Mt Tecumseh--Picture heavy

Today I climbed a Mountain.  The internet told me that it would be 4003 feet above sea level.  The geographical marker at the top read 3997.  Now that I am home, a brief Google search shows me that this is a recent development.  Had I hiked this at the beginning of the summer, it would have been different.  The wonders of modern technology or erosion, the mountain lost six feet.  I'm going to still call this a win for my goal of hiking a 4000 footer this year.  I'm taller than the three feet needed to be at that elevation.  😎 

One story from the climb up.  On the way up there was an older man (Like well over my 54 years of age) on his way down.  He asked me to look at his map and help to determine if he was on the correct trail.  He was not.  Some other hikers caught up to me and agreed, he had climbed up the opposite side of the mountain and was going to end up far from where his vehicle was.  My first thought was that had it been me, I would have turned around.  He didn't seem to be too far from the top.  After climbing the rest of the way myself, down kind of made sense.  Hours later, after I completed my hike I drove to where his vehicle should have been parked and the lot was empty.  His plan was to walk the six miles (I used the car odometer to check that) back to there.  I'm hoping that he got a ride.

A quick story from the climb down.  Walking down I saw some folks on the way up resting.  One looked familiar and sure enough, he had performed with i Sebastiani before!  We exchanged a brief conversation as I continued past them.  What a place to run into someone I know! The sky was clouding in and I was concerned it might rain.  It did.

The camera in my phone stopped working at the top.  I'm hoping that a hard reboot will fix it, but I have my doubts.  My happy today is getting up and down that mountain safely.  I'd love to say that I didn't fall, but I did trip and slip once and fell.  I'm fine, got right back up again and didn't fall far.  Other thoughts--SO MANY STAIRS; the leaf colors are changing; there were times when I briefly considered turning around; I told one person I saw that I was 'contemplating my life choices' and I meant choosing to hike; I took A LOT of breaks; thankful that the rain was off and on-mostly off; I like to take pictures of weird trees, mossy formations and rocks; at one point I thought some birds were following me; my nose is runny; going up and down the stairs I had to say left and right in my head so that I wouldn't always lead with either the left or right foot;  I forgot my pedometer today but the app has me at 14,283 steps, I am glad I did this today.

I love how the leaves fall and decorate the trees below them. 

Yellow blazes on a white tree are not the best idea. 

The view was along one of the ski trails at Waterville Valley. 

And that view was gorgeous. 

One of many mossy areas. 

I think I can. 

More stairs. 

Almost there, 

There is a bird on this short clip.

From the top.