Mount Teneriffe, Teneriffe Falls & Teneriffe Falls Connector — Friday, Feb. 20, 2026

Our group of three made it to the top of Mount Teneriffe today via the Kamikaze Trail above the falls. A lot more snow was present than expected, but it's nice to see the mountains looking a bit more wintry again.

Teneriffe was a (relatively) popular place today. We saw six other hikers on the summit route, and probably half a dozen people heading to the falls.

ROAD / TRAILHEAD: The big news here is that the closing time restrictions seem to be totally removed from the Teneriffe Trailhead! No signs remain indicating that the gate will ever be closed, which is great for those who like to hike on the quieter side of the mountain. The bathrooms were open and stocked. Strangely, at some point in the last year, the large bathroom building has been rotated 90 degrees so the door now faces the parking lot, instead of the trailhead sign. No, I'm not kidding!  :)

TENERIFFE FALLS: We went up the normal, more eastern route to the falls. There was snow almost immediately just above the trailhead, but it was only a small amount, maybe about a couple inches near the falls. We didn't need any special gear to get to this point, as the trail isn't too steep and the new snow was pretty grippy. The falls had quite a bit of nice ice, though the amount of water coming down was pretty meager.

MOUNT TENERIFFE: We took the trail above the falls to get to the summit. We put on our spikes upon leaving the falls, since this is where the trail becomes very steep. In my opinion, the part between the falls and the ridge is one of the worst, as there are many loose rocks and some incredibly steep sections. If you've never been up before, know that the trail forks partway up to the ridge - you want to take the left fork to stay on track.

There are three or four small (< 10") blowdowns on the ridge route. None present any difficulty climbing over. There are a few scrambly sections on this route, which were made more challenging being covered in snow. We did OK with our spikes and poles. However, about halfway to the summit, the snow became deeper and very powdery, so it wasn't holding steps at all and it was a bit like walking in sand. Snowshoes might have helped a bit, but we didn't bring them. We did use gaiters, which were very helpful in the deeper snow at top.

The summit area has about 1-2' of snow along the sides, and maybe 8" on top, fully covering almost all the summit rocks. There is a cornice forming, but staying on the west side of the rocks is safe enough.

We considered going down the long way, but opted to get home earlier and return the same way we came up. This involved a sort of half stepping, half sliding romp down through the powdery snow. A few unintentional slides may have happened at some point! It was a relief to get back down to the falls where the grade lessened.

TENERIFFE FALLS CONNECTOR: For the return trip, we elected to use the connector from below the falls over to the Mount Teneriffe Trail, then back down to complete a figure-8 loop. This is slightly longer, but it's a nice trail and bypasses the bottom part of the rocky Teneriffe Falls Trail. There is not a lot of water running in the waterfalls today, but enough for a little interest. There is a bit of snow on the connector and the Mount Teneriffe Trail below it, but not enough that you would need any gear.