Did a short loop on Saturday with a friend at Teneriffe. The frozen falls are gorgeous right now, and there's still a fair amount of snow on the ground; most people we saw had traction devices of some sort.

While the sun was out (and even a little warm on the talus field!) it didn't seem to be melting much, and with the weather that came in on Sunday I think you'll likely want to at least have microspikes or a hiking stick with you if you visit in the next week or so.

Saw a moderate amt of people on trail, including a WTA trail crew led by Emily and Jay (yay!) Thanks to everyone who gave a day to fix up a section of the Roaring Creek trail - its one of my faves in this area.

Stats first: we arrived at the Teneriffe parking lot at 9:15 a.m., got on the trail at 9:30. Outhouse was not stocked, gets a C- in the cleanliness department, and only one of two toilets was open. (Freud would have a field day analyzing trip reporters' interests re: toileting, right?). The lot was about 3/4 full on this bluejay Saturday, and lots of folks with doggoes were afoot. Most were leashed (the dogs),thank you! Temps were 30 degrees, up to 44 by the time we left a couple hours later. Trail was in tip-top shape for the first half mile. Once it joined the old road, the ice began--in patches. It was no problem till the trail started heading up, and in one stream crossing where a rock was mighty slick. I'll just say, poles are a goodly thing.

The icy conditions along the Teneriffe Trail put a damper on our ambitions, but we still enjoyed our time in the woods. Our original plan was to hike to the Teneriffe/Mt. Si Connector junction and then pull a U-ey, but it quickly grew apparent that if we hiked all the way up there, we'd have a "slick" descent upon our return. Being north of 60 and into preserving the bod for future adventures, I'm not a fan of ice-- especially the rock-solid, one-step-and-your-feet-are-flung-out-in-front-of-you kind. So when we hit the turnoff for Roaring Creek, we took it and absorbed that lovely trail. This trail was not too slippery, and it was peaceful. As we neared its endpoint, we came across a friendly WTA crew who were doing fantastic, and extensive, work along the trail. We thanked them heartily and ambled on till we came to the junction for the Talus trail (on the right). Along Talus, we saw no one. There are some nice, big "legacy" trees here (second growth, but over 100 years), both cedar and Doug Fir. Beautiful. The trail gains some elevation here, which meant that it was pretty slippery in places today. Both of us used poles. I would've used spikes, but the snow and ice was too intermittent for that. We connected back up with the Teneriffe trail and headed down.

The iciest areas today were the part of Talus as you approach the junction with the upper part of Talus and Teneriffe, as well as the Teneriffe trail itself--at least the part that we hiked on. Maybe higher up, you could put on spikes. Edelman slipped as we came down Teneriffe from Talus, luckily only suffering a bruised and slightly torn wrist. RT was about 5 miles. I'd like to return and explore the whole Talus Loop at some point--I hadn't realized its full length and route till today.

Happy and safe hiking, Everyone!

As part of a WTA work party, we all parked in the main Mt Si lot - which at 0830 on a cold, sunny Saturday was into the 2nd row. Some snow on the ground at the trailhead, but the trail was clear and dry at the start. There were some icy spots within the first mile, like on bridges. There was one particularly icy set of rock stairs - our work party did a little bit of work to help get the water off the trail, and I know that future work parties will focus more on that area.

We were working on a reroute of the Roaring Creek Trail that connects Mt Si and Tenerife trails. The work was not far from the Talus Loop intersection, so not far in. Just past our work site there was some light snow on the trail. Not a lot of traffic, certainly not as much as on the main Mt Si trail. Some folks we saw said that it was more snowy and icy further up.

Parking lot has the usual pot holes...helps slow folks down at least!

Also some excitement mid-afternoon, as multiple Eastside Fire & Rescue crews and King Co Search and Rescue arrived for a mission on the Talus Loop Trail. It was fascinating to see the whole operation, and while I didn't intend to wait around, I happened to still be there when they walked the person out. So glad they were able to make it out ok.

Note to WTA: Can you please fix the bug where if your session expires while posting a report, all the report contents are lost? This is probably the third or fourth time I have filled out a lengthy report, only to have it disappear entirely when I hit submit and discover that I am not signed in. And this time, I even refreshed the page before I started the report, to ensure I was signed in.

On to the report. Inspired by SuprHikr's report from yesterday, I decided to try and make it up to the Haystack the "back way" via the Teneriffe Trail. It turned out to be a nice choice for a sunny day, and the Haystack looked very imposing with a coat of fresh snow.

PARKING / PEOPLE: No snow in the Mount Si lot, though some potholes are starting to form in the driveway in/out. I only saw three people on my hike, all of whom were on the lower section of the Mount Si trail in the morning, This is a great route for solitude.

ROUTE: I started at the Mount Si TH but you could do something similar from the Teneriffe TH if you make sure to get back before they close the gate. My route was: Mount Si Trail -> lower Talus Loop Trail -> Mount Teneriffe Trail -> Si-Teneriffe Connector -> Haystack rest stop (the bench next to the map by the Haystack).

On the way down I did the same route in reverse, except I descended all the way to the Roaring Creek Trail and took that back to the Mount Si Trail. I also took a shortcut through the woods to cut off the uppermost switchback. This worked but I don't recommend it since the trees are super close together and it was a pain getting through them.

SNOW: No snow at the bottom, but it started partway up the Talus Loop Trail. Above the Talus Loop junction, the Teneriffe Trail is all snow but it's only an inch or two until you get up past the Teneriffe Falls Connector. There were no other tracks above that point today but mine. The snow got progressively deeper as I ascended, and at about 2700' there started to be old snow under the 3-4" of new snow. I put on snowshoes at this point and broke trail up to the Si-Teneriffe junction, then onward over to the Haystack. It was slow going breaking trail by myself but I managed to reach the Haystack in about 3:30 from the car. In the upper sections there is probably 3-4' of snow in places.

Unfortunately, the tracks SuprHikr made yesterday were nowhere to be seen, buried by the new snow from last night. All I saw was a depression in the center of the trail - see picture #1. Still, I think the trail breaking was easier today than it might have been, thanks SuprHikr!  :)

On the return I filled in my track, and left the snowshoes on all the way down to the Teneriffe Falls Connector. I should have probably taken them off at 2700' since there were a number of sections below this where my snowshoes were bottoming out on the rocks.

If you go on a cold day when the snow is firm, you might now be able to do this hike with just boots and gaiters. However, you definitely need snowshoes if you head toward Teneriffe - no tracks that way. And of course my tracks will only last until the next snowstorm. 

SUMMARY: This turned out to be a really nice hike, about 10 miles and a great workout. I would say the Mount Teneriffe Trail is my favorite road-to-trail conversion. It has some nice views along the way and a steady but not too steep grade, mixed with a few flatter sections. The forest is much more open than what you get on the regular Si trails, and there are far fewer people, especially in the winter. 

I wanted another hike with no more than 1,000 feet elevation gain and between 4 to 6 miles as I am gradually conditioning myself after recovering from surgery awhile back.  Hoping to be back to my normal hiking condition and abilities by spring and summer.  I hiked a lollipop loop starting on the Teneriffe trail and went past the Teneriffe Falls trail junction and past the Roaring Creek trail junction and on to the Talus Loop trail junction.  From there I hiked the Talus Loop trail and connected to the Roaring Creek trail and took it back to the Teneriffe trail and then on back to the trailhead.  Great hike as far as nice forest and waterfall hikes go and a perfect spring like day to be out...in early February.  All trails were in excellent condition with all blowdowns removed and no snow.  It was just what I needed with an ascent of 895 feet and 4.5 miles in length.