Mount Tecumseh

Mount Tecumseh – White Mountains, NH

Elevation: 4,003′

Prominence: 1,739 feet (530 meters)
Location: Waterville Valley, NH (Grafton County, NH)
Range: Sandwich Range
Coordinates: 43°57.99′ North     71°33.40′ West
Rating: Easy
Features: Cascades, Waterville Valley Ski Area, Limited Summit Views, Loop Hike
Distance of highlighted hike: 5.2 miles

We were saving hiking Mount Tecumseh for a rainy day due to the fact that it doesn’t give you great views. It is true the summit doesn’t offer views but there are sections on a nice day that you could get a nice view in. Plus, you have the option to take Sosman Trail over to the ski slope side of the mountain and that offers some nice views as well. However, we didn’t know that so we hiked up Tecumseh in the rain. This hike is the one I like to refer to as 1million stairs. I felt like the entire hike was just rock stairs all the way up.

Due to the weather and how slippery wet rocks are, we decided to take Mount Tecumseh trail to the summit but walk the Sosman Trail to Waterville Valley Ski slope and take the ski slope down to prevent slipping on the rocks going down. Not sure if this was a better solution as the ski slope was also very slippery. We did make it down the mountain in less than two hours but we were soaking wet and the wind got pretty intense on the ski side. This was a rather short hike, it took us a little under 5 hours to complete this hike. If you’re new to hiking the whites or don’t have much time this is definitely doable in a half day.

Tecumseh is a very dog-friendly hike. None of the stairs up are difficult or that far apart. Java also loved running down the ski slope part of the mountain! He even got to sit on his first ski chairlift (it wasn’t moving).  Definitely, recommend this hike to dogs that aren’t able to hike the more technical trails or rock scrambles that the whites often have.