400 feet at its head to '2400 feet at its 

 eastern edge. A small glacial lake, Chimney Pond, occupies 

 part of the south basin. The floor of the north basin is about 

 3500 feet above sea level, is more extensive than either the 

 south or middle basins, and has elevation enough to render it 

 devoid of high timber. Its floor is in places free from tree 

 growth, and in places along its lower edge, covered by scrub 



