Saw Ktaadn from a hill.

September 24

Saturday. 

Saw Ktaadn from a hill about two miles northwest of Bangor on the road to Pushaw. It is about eighty miles from Bangor. This was the nearest point from which we made out to see it. 

In the afternoon, walked up the Kenduskieg. 

White golden-rod, fall dandelion, hog peanut, Solidago arguta and altissima, Aster macrophyllus (?), and red maple (?). 

Witch-hazel well out. 

Epilobium coloratum, Solidago squarrosa, S. latifolia, Aster cordifolius (?). 

H. D. Thoreau, Journal, September 24, 1853

Saw Ktaadn from a hill about two miles northwest of Bangor See September 21, 1853 ("Rained all day, which prevented the view of Ktaadn, otherwise to be seen in very many places . . . Reached Bangor at dark.")

The Kenduskeag Stream flows from the northwest into the Penobscot at Bangor.

White golden-rod . . . Solidago arguta and altissima . . . Solidago squarrosa, S. latifolia. See September 24, 1856 ("Early S. stricta, done some time. . . S. altissima, much past prime . . . S. bicolor . . . in prime . . S. lalifolia, in prime..") See also  July 31, 1857 ("The commonest solidago on the East Branch, Solidago squarrosa."): August 12, 1852 ("Solidago bicolor, white goldenrod, apparently in good season"); August 21, 1856 ("The prevailing solidagos now are, lst, stricta. . .; 2d, the three-ribbed, of apparently several varieties, which I have called arguta or gigantea (apparently truly the last); 3d, altissima, though commonly only a part of its panicles; 4th, nemoralis, just beginning generally to bloom. Then there is the odora, 5th, out some time, but not common; and, 6th, the bicolor, just begun in some places"); August 24, 1853 ("The altissima . . . is just beginning to be abundant. Its tops a foot or more broad, with numerous recurved racemes on every side, with yellow and yellowing triangular points. It is the most conspicuous of all . . . Solidago latifolia not yet."); August 31, 1853 (" The Solidago altissima is now the prevailing . . . goldenrod, in low grounds where the swamp has been cleared. It occupies acres, densely rising as high as your head"); September 1, 1856 ("Solidago stricta, still very abundant, though probably a little past prime. S. gigantea, say in prime. S. nemoralis, not quite in prime, but very abundant. S. altissima, perhaps in prime. S. odora, in prime, or maybe a little past. . . .S. bicolor, not quite in prime, but common . . .S. latifolia, not yet at all.");  September 6, 1856 ("Solidago arguta very common, apparently in prime"); September 15, 1856 ("Early Solidago stricta (that is, arguta) done "); September 12, 1859 ("The golden-rod on the top and the slope of the hill are the Solidago nemoralis, at the base the taller S. altissima. ); September 16, 1857 ("Solidago latifolia in prime at Botrychium Swamp.");  September 21, 1856 ("Solidago altissima past prime . . .[On top of Cliff, behind the big stump] is a great place for white goldenrod, now in its prime and swarming with honey-bees.");  October 2, 1856 ("Solidago bicolor considerably past prime"); October 6, 1858 ("Solidago latifolia in bloom still, but always sparingly."); October 8, 1856 ("S. latifolia, far gone."); October 11, 1856 ("The white goldenrod is still common here, and covered with bees."); October 20, 1852 ("Tansy, white goldenrod, blue-stemmed goldenrod. Aster undulatus, autumnal dandelion, tall buttercup, yarrow, mayweed. ");September 19, 1857("Solidago arguta variety done, say a week or more.") [Solidago arguta in old usage, or (misapplied) solidago stricta, is solidago juncea (early goldenrod) ~Vascular Flora of Concord, Massachusetts; see September 11, 1857 ("My old S. stricta (early form) must be S. Arguta var. juncea.")]