Hiking Mount Teneriffe - or Was It?

Sunday, December 6 2009

Level of difficulty: Hard


David and I set out for Mount Teneriffe - a twin of, so to say, Mount Si. The trail head is located about 2 miles further away from Mount Si trail head on Mt Si Road SE and has an elevation of about 960 feet The trail length to the destination Mount Teneriffe would be roughly seven miles and the elevation is about 4760 feet.


The trail started innocuously beyond the gated entrance on an old forest logging road that was covered with leaves strewn all over. David mentioned about a short cut via Kamikaze falls trail that would reduce the distance by a couple of miles. By the time we reached the fork, we found the trail being covered with powdery white stuff also known as snow dust. Unfortunately for us, the Kamikaze trail was closed for the time being. So we continued on the main trail. As we advanced, the snow layer below our feet became progressively thicker.

At about four mile we reached the fork on a saddle where a detour would be a mile of distance to Mount Si. Mount Teneriffe was still three miles away. With prevailing weather conditions of low light in a short December day, we figured we may not be able get back to the trail head before dark, were we to go all the way to Mount Teneriffe. Alternately, we could call it a day at that point or visit Mount Si. So Mount Si it was that we decided to go on to.


It was already bitterly cold up there. My camera in the mean time stopped working in the sub freezing ambiance. I substituted it with my cellphone but the results were not very encouraging. The snow pack was perhaps a foot deep. Soon we were at the foot of Haystack scramble on top of Mount Si. The weather by now took an ominous turn. The sun looked eerie in the cloudy sky. We finished our snack lunch quickly and started on our journey back to the trail head.


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