In mid-November I was attempting to regain my fitness after a bad back had kept me almost totally inactive for almost three months. I was just starting to do real hikes with some elevation gain, and on the 11th decided to go part way up Mount Tecumseh taking the Mount Tecumseh Trail. I started out with no plans for a bushwhack, all I wanted was to get some exercise as I tried to get back into shape.
The first part of the Mount Tecumseh Trail (starting from the Tripoli Road end) is very pleasant, with very good footing and easy grades. Towards the end of that easy section, at around 2,990 feet, I noticed a cairn. It certainly seemed worth investigating on the way down.
Approximately two miles from the road I reached the viewpoint that was my objective for the day. Here I had a snack and enjoyed the great broadside view of Moosilauke, with the South Peak, main peak, Waternome, Jim and Blue clearly visible, with extensions to the Kinsmans and to the mountains south of Moosilauke.
Studying my map I saw a small peak a short distance from the trail. The peak had two 100 foot contours (I only carry my AMC maps when doing a hike on a trail), so I wondered whether it might be a 3,000 footer.
On the way down I stopped at the cairn, got my compass out, took a map bearing, and proceeded. At first I walked through open hardwoods, then softwoods, mostly open but with a nasty dense band with lots of blowdowns. Soon things cleared up and I reached the obvious summit through open woods. There was no cannister there but a cairn had been built.
Going down I avoided the band of blowdowns by going a bit to the left (slightly north), and the going was easy. I reached the trail about 60 vertical feet lower than I had started.
At home I looked it up on this Topozone map, the peak is in the northwest quadrant of the map, labelled 3156. Alas, the cols is between 2,960 and 3,000 feet, so even if it is at 2,960 it just fails the 200 foot col test.
I posted a query about this peak on a hiking bulletin board and
was told that, on the older maps, it had the required 200 foot col,
and had been on the 3,000 Footer list. So I did not get to bag a real
peak, but had real fun doing the bushwhack.