Drawn by the area’s splendor and vast wilderness, famous conservationists, politicians, and artists came here. In August 1879, young Theodore Roosevelt, who saw himself as a combination of naturalist, old-time explorer, and big game hunter, climbed 5,268-foot Mount Katahdin, the peak Henry David Thoreau had written about so eloquently. Roosevelt later recalled the ascent and especially the descent of Katahdin in moccasins with qualified joy. Thoreau, assisted by Penobscot Indian guides, made three major excursions through the region in the mid-19th century, and his expeditionary journal portrayed a robust industrial and agrarian economy on the doorstep of wilderness, helping capture and project the character of the region to readers around the world. Visitors continue to be attracted to Katahdin and the surrounding woods and waters.