Saturday, May 16, 2020

2020.5.16. Mt. Teneriffe + Mt. Si

5/16, Saturday, light drizzle. 3 of us met at Mt. Teneriffe TH a few minutes ~7am. A big new sign states that this trailhead parking opens from 7am-5pm. By the time we started hiking ~7:05, already ,~15 cars! Not good for "social distance".

We headed to Teneriffe Falls first. First 0.3 miles is nice easy trail. Then it connects to some old decent gravel road till the junction of Mt. Teneriffe trail. Then it's a gravel trail, quite a bit of rocks (seems recently made). Already met 4 people coming down before 8am. It was muggy. I was wearing just a T-shirt, with my fleece wrapped around my waist. Met ~3 parties at the falls. It's bigger and prettier than I expected. Quite tall. You can scramble up and down a bit to get even closer. Too close to take a photo of the full waterfall.

We retraced the short spur back to the main trail, and took Kamikaze trail towards Mount Teneriffe. I really like this trail. Yes, steep, but once you reach the ridge, you get slices of view through trees from both sides. At ~4300', solid snow, compact by hundreds of boots. The slope was gentler. I put on my fleece. The view to the south (across I-90) opens up gradually. The very top is rocky, no snow. Excellent view, even on this cloudy day. Drizzle, I put on my rain jacket. Wind from east, so we sat on the west side of the top for lunch (east side has better view), looking over to Mt. Si. We were alone for only ~5 minutes.

Once down from the rocky summit, we followed Mount Teneriffe Trail. More of less flat. Compact snow down to ~3800'. We put on spikes so we could walk faster. A runner ran by us in T-shirt and shorts! All along, no view, almost flat, quite boring. The lower portion feels like a gravel road. At one point, I glissade down a short drop, hit a short branch sticking out of snow. That knocked me out for a good few minutes. Luckily nothing broken, just a big bruise.

Next junction, we headed to Mt. Si, gaining back ~400'. An easy 0.8 mile gravel road. At the base of the Haystack, saw a few hikers having lunch. It was about noon. No view to speak off. At the wooden bench here, I put everything inside my pack (including the water bottle and hiking pole. Should have just left my pack at the base), to prepare for the scramble. At the saddle (where this photo was taken, with the view of Teneriffe), the wind was a bit too strong to be comfortable. So I waited for my hiking buddies here. Two boys came up, and continued to the top. So I went up as well. Thankfully, this 10m scramble wasn't windy. Great view on the top (not as good as top of Teneriffe), but not enough safe space to take a photo without anyone. Windy. I went down to the saddle, couldn't see what was going on the cliff. So, I started down climb. In the middle of the cliff, I was surprised to see one of my friends tossing his shoes off. I scrambled beside him. He was frustrated with his soles which were not grippy. But I think it's more difficult with just socks. Anyway, we made it down safely, one step at a time. By then, quite a few folks arrived and ready to climb. Not sure how many did.

Back on the same road to the junction. Continued down along Mt. Teneriffe trail. It's very boring but easy walking. Feels like walking on a gravel road. The half mile west of the junction to Teneriffe Falls trail is flat and nice. 3 substantial bridges across small creeks (one totally dry), and a couple of easy creek hoping. Back to the parking lot at 3pm. ~60 cars!

Total ~13 miles, ~4600'. I like going up to the waterfall and Kamikazi trail, and the scramble of Mt Si's Haystack. The rest of the trail is boring.