It’s easy to overlook Mount Teneriffe as a destination when it shares a ridgeline with one of the most popular peaks in the North Bend area, Mount Si. On a couple of occasions, I thought I might traverse between the two peaks, but it always seemed to work out that I just didn’t have the motivation to traverse over to Mount Teneriffe after finishing the scramble. So, since some snowfall in the mountains had shut down my first objective for the day, I decided today was the day to try something new.
The trail starts by winding briefly uphill before meeting the old road that the Department of Natural Resources converted to a trail through a project a few years back. I am usually one to shy away from road walks, but I must say they did an excellent job of making it feel like a trail and not a road.
After about the first 3 miles, the trail turns up the first major switchbacks and begins what is standard for the Issaquah Alps: a steep ascent through thick evergreen forest. However, unlike other peaks in the area where you can grab at least a view or two on the way up, Mount Teneriffe has but one lonely lookout spot. This made the ascent a bit underwhelming and certainly kept me focused on the burning in my legs.
That being said, at the time of this writing, a decent amount of fall color was livening up the forest.
After cresting the ridge and beginning the final walk toward the summit of Mount Teneriffe, the air became noticeably colder. With a bit of wind kicking up, it began to feel as though winter had come to the Cascades. The trail from this point becomes noticeably easier, which was a relief on the legs. But still, though I thought the views would open up, the trail continued to wind through thick forest.
On the final hill climb, the snowfall from the previous day had blanketed the woods, which was a welcome sight. Though I was able to continue wearing only my trail runners, there were a few spots where microspikes might have lent a helping hand.
Finally, just below the summit of Mount Teneriffe, the view opens up. Unfortunately, on this day, a thick blanket of clouds in the sky limited the views south toward Rainier.
The summit of Mount Teneriffe itself has a fabulous view. Though the clouds were obscuring everything to the south, I was able to see all the way north to Mount Baker and view the tops of the mass of mountains to the east near Snoqualmie Pass. Certainly a bonus was there being significantly fewer people than one would encounter on Mount Si.or Mailbox Peak.
With the satisfaction of having summited another of the I-90 peaks, I headed back for the car and made the descent in just about 2 hours. While this will most likely be my one and only visit to the top of Mount Teneriffe, I may in the future use the trail to get up to Mount Si, as there were almost no people and the parking area was almost empty when I arrived at 9 a.m.