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Mount Teide: A Snow-Capped Volcano in the Canary Islands

Mount Teide: A Snow-Capped Volcano in the Canary Islands

Old Aug 10th, 2018, 06:10 AM
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Mount Teide: A Snow-Capped Volcano in the Canary Islands

Back in March, we visited Tenerife, one of the Canary Islands, which are a part of Spain. The weather was nicer than we expected. Nice enough to lay out on the hot black sand beaches. There were even a lot of surfers braving the cold water, albeit with wet suits.

The link below is a gallery of photos taken from all around the national park dedicated to the volcano, Mt Teide, including from up top. A gondola ticket to the top is 13.50 euros. They had the gondola closed the entire afternoon of the first day we went, due to high winds. Luckily, it was open when we returned the next morning. The volcano is the third highest point in all of "Europe" at 3718 m (12,198 ft). It's cold and windy up at the top, even when hot down below, so bring a light jacket at the very least. Here's the link to more details and the large photos. We had planned to do a hike around the top, but they had the trails closed due to snow and ice. I think they would let you go if you were with a guide and had crampons, but we weren't, and didn't.

http://fisherphotocraft.blogspot.com...-tenerife.html

Enjoy!
Vick

PS - I'll have a couple more Tenerife galleries soon - one on a coastal hike, and one on an incredible sunset seen from above the clouds, looking out over the ocean.

Shrubs and pine trees very gradually reclaiming a smooth black lava field on Tenerife.
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Old Aug 10th, 2018, 03:05 PM
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Beautiful and haunting!
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Old Aug 10th, 2018, 10:09 PM
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Wonderful photos, as always, and an interesting narrative.
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Old Aug 11th, 2018, 10:51 AM
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Thanks! Hope you're doing well Adelaidean!
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Old Aug 11th, 2018, 02:19 PM
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Hi Vick, your trip more picturesque than mine, we recently went back to my childhood home in the outback....
Living underground when there are few hills


Our old dugout
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Old Aug 16th, 2018, 08:04 AM
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Hi Adelaidean,

These pictures are where you grew up? So... you lived way, way out in the boonies? How far was the nearest grocery store? What did you parents do for a living - doesn't look like farming would be very profitable in that landscape! Maybe ranching???

Take care,
Vick
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Old Aug 16th, 2018, 10:14 PM
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VGF, thank you for this report. I read this to DD over lunch earlier this week, and two days later she announced that she would like her senior trip (high school) to be Tenerife; several of her more outdoor active girlfriends are also excited to climb around lava rocks and volcanos! They have even begun planning, reserving an 8-bunk room in a youth hostel and investigating tour operators. All we have to do is pay.
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Old Aug 17th, 2018, 01:39 AM
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Hi Vick, these are opal mining towns, very few miners left anymore. And 10 hours of driving through barren desolation to get there. Revisiting my childhood.

Keep on on sharing your photos, I really enjoy travelling to exotic locations through your blog.
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Old Aug 17th, 2018, 04:01 AM
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Hi Fourfortravel! That's so exciting! As you can tell from my writeup, the place was more developed than we expected. The only place without houses was the volcano national park. That was really nice, but the rest of the island was overpopulated in my opinion. If we'd had time, we'd have wanted to check out the less populated islands. I heard Lanzarote is nicer. Also, the Canary Islands are very similar to Madeira, but I felt Madeira was a little less overpopulated and a little nicer to walk around. This one hike on Madeira is also really nice. More impressive I would say - and not developed, though the island is also quite developed, up to near this hike, but no on it. http://fisherphotocraft.blogspot.com...rosto-sao.html

Some people say it resembles Hawaii, and I can see how there are a lot of similarities between all three, being volcanic islands for out in the ocean.

Let me know how it goes!
Vick
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Old Aug 17th, 2018, 04:03 AM
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So, your parents were opal miners? If so, you're the only person I've ever met with opal miner parents! I've never really heard of a specific place opals come from before. That's pretty interesting. Not surprised it's 10-hour drive to get there!
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Old Aug 17th, 2018, 04:24 PM
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These towns would never make a ‘most charming towns’ list, Vick
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