TECUMSEH Does Not Mean “Giant Freaking Staircase”…But It Should

New Englanders have a knack for doing things the hard way. The trail up Mount Tecumseh, home of the Waterville Valley Ski Resort, is a prime example. I mean, which makes more sense for building a trail up a steep slope? Gentle switchbacks? Or carving a granite staircase straight up the side of the mountain? Well, we all know the solution the New Englanders chose…

And Tecumsah is steep. In those 2 1/2 miles from the parking area to the summit, the trail ascends 1/2 mile, keeping a consistent average 20% grade throughout the entire hike. But, for a ten point Summits-On-The-Air (SOTA) mountain? Totally worth it!

Can you see me?

Honestly, it’s thousands of rock steps. In some places of the world, Mount Tecumseh would be considered a manmade wonder. Yet, I can’t find a single nod to the masons who carved them. These steps are so skillfully constructed that each one slopes slightly upward on its free edge so that you do not slide off of them on the way down.

Some parts of the trail look a bit like the lesser skilled masonry apprentices were given a chance at making steps.

Or perhaps they were just drunk…

At one point the hiking trail abutted one of the ski runs, gifting us with this stunning view.

The pipes lining the edge of the ski trail caught my eye, presumably used for snowmaking. The picture gives a good impression of how steep the trail is.

Nellie, our dog, takes a pause at the beginning of another run of stairs.

…still more stairs…

…and still more stairs…

It’s hard to believe, but this sign was accurate.

We came across a few interesting tidbits of nature. This tree literally bends back around on itself and continues to grow, forming a literal twist in its trunk. I have never seen this before.

A yellow-orange version of the Fly Agaric (Amanita muscaria) mushroom grew in the middle of the trail after quite a few days of rain.

We did finally make it to the summit! Our moving time was only 1 1/2 miles per hour, much slower than the 2 miles per hour we typically clock on mountains. I went ahead and took a few moments to pose in front of the gorgeous summit view.

A tired Nellie quickly found the bedroom.

The open part of the summit was quite small, as most of the top was covered with trees. Finding a way to string up a 20M end fed halfwave antenna without getting in anyone’s way became top priority. In order to find two sufficiently high branches, I had to wrap the antenna over a dead tree limb in order to compensate for the inability to find two suitable trees far enough apart.

You can see the operating station and the positioning of the antenna, well out of anyone’s way, below.

Now, look at that again without me drawing all over it. I don’t specifically hike to get a view, but I think this one is pretty spectacular.

And here you can see AA1F getting some radio time in.

The activation started off really slow. AA1F and I were rather unsuccessfully (at first) competing with the IARU HF World Championship for some frequency space. 20M was packed so we switched to 80M with zero luck. We tried 17M. And 10M. We decided that in order to each get the four QSOs needed to successfully complete the activation, we would chase the IARU contesters. SOTA requires four summit contacts for a successful activation; We each made these quickly. After assuring our own activation success, AA1F and I decided to hold down a frequency on 20M and re-spot ourselves in order to give some love out to the chasers and hunters. This trip counted as W1/HA-015 for SOTA, and K-4512 (White Mountain National Forest) for Parks-On-The-Air. We were able to hang on to the frequency for 1 1/2 hours and ultimately make almost 90 contacts.

Two fun facts about Tecumseh: 1) It is no longer a 4000 footer. A geologic survey update in 2019 reduced the official elevation to 3997 feet.

And 2) The last time I hiked Mount Tecumseh nearly a decade ago, AA1F accidentally left my boots at home. The only shoes I had were black Crocs. I decided to climb the Mountain in those rubber clogs anyway. And you know what? I have been hiking mountains in crocs ever since. (It was a 4000 footer then!)

What goes up must come down. By twilight we reached the trailhead parking lot. If you look closely, you can see my green van.

So that wraps up ten more SOTA points for the log book. Tecumseh, not quite meaning “Giant Freaking Staircase”, but it sure does teach you to get up a hill one step at a time.

Always.
KM1NDY