We’ve driven uphill today; it created the perfect opportunity to escape the expected clouds by going above them. From sea level we headed up to a mere 250m to see 📍El Drago (a.k.a. Drago Milenario). It is the oldest and largest living specimen of Dracaena draco, or dragon tree. It is said to be a thousand years old (it is disputed however). It’s at least old enough to be declared a national monument in 1917 which tells me it was old a hundred years ago: nobody chooses a sapling and names it a national monument after all.
While there’s no need to pay the small park entry fee to see the huge tree, it’s worth encouraging its care and maintenance. There are a number of other trees and plants in the park, for some reason a whole row of aromatics used in teas. Next door to the tree there’s also a 📍butterfly house. If you’re into crowded, warm, humid environments and New Age music, it’s the place for you. That or if you still have the heart of a 5 year-old like a certain woman I know. What’s the link between a dragon tree and butterfly? I cannot tell. Might be a if you build it they will come kinda deal, or more precisely, if you build it they’re already here, might as well come to that thing too.
So, we visited the butterfly house and took many pictures of the pretty winged worms. Once we were satisfied, or, once our patience ran out, I’m not saying which, we jumped back in the car and climbed up toward the Teide. The road up crosses a couple of new…ish pine forests. We know they are due to Teide’s last eruption, which dates back to 1909. It could be that some time in the last 20 years or so someone decided to plant an old lava flow or it was replanted after a forest fire. The evenly spaced pines over black rocks makes for a beautiful drive.
We stopped at a couple of lookouts along the way to our destination. The higher we went, the landscape became more rocky and desolate. Our destination was at 2100m, 1600m short of Teide’s summit (3715m).
Not unlike our previous hike, we’ve stopped at 📍Roques de García (García’s Rocks) to walk around a geological formation. The trail takes us around a set of large rock pillars jotting out of mostly flat, if inclined, desolated landscape. The 30°C and sunny temperature was exactly what we asked for and being there in the later part of the afternoon gave us great hiking condition with different lighting as we went around, enjoyed the nature and took a large number of pictures that all could be titled: what if the Grand Canyon wasn’t a canyon and on the side of a volcano.
Our original plan called for a second hike. While we did head out there we found that the trail was closed. Driving back we found that all trails were closed in the area. As we drove back it sorted dawned on why all trails on that side of the Teide were closed. From mid-August to mid-September, the worst forest fires in the last 40 years devastated 150 of the 2000 square kilometres island. Turns out, we were driving in the midle of that area. The burnt trees as well as the white and red tape across all side roads and trails might have clued us in.
Making our way down we saw from above the cloud cover over the Tenerife coast. It made the summit look like an island with a sea of clouds washing against it. As we transitioned down to cooler (25°C) and humid air with gray skies, we were reminded of why going up was a great idea.
