Seattle Transit Hikers

Let's go to Teneriffe Falls...but starting from the Mt Si trailhead. Along the way (or after), we'll also see all but one of the connector trails that cross between the Mt Si and Mt Teneriffe main trails. And, we'll visit what we used to call our "secret" trail from near Teneriffe Falls over to the Mt Teneriffe trail, which is now official, and has a nifty bridge over the stream we used to ford to reach the "secret" trail. And, of course, this takes advantage of the Trailhead Direct bus.

Here's how this works. (Note in the following, all references to "new" and "recent" just mean "not the bad old trail that we used to use". Most of these "new" trails are more than 5 years old. :D ) After riding the Trailhead Direct Mt Si bus to the Mt Si trailhead...

Our hike starts up the main Mt Si trail, but we turn east on the Roaring Creek trail. This is a relatively recent trail, through a shady fern-covered area, with a bridge over the creek, joining the Mt Teneriffe "new" trail. At this point, we are past the junction where the (also "new") Teneriffe Falls trail splits off from the Mt Teneriffe trail. So...we'll go backwards, toward the Mt Teneriffe trailhead, but then turn up the Teneriffe Falls trail. This trail is much improved from Ye Olde Days. It now has switchbacks rather than scrambling straight up the hill! Yes, yes, it is constructed from big rock chunks, and still climbs fairly steeply. When it was newly built, those big rocks were wobbly. But sometime in the last couple of years, it looks like the trail maintainers hauled up a lot of sand and dirt, and poured it down between the rocks, to stabilize them. Anyhow, we will still get the full uphill experience, but without the wobbling rocks.

We'll stop for lunch on the way up, at a favorite spot on the banks of the creek, where there are lots of flat rocks to plunk down on. We can't stop for lunch at the falls viewpoint, as that would block others. And our lunch spot splits the hike in about half by distance, and moves some of the elevation gain to after lunch.

But there's better... Going uphill on this trail is ok, but downhill is less fun. Here is where the actually new Teneriffe Falls connector trail comes in. Four switchbacks below the falls, there is now an official trail that contours back over to the Mt Teneriffe trail. This used to be a social trail, but it was soooo convenient that it has been made into a real trail, complete with a bridge. So, we'll go up to the falls, come back down only as far as the connector, then cross over to the Mt Teneriffe trail.

Now we continue our tour of the trails connecting the Mt Si and Mt Teneriffe trails. (A few weeks back, we took the Si Teneriffe connector trail that extends from the end of the Mt Si trail to about halfway up the Mt Teneriffe trail, so we'll skip that one.) From the Teneriffe Falls connector, we'll head downhill on the Mt Teneriffe trail til we come to a short trail that joins to the Talus Loop trail. The Talus Loop trail is an alternative route to the main Mt Si trail. It turns off from the Mt Si trail just where the junction with the Roaring Creek trail is, but contours upward, coming almost to the Mt Teneriffe trail before bending back toward the Mt Si trail.

It's the upper part of the Talus Loop trail that gives the trail its name. This part of the trail crosses a talus (scree) slope, where there was a landslide at some point in the past. The trail builders have carefully stabilized a path across the scree slope, so it is safe to cross, but still weird... We'll go at least as far as the landslide, and if there's time, we'll continue just to see where it rejoins the Mt Si trail. Then we'll turn back...

When we get to the bend, we'll head down the lower part of the Talus Loop, til it rejoins the Mt Si trail, then continue down to the trailhead.

This is about 7.6 miles, 2530 ft elevation gain, split into 3.4 mi, 1750 ft up before lunch, and 4.2 mi, 780 ft up after lunch.

Logistics:

Bring water, lunch, snacks. Recommend at least 2 liters of water, and electrolytes.

Hiking boots or hiking shoes with good traction are needed. Trekking poles strongly recommended.

Current weather forecast is sunny with a high of low 70s deg F, so a hat, sunglasses, sunscreen would be good.

Make sure your phone is charged. ;-)

Dogs are welcome, but a caution: It is very much not safe for dogs to go off the trail, either on the way up to the falls, or over the talus slope. Recommend having a chest harness, so if your pup slips, you can get them back up on the trail.

Bus riders: Our event starting point is apparently no longer the first stop for the bus, but is easy to find, so we're sticking with it. It is a short distance south of Denny, on the southbound side of Broadway. Folks on the eastside can get on at the new South Bellevue station. The schedule says bay 2, but there was some confusion about this, so watch for the arriving bus, in case you have to run to a different stop.

Drivers: The Mount Si parking lot fills up, and we'll be starting at peak parking time, so don't expect to get a space. Instead, park at the South Bellevue Link station, and be out at the bay 2 bus stop by 8:20am, or at the North Bend park & ride, and be at the eastbound bus stop by 8:45am, in case the bus is ahead of schedule.

Event start and end times are at Capitol Hill, and assume that we catch the 4:45pm return bus, but no guarantees...