Tecumseh: 6.4.06

Summary
OwnerMITOC Gallery Administrator
Creation Date2006-06-04 20:31:52 UTC-0400
DescriptionMt. Tecumseh (Waterville Valley): 06.04.06
Eric Downes and Mike Kokko


Q: What’s a good way to recover from knee surgery?

A: Hiking in the White Mountains, of course.



Saturday was a Camelot keyholder trip. The weather? Rain. Rain, rain rain. We primed pumps, scrubbed stoves, and had some good ‘clean’ fun in the Clivus liquid drain pit. After drying-out and warming up with the X-Men we were ready to explore some of New Hampshire’s natural beauty.



The rain tapered-off on Sunday morning and it started to warm up as Eric and I left Camelot around 10am. Driving down Tripoli road required negotiating some severe blowdowns but was otherwise painless. The Mt. Tecumseh trail ascends from the parking area at a fairly steady rate to a decent overlook (ie: false summit) where we ate lunch. We finally located ourselves after several map consultations and proceeded upwards towards the real summit of Tecumseh.



There are three trails that converge at the 4003’ summit, each sporting signage reading, “Mt. Tecumseh Trail”. We took the south-most trail towards Waterville Valley for some good ol’ New England late-spring skiing. Ok, we didn’t bring skis and the grass was nearly a foot high, but it was still a mighty good time.



Returning by the same route, we logged roughly six hours of trail time on what our trusty MITOC map reported to be exactly eight miles. With two cars, this would be a great beginner/intermediate circus hike. The group could start from Tripoli Road, hike up over the summit of Tecumseh, and head down to the village via green circles, blue squares, and black diamonds. Mmm... black diamonds.