Mt. Teneriffe
Date: March 16, 2012
Difficulty: 7 out of 10
Distance: 11 miles roundtrip
Elevation Gain: 3,838 ft.
Time: 5 to 6 hours
Location: Near North Bend, Washington
Users Group: Hikers & Dogs Only
Permits: Discovery Pass
Trail Conditions: Wet to very deep snow
Hiking with: Rick Massie & my wonder dog Macho

The Cascade Mountains was getting dumped on by the snow gods and I have been missing the snow action due to my travels and I wanted to get another big snowshoe hike in before I traveled out again. Rick Massie drove over to my house and we loaded up my Bimmer and took off towards North Bend, Washington.

Due to all the snow, the avalanche danger was high….so we decided to snowshow the service road on Mt. Teneriffe. This road is wide and has elevation gain of over 3,800 feet, perfect for a snowshoe work-out and safe too. There was only one other car at the trailhead when we started and we caught up with the two of them about two miles up; one of them had a broken snowshoe and we ended up giving him a couple of straps to fix it. As we passed them, Rick and I were breaking snow and it was getting deeper with every step. After fifty yards of plowing through the deep snow, our legs would start to burn; we took turns taking the lead to give each other a rest.

With the trail already broken, the other two caught up with us around the four mile mark. We let them pass us, but…within twenty yards, there were already exhausted. All four of us ended up taking turns taking the lead. We ended up having lunch at the five mile mark, it’s my favorite part of the trail….a long stretch of the road that is exposed and has big views. After descending and total exhaustion we stopped at our usual spot, North Bend Bar and Grille for a beer and food.