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

Mt. Moosilauke, 4000 Footer #1

Well, I can finally post about something related to my very first post.  A couple of years ago I decided to hike the 4000 'footers of New Hamshire's White Mountains.  Today I found the time to get up one of these big bastards.  I climbed to the top of Mount Moosilauke, the western most 4000 Footer and also one of the most southern.

The day started off with leaving the house earlier than planned, so I arrived at the Moosilauke Ravine Lodge at 8:45 am.

Moosilauke Ravine Lodge run by Darmouth College

Flavor of the Month

My new flavor of the month is hiking the White Mountains of New Hampshire. I really don't know what exactly brought this on, but I have a great view from my 6th floor office in Waltham looking over a lake with a couple islands, also I read about Shakleton's expidition to Antartica and other stories of survival in Antartica (one where a guy had to reattach the soles of his feet each day {WHAT?!?!}), but i think it was the passing of Sir Edmund Hillary who was the first to climbed Mt. Everest with Tenzig Norgay.

I used to be in the Boy Scouts and we went camping every month and two weeks in the summer.  I also climbed Mount Liberty with my father and a friend of his.  I had thought for a while that I really didn't ever want to go camping or hiking again. I had done enough for a lifetime.

However, something has gotten into me and I now have a goal of climing NH's 4000's within the next ten years my lifetime.  I'm pretty exited!  Will I do day hikes or weekend treks? I'm not sure. So I have to get the equipment together, buy a new tent and backpack.

Hillary and Norgay