Montana Blanca hike in May

I have not written a blog for a while due to upheavals at home during refurbishment of our flat.  It resulted in my access to my computer and Wifi internet being impossible of extremely restricted, and since returning home there’s been lots to do!  So now I have a bit of spare time I am going to upload some lovely nature experiences I had during May and June.

The rare endemic Teide helianthemum (Helianthemum juliae) flowering in the El Portilla visitor centre garden

Cistus osbeckifolius a rare Tenerife endemic growing in the El Portillo visitor centre garden

On 24th May, 2017, two friends and I were planning a walk from El Portillo in the Teide National Park, to La Forteleza to see the red tajinastes and a rare Tenerife endemic cistus in flower. Unfortunately we did not realise that on that day all paths, except one, in the National Park were closed due to hunting for mouflon – an ancient sheep ancestor introduced to the island for hunting. These animals now pose a serious threat to the rare and endangered endemic plants which grow in the National Park and the surrounding mountain areas. These plants evolved in an environment which did not have large herbivores, and therefore have little defence to them. The hunting now being done is to reduce the numbers and maybe eradicate them.

Shrubby scabious (Pterocephalus lasiospermus) is a Canary endemic which grows widely in the high mountain area of Tenerife

Teide Margarite (Argyranthemum teneriffae) a Tenerife endemic beside the path up to Mtna Blanca

So when we arrived at the visitor centre at El Portillo we discovered we would not be able to do the walk we planned. Instead we had a look at the visitor centre’s botanic garden which contains many of the rare local species in it. Here we saw the Red Tajinaste (Echium wildpretii) and the rare cistus (Cistus osbeckifolius) in flower, as well as others. I have never seen the Teide helianthemum (Helianthemum juliae) before, and it was making a great show, with all its lovely yellow flowers facing the sun. I think the flowers are short-lived as only 5 days later I visited the botanic garden again and all but a few of the helianthemum flowers were over.

Night-scented campion (Silene nocteolens), another endemic, which is being repopulated in the pumice areas near Mtna Blanca.

Mountain Wallflower (Erysimum scoparium) in the open pumicy landscape

Then we resigned ourselves to walking on the only path still open to the public on that day, Montaña Blanca. This path serves the most frequently used (and shortest) route to the top of Mt Teide. There is limited parking at the start of the path, on the road between the base of the cable car and El Portillo, but we were lucky to get one as someone just pulled out in front of us. They had probably come down from the Teide summit where many from the Refugio go up to see the dawn.

Mt Teide Broom (Spartocytisus supranubius) (white flowers), surrounded by Tenerife flixweed (Descurainia gonzalezi)

Blue tajinaste (Echium auberianum) beside our path. Some of Teide’s eggs (large blocks of lava) in the background.

I had previously only walked the path to Montaña Blanca when going up or down Mt Teide in the winter, and had thought the landscape rather boring and exposed, so I was not looking forward to the walk. However, the day was pleasantly sunny with a gentle breeze, and not too hot for walking so we started upwards. The landscape is mainly of pumice spewed out by the Montaña Blanca. But there are some local plants that like the pumice environment. It seems that the National Park has not only been controlling the mouflon to benefit these plants but also has been developping a programme over a number of years, of propagating several species and repopulating the area with them. As a consequence we had an interesting walk with many of these plants in flower.

Blue Tajinaste in front of Tenerife flixweed and a pink form of Mt Teide Broom behind Mtna Blanca

More Teide’s eggs, and a view to the long rocky ridge called La Fortaleza, which we had planned to walk to.

The pumice track continued uphill winding around towards Teide. One fork to the right confused us for a short while, till we realised we should have gone left, otherwise it was easy walking till we got to a path junction at the foot of the steep slope of Teide. Here the path to the summit begins a zig-zag section. There is a path to the left to the top of Mtna Blanca which is where we went, and had a gorgeous panaramic view of the caldera while we ate our lunch.

 

 

After lunch we retraced our steps back to the road, enjoying the views again from the opposite perspective.

Tenerife Flixweed beside the pumice track

The there and back walk involved approximately 400m of climbing on a very gentle slope with good paths. It was approximately 10.6 km / 6.6 miles long and took us about 3 – 3.5 hours.

A walk from El Portillo to La Fortaleza in the Teide National Park at flowering time

Left to right: Flixweed (Descourainia bourgaeana), Canary wallflower (Erysimum scoparium) and Teide vipers bugloss (Echium wildpretii), near the visitor centre at El Portillo

The scree slope beneath the cliffs of La Fortaleza is full of flowering plants, including the Teide vipers bugloss (Echium wildpretii) and Flixweed (Descourainia bourgaeana)

A group of mouflon, an introduced species of wild sheep, which are very shy and rarely seen. This was the first time I had seen them.

Again I do not have time to write a full walk description, although there is one in my book – Walk 32.  It is a straightforward easy to walk route from El Portillo visitor centre.

I am just putting up pictures of the flowers in the area as they are at their best at this time of year.

A cedro tree (Juniperus cedrus), the high mountain juniper endemic to macronesia (Atlantic islands), with the colourful scree behind it.

The very rare Tenerife endemic Cistus (Cistus osbeckifolia) on La Fortaleza

Shrubby scabious (Pterocephalus lasiospermus)

Teide marguerite (Argyranthemum teneriffae)

A view of Teide with Flixweed (Descourainia bourgaeana) in the foreground