The 4000 Footer That Wasn’t – Mount Tecumseh, White Mountains, New Hampshire Day Hikes

As you may have heard, the NH48 is now the NH47. In February, Mount Tecumseh was demoted from being a 4000 footer. New surveys place it’s elevation at 3,995 feet instead of the 4,003 feet it was previously thought to be. But wait! I didn’t hike it in February. I hiked it in December so I hit the summit before it officially shrank so I am adding this to my NH 4000 footers list and you can’t stop me.

December 8th, 2018: A daytrip up Mount Tecumseh.

Mount Tecumseh Summit

The day started in the parking lot of Waterville Valley Ski Area in the mid-morning. I decided to bag a quick peak since I was out at a party the night before and was really feeling it when I woke. The Mt Tecumseh Trail is the quickest way to the top of a 4000 footer 3,995 footer so it worked perfectly for my needs. The trail starts on the right-hand side of the parking lot when you are walking up towards the ski area and from there just winds it’s way up the “lookers right” of the ski area.

About halfway up, the trail pops out on the side of the ski area for a nice little view

Waterville Valley Ski Area From The Mt Tecumseh Trail

After you take in that view you will pretty much be in the trees until you get to the summit. Shortly before you reach the actual summit, you hit a ridgeline and turn right before pushing your way to the top for a spectacular view (the first image in this post). That isn’t to say the rest of the trail was ugly. In fact, since I went when snow was on the ground and trees, I had gorgeous views every second of the way.

Mount Tecumseh Trail

I highly recommend doing this trail in the winter and bring a small sled for the way down! I didn’t have one but glissaded halfway down on a garbage bag I had in my pack. You can’t image the how much fun that is until you do it.

All in all, this is a short and fun day trip that I am sure I will do again. I was able to really put my Deviator Hoody through the paces and also was testing some Julbo goggles that I need to review here. Let me say, they both performed awesome!

Last but not least, the trip details according to All Trails was 4.9 miles round trip with 2283 feet of elevation gain. Get out there and start building a 6 foot rock pile at the top so we can call it a 4000 footer once again!

In honor of the shrinking of Tecumseh, you can grab this silly “Never Forget” shirt over at Amazon if you are so inclined.

Mount Tecumseh, Never Forget NH48 Shirt

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