Our route ascends through every climatic zone in the world. From the tropical region of Puerto Orotava we pass, beyond Cruz Santa (1500 ft.), through the Taoro Basin into the temperate zone, the region of maize and cereals, where numerous cottages are shaded by chestnut-trees. Leaving behind the thickets of Monte Verde and following the Camino del Brezal with its view of the sombre Ladera de Tigaiga (p. [38]), we mount, beyond the cloud-region, a wilderness of lava. A most striking change of scenery is observed at the Portillo (6611 ft.), lying a little to the E. of the Fortaleza (p. [42]), and forming the entrance to the *Montañas de las Cañadas, the lowest and oldest crater. This enormous basin, 6–12½ M. in diameter, girdles the base of the Peak with its ring-shaped wall of lava rocks (650–1650 ft. high), the continuity of which has, however, been broken by later eruptions. The summit of the Peak is rarely free from snow except in August and September. We now ride across the Cañadas Plateau (midday-rest; view of the Peak), a desolate expanse of pumice-stone, overgrown with scanty Retama (p. [31]), and in summer enlivened by a few goats. Here and there it is intersected by huge lava-streams and covered with isolated eruptive cones. The sky is generally cloudless, the sun intensely hot, and the air marvellously clear. At the foot of the lower portion of the Peak, not far from the spur of Los Rastrojos (7562 ft.), begins the toilsome ascent over the grey-white pumice-stone of the Montaña Blanca (8691 ft.) to the saddle adjoining the pyramid-like peak. The zigzag path now mounts the slopes of slag, inhabited by rabbits, mostly between streams of black obsidian, to the Lomo Tiezo. In the midst of the expanse of slag shady resting-places are formed here and there by great blocks of lava, such as the Estancia de los Ingleses (9711 ft.) and the Estancia de los Alemanes (10,018 ft.). Below the spot where the lava-streams unite to form the sickle-shaped Piedras Negras stands the refuge-hut of Alta Vista (10,728 ft.; accommodation for 15 pers. at the utmost, at 5 p. each). From this point we already enjoy, in clear weather, an imposing view of the E. half of the island, of the Grand Canary (p. [43]), and even of Fuerteventura and Lanzarote (p. [28]), a glorious spectacle more particularly at sunset, when the Peak gradually casts its shadow over the sea as far as the Grand Canary.
Next morning we start early. The winding path ascends a field of lava to (1 hr.) the Rambleta (11,713 ft.), the central crater-basin, out of which towers the trachytic cone, covered with pumice-stone, of the Pitón or Pan de Azúcar (‘sugar-loaf’), the summit of the **Peak of Teneriffe, or Pico de Teide (12,175 ft.; ‘peak of hell’). In ½¾ hr. we climb its slopes to the Corona, the very narrow margin of the Caldera, the insignificant highest crater (77 by 110 yds.; 130 ft. in depth), which was still active in the middle ages, but now emits a few jets of steam only from its fumaroles (comp. p. [29]). When the horizon is perfectly clear, the eye ranges over an area of some 2200 sq. M.; floating, as it were, in the midst of the boundless expanse of the ocean, the blue of which seems to blend on the horizon with the blue of the sky, we can sometimes see the whole of the Canaries, from Palma, Hierro, and Gomera on the W. to the far-distant E. group. To the W. we look down upon the grand crater of the Pico Viejo (see below), the Chahorra, and the Talus de Bilma, studded with countless coloured cinder-cones. We survey, from the Fortaleza on the N.E. to the Morro del Cedro on the S.W., the ring-shaped wall of the Cañadas, with the pumice-stone wilderness of the Cañadas Plateau and the coloured lava-masses of the Azulejos (see below). The older serrated mountains in the island (pp. [32], 33) and the green basins of Orotava and Icod are generally shrouded by a sea of clouds of dazzling whiteness.
On the Descent, which experts may shorten at first by glissading down the cinder-slopes, we may visit the Cueva del Hielo (11,044 ft.), a fine lava cavern a little below the Rambleta, always filled with ice and water. From the Montaña Blanca (p. [41]) we then turn to the N. to the Fortaleza (8300 ft.), the only considerable height on the N. margin of the Cañadas wall. The bridle-path, very steep and rough, next descends to the Corona de Icod (about 2900 ft.), the highest point of the Ladera de Tigaiga (p. [38]), falling away to the E. in a huge rocky slope, and again offering a glorious view of the Vale of Orotava. From Icod Alto (1716 ft.) we may descend rapidly to the N.E. to Realejo Alto (see below), or we may wend our way due W. to Icod de los Vinos (p. [43]).
Round the Cañadas is an interesting but toilsome excursion. From the Portillo (p. [41]) we strike to the S. across the Cañadas Plateau to the rocks of the Risco Verde (7130 ft.), on the E. margin of the encircling wall, where a lava cavern serves for night-quarters. The path then leads to the S.W., skirting the basaltic rock of Las Pilas (7228 ft.), passing below the Espigón Hill, and along the wildly fissured and variegated Roques de la Grieta (7211 ft.), where a new Observatorio has been built near a spring (1909). This brings us to the Guajara Hill (8908 ft.), near the Guajara Pass (see below). Our route, now running to the W., crosses the so-called Azulejos (9400 ft.), a lava wall consisting partly of blue-green rock, and at the Boca de Tauze (7021 ft.) surmounts the huge lava-streams (of 1798 and 1909, comp. p. [29]) of the Chahorra (7743 ft.) and the Pico Viejo (10,289 ft.). To the left rises the Morro del Cedro (8000 ft.), the highest hill on the W. side of the crater-wall. From the N.W. side of the Cañadas, whose girdle-wall was here almost entirely destroyed by the numerous cones thrown up in 1705 and 1706, we next reach the *Pinal de la Guancha, the finest pine-forest in the island. Thence we traverse the huge lava slopes of the Lomo de Vega (5168 ft.) to the basin of Icod de los Vinos (p. [43]).
A somewhat shorter path from the Portillo, crossing the saddle between the Rastrojos and the Montaña Blanca (p. [41]), leads to the S.W., in 3½ hrs., direct to the Guajara Pass (7992 ft.), which gives access to the village of Vilaflor (4842 ft.; inn), finely situated on the S. slope of the girdle-wall of the Cañadas amid pine-woods and luxuriant orchards, and noted for the ‘Vilaflor embroidery’ (p. [32]). From the brow of the Llano de los Quemados we overlook the late-volcanic terraces of the Bandas del Sur, which are bare and thinly peopled. A fine excursion from Vilaflor is made viâ Escalona (3750 ft.) and Arona (2198 ft.), with views, towards the W., of the islands of Gomera and Hierro, to the little town of Adeje (935 ft.), situated behind the Adeje Mts. (p. [32]; Roque del Carasco, etc.), the ancient Guanche capital of the island. Near it is the *Barranco del Infierno, the upper half of which is the grandest ravine in Teneriffe.
The *High Road, which at the foot of the Montaña de Chaves (p. [38]) sends off a by-road to the village of Realejo Alto (1158 ft.), nears the sea at the rocky headland of Rambla de Castro.
At (27½ M. from Santa Cruz) Realejo Bajo (883 ft.) the Ladera de Tigaiga (p. [38]) comes close down to the coast. The next stretch of road, as far as (32½ M.) San Juan de la Rambla (2000 inhab.), situated on a recent lava-stream, is particularly fine. It leads past abrupt rocks and through sombre gorges (Barranco de la Torre, Barranco Ruiz), and often through banana plantations and vineyards extending to the cliffs of the coast.
37½ M. Icod de los Vinos (755 ft.; Hot. Inglés, poor), a small town with 2000 inhab., is the chief place in the *Vale of Icod, which is bounded by the Ladera de Tigaiga, the Lomo de Vega, and the Pinal de la Guancha (p. [42]), rivalling the Vale of Orotava in fertility and beauty. We enjoy here a magnificent *View of the Peak, towering almost immediately above the coast, between the Fortaleza and the Pico Viejo (p. [42]). A garden near the Iglesia Parroquial contains an old dragon-tree. The Guanches’ Cave below the village is not worth visiting (fee 2 p.).
A pleasant way back to the Vale of Orotava is the bridle-path viâ Guancha, Icod Alto (p. [42]), and Realejo Alto (p. [42]).