Mt. Tecumseh, 4000 footer #2

  Last Saturday, my wife and I climbed Mount Tecumseh near Campton, N.H.  This hike was highlighted by an encounter with "wildlife" (as you will see).  Mt. Tecumseh is 4000 footer number two on my list of 48.  I'm not doing them in any particular order yet, but I think I may go back to the Waterville Valley area on my next trip.

  Mt. Tecumseh stands at 4003' and is the shortest of the 4000 footers.  But I don't think short means easy in this case.  It kind of kicked our butts and I'm proud of my wife for climbing her first 4,000 footer.

  This hike can be broken up into thirds.  The first third of the trail crosses the Tecumseh Brook a couple of times and then up to an opening at a scenic view from a Waterville Valley ski slope.

The first brook crossing

and the second brook crossing

Here's a short video of the trail crossing the brook.  The water was nice and cold and felt great to splash on your face on warm day.

 

A view from the Waterville Valley "Boneyard" ski slope.  You can see the two of the three Tripyramid peaks on the right.

The second third of the trail is straight and steadily steep.  I don't think I've ever been on a straighter trail.

The last third of the trail starts where the trail turns to the right and you can see a bit of the horizon.

We went left at the summit sign and we're glad we did (as you will see).

This is the summit

An opening in the trees at the summit

We looked down from that view and, OH HELLO, a fox taking a nap at the summit.  We woke the fox up and the fox picked it's head up a couple of times but did not get up.  Had we taken a right at the summit sign, I do believe the fox would have been sitting right on the trail and blocked us from getting to the top.  I'm told that animals are more afraid of us then we are of them, but we didn't want to test that theory out.  Right after I took this picture we headed right back down the mountain.

A view to the west from the trail

A limited view of the summit from the trail

The "Northside Double" ski lift at Waterville Valley

A shot of the ski slope

All three Tripyramids

Here is the statue "Dying Tecumseh" at the Smithsonian depicting Tecumseh after he climbed his own mountain.  That is kinda how we felt after we got down.