The Katahdin 100 is not the typical weekend fund-raising run. Or canoe race. Or attempt to re-create an ancient ritual.

On one level, it is all those things.

It is also a spiritual journey that does not separate the past from the present, the sacred from the secular, or the physical and mental challenge from the river and the mountain.

The 20th anniversary 100-mile journey up the Penobscot River to Mount Katahdin in canoe and on foot last weekend involved paddlers, bikers, runners and support crews from the Wabanaki tribes: Penobscot, Passamaquoddy, Maliseet and Micmac. In all, 161 people between ages 11 and 62 took part in the event, also known as the Katahdin Spiritual Run.

Barry Dana, the Penobscot tribal governor, started the run 20 years ago when he was 22. Each year he and others paddle 60 miles up the Penobscot, then run the final 40 miles to the mountain.

“The event gives us a chance to reconnect with some of the old traditions of moving up and down the river, and to show our respect for Katahdin,” Dana said Tuesday. He said it is difficult for him and other American Indians to separate their spirituality from other aspects of their lives, such as family and work.

“In our oral tradition, Katahdin has always been our highest sacred place. We would go there in time of need to seek answers. It’s important in modern time not to forget those traditions, but to make a commitment to them.”

The three-day event, which began on Indian Island last Saturday morning and concluded at the base of Mount Katahdin on Monday afternoon, mirrors the Penobscots’ ancient tradition of migrating up the Penobscot River to spend the winter hunting, fishing and gathering berries in the shadow of the mountain, according to Reuben “Butch” Phillips of Milford, a Penobscot tribal elder. He has participated in the event for more than 10 years.

Two years ago, he told the Baxter State Park Authority that the Penobscots didn’t have a word for religion, but have religious traditions based on a “real strong connection” with the land. Phillips said then that the tribe gathered not only bodily sustenance from the river and the land around Katahdin, but spiritual sustenance as well.

The event has grown and changed over the years, according to Dana.

As a child, he had heard stories of Indian distance runners who served as messengers or would run down food. That first year, Dana ran the 100 miles with two friends who served as his road crew.

The next year, seven people participated. By the 10th anniversary, the paddle up the river had been added and the on-land portion of the event included bicyclists and walkers. Nearly 90 people took part that year. This year’s event included a relay run for young people. Three of Dana’s children participated.

While many Americans trace their personal value systems to their religious heritage and upbringing, Dana said, the river, the mountain and the land in between shaped his life as a Penobscot

“You’re guided in your daily life by your life’s vision,” he said. “Your philosophy allows you to make decisions that are probably fairly predictable. What helps set your life in motion along a certain path is your value system.

“For Native Americans, value systems are deeply connected to nature,” he said. “For our tribe, it was, specifically, the river. … It shaped what you wanted to be in life. The only way today to maintain that – to stay connected to that value system – is by going to the river.”

Dana added that the event allowed the Wabanaki people to reconnect with the Penobscot and Katahdin at least once a year. He also emphasized that non-native friends and family members participated in the event, which begins and ends with a traditional ceremony.

“Each participant prays and offers sweet grass and tobacco to the sacred fire as rising smoke carries our thoughts and prayers to our ancestors,” said Phillips in describing the sunrise ceremony on Indian Island held last Saturday.

After the ceremony, everyone in the group runs through the community together to show unity. When they reach the bridge leaving the island, they disperse. Some paddle canoes up the river, and others run, walk or bicycle with support crews driving alongside or a few miles ahead.

Everyone usually reaches Katahdin Stream Campground in Baxter State Park by 5 p.m. Sunday when a potluck community meal is served and followed by drumming, said Dana. Monday begins with a big breakfast at 10 a.m., followed by the closing circle, which the tribal governor called “the highlight of the event.”

“Everyone takes turns telling the story of their journey to the mountain,” he said. “This year, the children played in the nearby stream, while we sat in the circle for four hours listening to each other.”

While the event reconnects the Wabanaki with their traditions, ancestors and spirituality, it also creates community and transcends race, Dana said.

“Paddling upriver 60 miles with a non-Indian totally erases all forms of race and cuts right to the heart of being human,” he said Tuesday. “There’s real bonding there and they feel for the river and the mountain the same way I do – total reverence.

“All races come together … take off the labels of religion and everybody sits in a circle. People can come together for sacredness. The word ‘religion’ has no play in it. When you get to that form of unity, you reach a heightened sense of community that’s almost immeasurable.”