Mount Teneriffe Loop Hike (up via the Kamikaze Route )

 Hiked up to Mount Teneriffe via the Kamikaze route today. First 3 miles is to the upper Teneriffe Falls with 770 ft of elevation gain (the last 1.5 miles is 3,000 ft of elevation gain) for a 4.5 mile, 3,800 ft gain hike. We came down the longer 7 mile route via an old logging road for a 11.5 mile hike today.
The first two miles are fairly flat, you want to make sure to follow the signs for Teneriffe Falls for the Kamikaze route up to the top. The second sign is found at 2 miles, and here the trail begins to go up steep switchbacks to the falls.  There was lots of water in the creek.










View of lower Teneriffe Falls

 View of upper Teneriffe Falls

 a short distance before reaching upper Teneriffe Falls, the Kamikaze trail can be found going up (on the right side of the falls).
This is a steep trail, with very few turns, it mostly goes up















The snow level was a bit lower than where  I thought it would be. It was mostly soft on top and firm underneath, traction helped.

We had a few peek a boo views of Mt Rainier to the south through the trees as the trail continued to climb up.

There was one area where the snow was hard and icy and I found it difficult to make kick steps (no photo as we didn't want to stop in that section).





Here we are close to the summit, it is beyond the trees and up to the right.

A nice promontory, looking south, near the summit.

Wide angle view from the summit looking southwest. Mount Si and Blowdown Peak in the foreground. To the left, lie Rattlesnake Lake and Rattlesnake Ridge

 zoom to the west: Seattle, Puget Sound and the Olympic Mountains.








Panorama to the east, we could see from Mt Baker to the north to Mt Rainier to the South.

 zoom to the north with Mt Baker on the left edge of the photo










zoom of Glacier Peak to the northeast









view to the east, looking over the top edge of Mt Teneriffe









The route down, was to descend off the top of Mt Teneriffe the same way we came up, until entering the woods.

instead of turning left to the south and the Kamikaze route, we would turn right, through the woods and follow the ridge to the north.

 Eventually, it is not possible to continue north with descending a very steep slope, so you turn west along another ridge, and eventually reach the old logging road and head towards  Blowdown Peak and Mount Si. We were fortunate to have steps to follow from a couple who had come up this route today, and several other hikers who also decided to return this route instead of returning via the Kamikaze route. We found the steps well packed down and did not have much post holing today.There was snow on the road for a couple of miles.




From further down the old road, looking back at Mount Teneriffe.  You can see the snow covered cap on top, and the ridge line we followed to the north (left side of this photo) going up and down until joining the old road.

 Part of the old road route has some open areas with views. Here we are heading towards Mount Si.

 There were several creeks crossing the road, and near the end of the trail, a couple of bridges crossing larger streams.

We saw some wild violets and berry blossoms on the lower trail.

Mount Teneriffe Loop Hike in Washington

This hike is in Washington Dept of Natural Resources land near North Bend

Best to hike in the late spring when most of the trail is snow free and Teneriffe Falls (aka Kamikaze Falls) is full of water. Our loop hike was 12 miles with an elevation gain of 3800 ft

The hike to the falls is 3 miles out with about 1400 ft elevation gain

The first mile is on the gentle Mount Teneriife Road

After about 20 switchbacks, you come to the base of the lower falls

At three miles you reach the upper Teneriffe Falls, best seen in the Spring snow melt

Then to the right of the falls, we followed the old Kamikaze trail up toward the peak

This steep portion of the trail climbs 2400 ft in 2 miles or less

There were some icy snow fields we crossed before we reached the top, 

but the views were worth the climb, even on this cloudy day.

Because my inexpensive poles malfunctioned, 

I was too nervous to return the way we came up,

 so we descended from the peak toward the logging road 

(this section was not as steep as the icy side we climbed up)

View of Mount Teneriffe in the distance along the Mount Teneriffe Road Trail.

The road is not pleasant to the joints. It is 7 miles long, less steep than the Kamikaze Trail and it bypasses Teneriffe Falls. Despite the pole malfunction, we had a great hike!