Saturday, June 08, 2024

2024.6.8. Teneriffe by bus

6/8 Saturday. I took Trailhead Direct bus (Memorial Day weekend - Sept 15, weekend only). First time this year for me. I went to Teneriffe on the first bus from the downtown stop (next to the library, on Spring St). It was completely full, and quite a few hikers couldn't get on this bus. The 7:45am bus was late (a bad sign: meaning a lot of people from Capitol Hill, the terminus). I got off the bus ~8:40.

I'm out of shape, took me almost 3 hours to get to the summit, 2 hours to come down. In fact, I was tired just 1 hour onto the trail, before even see the lower part of the waterfall. Today, Teneriffe Falls is out in force, thanks to the rain last weekend and warm melting weather. Quite a lot of people. I scrambled up, and found a rock to take a break, slightly away from the crowd.

It's quite warm today (may have reached 80°F). Thankfully, the trail is almost all in the shade. I had to make multiple short breaks to refuel and drink. Only took 1.3L of water. Almost no snow left at all. Reached the summit of Mount Teneriffe at 11:37am. Quite some people. Quite some flies. Took a longer break, got my feet out of the boots to cool down. Clear sky, great 360° view today.

Headed back down ~12:05. Decided to take the same way down (the shortest) instead of my usual route to Mt Si TH. Because, OK is coming over today, but didn't tell me when. Plus, there's a dragon boat festival at SLU, and 4pm is the estimated final race. That'd be cool to see.

Saw the bus when I approached the TH. Ran onto it. It waited a couple of more minutes, and then drove off. ~2:05pm. Lucky today. Shortest wait ever.

Back at the library ~3pm. Used the restroom and checked out the PEAK READ shelf. Because I had a bus transfer, I had a few minutes before catching another bus to SLU Park. The library's digital system is offline (due to a security breach during the Memorial weekend). My book holds are not coming. SPL doesn't tell you why these books are on the PEAK READ shelf. Not many left.
Got to SLU park ~3:30pm. The festival had ended! Only saw these 3 "dragon" boats.