I did a solo hike today. My plan was to hike up to Teneriffe Falls via the standard trail, but take the Connector Trail back to the Mount Teneriffe Trail on the way down. Assuming I could find the connector trail.
Which I did, thanks to my Gaia app. This mapping app showed me where to look but finding the trail – more like a very faint bootpath – was not easy. The intersection is at the point where the standard trail is closest to the stream that cascades downstream from the falls. Even today, with the water running high, I was able to cross without much trouble.
(I will briefly mention the fact that you can get too close to these falls. People have died trying to get just a little bit better of a picture. I am paranoid about falling hundreds of feet onto wet rocks so I stayed back a few feet for the picture above.)
Anyway, finding the “trail” on the other side was not easy. Eventually I got it straightened out and from then on the path was fairly clear. It did intersect the Mount Teneriffe trail, but about 2 miles from the parking lot. I had estimated that taking the connector back would save about .4 mile but instead it added about that distance. I think I will forget this trail for most purposes as it was not all that exciting and added little value.
One nice point about this hike is there are a few spots with a view towards the mountains south of Teneriffe:
From L-R: McClellan Butte, Change Peak, Mount Washington.
I was reminded why I wear sturdy hiking boots – this trail has several very rocky sections:
I wouldn’t want to tackle this stuff with tennis shoes (and I have seen people on this trail and others like it with scant footwear) because it would slice up my feet.
Here is a Google Earth view of my track (blue) today. I went up and then to the right to the falls, then partway back down the track goes left (west) on the connector trail, then back down the Mount Teneriffe Trail.
6.58 miles, 2,545 feet of elevation gain, a decent hike and workout for a Tuesday. (beats working!)