When I arrived at the 188 stall Mt. Teneriffe parking lot there were only 3 other cars parked. With the recent heavy rains, I thought it would be a good day to check out the waterfalls on the lower slopes of Mt. Teneriffe. The last time I had hiked this trail was five years ago. The DNR had turned the old logging road into a trail back in 2015. Some of the work was done with a large track hoe. When I got to the junction with the Teneriffe Falls Trail I headed up it on another old DNR road that is now the trail. After gaining some elevation the trail makes a turn to the left and heads west, first going back down hill, crossing a creek, then back up hill. Along the way I had a view out to the south, but with the low clouds I could only see Ken's Truck Town over by I-90. The trail to the falls leaves the old roadbed and begins switch backing up through the talus rocks, so becomes a very rocky trail. In the open areas the rocks were covered with slushy snow. After getting up several switchbacks it began to really snow hard, so I decided to head back down the rocky trail. You had to watch your footing due to the snow on the rocks.
When I got back down to the old roadbed (no snow here), I decided to see how far it went to the west. After rounding a bed, the old road only went about 100 yards and ended at on old landing. I spotted a trail still going westerly, so hiked it to where it crossed a creek. I turned around here and headed back down the Teneriffe Falls trail to the Mount Teneriffe Trail. Before getting to the trail junction, I spotted a short side trail that went to an old fallen tree. This made for a good lunch time bench for some hot soup and a sandwich.
After lunch I hiked down to the trail junction, then headed west on the Mt.Teneriffe Trail. Along the way are several creek crossings, some with waterfalls to view. Three have bridges while the rest are rock hops. One goes over Teneriffe Creek with a good size waterfall. The third bridge is a short distance from a nice waterfall before getting to the junction with the Roaring Creek Trail. There was one waterfall you can hear but cannot see. It is completely covered with Evergreen Blackberry vines.
I then took the Roaring Creek Trail a short distance to where a large steel girder foot bridge goes over the West Fork of Roaring Creek. There is another nice waterfall to see here. From here I hiked back down to the trailhead parking lot. By now there was a little sun out. I met a few other hikers, some with dogs. The only wildlife was one Douglas Squirrel and a gnat at lunch. The waterfalls along the lower section of the Mt. Teneriffe Trail are nice to view. George
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