Over a year ago, I hiked Teneriffe Falls for the first time and promised I would hike it again. Since my dad was visiting this past weekend, I decided to share with him one of my favorite waterfall hikes in Washington. Last week’s weather was such a nice reprieve from the dreary spring we’ve had so far, and my hopes were high that the forecast would be wrong about the weekend (it wasn’t). Luckily for us, we came prepared with layers and raincoats and arrived at the trailhead by 9:30am, where there were only around 10 cars. The new parking lot is one of the nicest I’ve seen, and has completely replaced the old lot, which has since been closed to the public.

The trail starts past the vault toilets and trail map, and the first leg of the hike is relatively wide, gravel road until you get to the actual trail around 0.9 miles in. Follow the clear signage towards Teneriffe Falls, up 22 switchbacks on rocky paths (slippery when wet!), and past several neat stopping points along the falls. There were a few groups at these lower areas who had stopped for snacks, which is a smart choice due to the lack of space at the base of the falls. At the end of the trail, we spent ten minutes marvelling at the 226 foot cascade of water coming down the side of the rock wall before a large group joined us. There isn’t much space in this area, so we started to make our way down.

All in all, it was a great hike despite the nearly constant drizzle. It took us around two hours to get to the base of the falls, and around an hour and a half back down. The parking lot was still mostly empty at 1pm, probably due to the weather. I will say this, though: I’ve seen pictures of the falls at barely even a trickle during the middle of summer, so seeing the waterfall at its height is well worth the rain.