Volcanic Tenerife

For a relatively small island it seems kind of crazy that Tenerife has five different climate areas and it felt like I went through all of them on the 12th.  It was great!

While it was sunny down at port as we headed up into the mountains to Teide National Park with its volcanos we had to travel through the clouds, giving the forest this foggy look for several miles.

Then suddenly we were out and the sky was clear and sunny again, just cooler.  You'll notice that these Canary pines have been blackened by fire.  Thousands of acres were damaged by an arsonist's fire last August.

We made a photo stop to get a view of the cloud sea below us.

In the distance we could see one of the younger Canary Islands, La Palma with it's volcano peak.

We also got one of our first views of Teide volcano that the park is named after.  Measured from it's undersea base Teide is the third tallest volcano in the world.

Remember that fire I mentioned?  Nature is truly amazing when it comes to regeneration and these Canary pines are especially amazing.  Ysidro told us they are considered immortal because they are so tough.  You can see on the right hand photo that despite the horrible fire there is new growth appearing on trees throughout the forest, as well as tiny, new four inch trees growing in patches here and there.

I was loving the cool mountain air, but also glad I'd brought my sweater.

Another photo stop brought us to this area where the striated layers of volcanic ash of ancient eruptions had been pushed up.

It was a unique way to see geologic history.

There were lots of these flowers alongside the road.

At least one bee was attracted to them.

Another view of Teide.  At 12,188 feet it can get snow on the top a few times a year despite being in a temperate climate zone.

Another distant view of La Palma in the cloud sea.  It was like looking down at the clouds when you fly in an airplane.

You can almost see the seaside city down below to the left in this one.

Without the light pollution of any nearby cities Tenerife is a great place for star gazing, hence the observatories in the mountains above.  My thanks to my friend Deborah for this photo.

I kept checking the compass on my phone to see how high we got as drove up, then up again, then continued on up.  I did not expect to be over 7500 feet in elevation.

When we stopped for a bathroom break I could get closer views of Teide.  If you look to the upper left on this one you can see the cable car station near the top of the volcano.  We'd later see the base and the long line of cars belonging people wanting to go up.  Often they will ride up and hike down, or trek both ways.  To go to the top you have to have a permit, only 200 people per day are allowed the ascent.

The last eruption for Teide was in 1909.  The black you see on the mountain is from the lava flows.

This alien landscape nearby with its old chunksof lava has been used by NASA to simulate both the moon and Mars.

Clouds were really lovely in the azure sky above this austere landscape.  

The clouds above reminded me of angel wings so I tried positioning myself to wear them, all I could get were these tiny wings.  Guess I haven't earned them yet!

More layers of ash shown here.  It definitely was an otherworldly landscape.

The rock formations were massive and huge in this caldera that was millions of years old.

You can see the fingers of old lava flows.

More plinths in the park.

So many beautiful views everywhere I looked.

I was pretty sure Karl would have liked this tour and felt badly he had missed it.  Look at the color of that sky!

One of the most unique plants that I've ever seen were what's known as the Teide bugloss, a flowering plant that's only found on Tenerife.  They can grow up to nine feet tall.

We were lucky enough to see some of them still covered in their bright red flowers.  They are beautiful along the roadside and so striking when you come upon them in the barren landscape.

Once the flowers have finished blooming they begin to look more like this, still interesting bt not nearly as colorful.

Just thought this layer made an interesting shot.

After having seen most of our volcanos in tropical places lately it was interesting to see one in a drier climate.  Teide was impressive at every angle.

Too soon it was time to head for the coast again to prepare for departure from Tenerife and the Canary Islands.  As we made our descent the cloud sea appeared on the other side of the island and we got a distant view of Grand Canary Island.  After our short visit to Tenerife I totally understand why these islands are a favored vacation destination for Europeans.  I'd be happy to return again and explore some more!