Mount Carleton

Mount Carleton
Elevation	820 m (2,690 ft)
Location
Mount Carleton Northumberland County,  New Brunswick
Range	Appalachian Mountains
Coordinates	47°23′N 66°53′W / 47.383°N 66.883°W / 47.383; -66.883Coordinates: 47°23′N 66°53′W / 47.383°N 66.883°W / 47.383; -66.883
Topo map	NTS 21O/07
Climbing
Easiest route	Hike

Fire-spotting hut on Mount Carleton

Climbing near peak of Mount Carleton (IR Walker 1993)

Mount Carleton, in Mount Carleton Provincial Park, is the highest elevation in the Canadian province of New Brunswick, and is also the highest peak in the Canadian Maritime Provinces. It is one of the highlights of the Canadian portion of the International Appalachian Trail. The mountain was named after Thomas Carleton, New Brunswick's first lieutenant governor.^[1][2]

Before aerial surveillance was extensively used, a hut was maintained on the summit for fire-spotting in the remote north-central part of the province. A very similar hut was maintained on Big Bald Mountain. Triangulation among these huts and other fire towers allowed the locations of wildfires to be determined quickly and easily.

Mount Carleton is a monadnock, an erosional remnant of resistant igneous rocks that remained after an ancient Mesozoic peneplain surface was uplifted in the Cenozoic to form a plateau, and subsequently dissected via millions of years of erosion by wind, water and glacial ice.^[3][4][5][6] It consists of 400 million-year-old rhyolitic and basaltic volcanics.

See also

• List of highest points of Canadian provinces and territories
• Mountain peaks of Canada
• Mountain peaks of North America

References

1. ^ Rayburn, A. (1975) Geographical Names of New Brunswick. Toponymy Study 2. Surveys and Mapping Branch, Energy Mines and Resources Canada, Ottawa
2. ^ Geographical Names of Canada http://geonames.nrcan.gc.ca/index_e.php
3. ^ Wilson, R. A., M. A. Parkhill, and J. I. Carroll, New Brunswick Appalachian Transect: Bedrock and Quaternary geology of the Mount Carleton - Restigouche River Area, http://www.gnb.ca/0078/minerals/pdf/FieldG_Bdrk_Quatern_Geo_NE_NB-e.pdf
4. ^ Roland, A. E. 1982. Geological Background and Physiography of Nova Scotia. Halifax: The Nova Scotian Institute of Science.
5. ^ Encyclopaedia Britannica, http://www.britannica.com/eb/topic-388796/article-9053304
6. ^ Mount Carleton Provincial Park Retrieved on 2007-08-18