Mt. Teneriffe summit - last weekend of Trailhead Direct - Very strenuous

This is a very strenuous summit hike to cap off the year's Trailhead Direct season.

We begin the day by riding the Trailhead Direct bus to the Mt. Teneriffe Trailhead. From there, we will hike up the trail to Teneriffe Falls. Most people stop at the falls, where the official trail ends, but we will continue up a steep boot path past the falls, all the way to the summit. The summit has a 360-degree view of the surrounding mountains, but without the crowds of Mt. Si. After lunch at the top, we will head down the main trail, which is considerably longer, but much better maintained and less steep. We finish at the Teneriffe parking lot where we started, where we will board the bus to go back home.

The total hike is 10 miles/4000 feet of elevation gain. However, the path from Teneriffe Falls to the Teneriffe Summit gains more than half of that elevation in just one mile. This is similar in difficulty to hiking the Mailbox Old Trail. Please make sure you are in good enough physical condition to complete this before signing up - if you are unable to make it to the top, you will be on your own turning back and hiking the trail down, back to the bus. However, you only half to hike the steep trail in the upward direction - the hike down will be nice and gentle (albeit, much longer in distance).

Please bring lunch to eat the top. Proper hiking boots are also strongly recommended, given the nature of this trip.

Summit view panorama (from Google Earth): https://earth.google.com/web/@47.50905947,-121.69523407,1374.86756706a,0d,60y,329.96498421h,73.70506035t,0.0004r/data=CgRCAggBIiAKHENJQUJJaEFyMmV4MFBBc3ZTdEVVZEVmR3J5NUgQBToDCgEwQgIIAEoNCP___________wEQAA?hl=en

Bus logistics:
We will be taking the first Trailhead bus of the day, leaving various stops Seattle between 7:30 and 7:45 AM and arriving at the trailhead at 8:41 AM. The posted start time corresponds with the scheduled arrival of the bus. However, we will not start until the bus actually arrives. While parking is available at the trailhead (requires Discover Pass), riding the bus is highly encouraged. Return buses depart every 30 minutes.