Difficulty: high
Fitness: high
Fear of heights: middle
Surefootedness: high
Distance: 13,67 km
Duration: 6:00 h
Heights: 1063
Start/End: Canadas
Mirador de Chio
Hike 58: Pico Viejo
The hike leads from Mirador de Chio to Pico Viejo. We walk the first 1.7 km exactly according to the GPS and first cross a scree field. The entrance is at a right angle to the TF-38, and there is little or no sign of a path. You should always hold the GPS viewer in your hands, set a high zoom level and correct any small deviations immediately. From time to time you will see cairns on the path. After 1.6 km you will come to a black lava field. You should cross it exactly according to the GPS instructions. It really is a very narrow crossing. Sometimes a bit bumpy, but you don't have to climb. Even after the crossing, you should keep an eye on your GPS more often. A path is still not recognisable here, but small deviations from the route can be easily compensated for.
After a short walk a hiking trail is recognisable. We keep to the left on a slope and reach Sendero 9. This main hiking trail is well signposted and will accompany us until the end of the tour. We pass the Narices del Teide (Teidenasen of volcanic origin) on the left. For a very short distance we walk close to the crater. But the path is wide enough wide enough and not dangerous. About 200 metres behind the Narices, a second hiking trail branches off to the left of Sendero 9. This path is sandier, deeper and offers hardly any orientation possibilities. Anyone who has walked this path once, as I have, will appreciate the Sendero 9. It's hard to believe that Rother gives this alternative route. So we stay on the right of the two paths - the Sendero 9.
It leads us only indirectly to the crater rim with Pico Sur, but on a direct route to the summit of Pico Viejo. Those who have completed the ascent and have good visibility should take the short detour. It takes about 45 minutes from Pico Sur. From the summit you have the best view of the crater. On the way back, I went up to the plateau of Pico Sur. This path is not so easy, but very short. You cross a slope for about 50 metres. There you can see the peaks of Viejo and Teide side by side. Then you go down the slope again to Sendero 9.
The path now leads us to the Narices. It is largely easy to walk on, in any case much better than the alternative parallel path. 200 metres after the Narices, the Sendero 9 leads to the right with gentle descents and ascents. After 500 metres, the path turns left and offers views of the lava fields with the Chinyero. The descent on Sendero 9 is about 4 km long but much more relaxed than the crossing of the lava field at the beginning.
If you want to avoid the scree and lava field, take Sendero 9 for the ascent and descent, making the trail 1.5 km longer.
A detailed description of the route and the GPS track can be found in the Hiking Guide Tenerife.
Black lava flowed out of the Teide noses (Narices del Teide) during the last volcanic eruption in 1798.
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