Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Hiking the 4000 Footers: Tecumseh 7.8.2012

Tecumseh was our seventh mountain on The List. At only 4,003 feet, Tecumseh is a short hike of five miles and a little over 2,000 feet of elevation gain. Since we both work during the week- we are primarily only weekend warriors in the north country. This means that we have to deal with whatever weather is handed to us for the weekend. Lately it has primarily been hot. Hot and really, really humid.

Tecumseh

We elected to try the east approach up Mount Tecumseh up the Mount Tecumseh Trail. The trail is in excellent condition and sees a lot of use. Nearly all the mountains in the summer see a lot of use, but since Tecumseh is located at the base of Waterville Valley Ski Area and is such a short easy hike it sees a lot of traffic.

Tecumseh

Unfortunately, we tried to hike the same day as a road cycling race which shut down and diverted traffic in the area. It took us an extra 40 minutes to actually make it to the trailhead once in the Waterville Ski area due to all the diversions. It would be worth checking for any running or cycling events before going since this is such a popular tourist/summer vacation destination.

Tecumseh

The view at the top was somewhat limited in only one direction due to the trees. Since there are only a view look out spots on the summit we had to share with fellow hikers as well as share their phone conversations. 

Tecumseh

The only water available is near the trailhead/parking lot so bring plenty.

We finished our hike in just a handful of hours and went down to enjoy a nice lunch in town. Tecumseh is one of the first hikes I don't completely suffer for the whole hike. It's starting to become more and more enjoyable, except for the blisters. I have amazing blisters. Really three or four layers of blisters on top of blisters on top of blisters. More to come on that. 

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