As you can see, there are many hiking trails in the park and many visitors come just the hike these trails.

Some sources indicate that Teide is the third tallest island volcano in the world, measuring from the ocean floor.

Teide is considered a dormant stratovolcano, with its last eruption in 1909. I found it interesting to see how nature had found a way to have some mature trees growing out the volcanic rock.

There were several photo ops and we stopped at many of them. I thought this view, not of the volcano itself, but of the evidence of long-ago eruptions was really cool.

Here is a closer view.

I could never determine the name of this shrub, but it is all over the place. It appears to be an evergreen, but I cannot locate any information online to confirm its name.

Here is more unknown flora from Mt. Teide on Tenerife.

This is our first decent view of Mt. Teide, we still have a long way to go until we can get close.

As is typical on any trip to a volcano, there is a rest stop along the way. Although it might be for a toilet break, or to buy souvenirs, or to buy a beverage - it is really a short break to allow visitors to acclimate to the higher altitude.

At the rest stop, we saw some folks from one of the other ships in port, along with hikers.

Here is a shot of the one of the hiking trails, the long needle pines make for a decent walking base; however there were other trails that were more open and hikers would be on lava rock. Not for the beginner.

The plants look a lot like desert vegetation. Got to read up on Tenerife. Love the shot of Mt. Teide, it looks almost otherwordly. Does haze or light fog give it that softness?

Haze, that was only on that side of the island. Here is a shot taken less than 2 hours later, but on the other side of the mountain. Much closer, too.

I love this part of the trip. You tell it very well, both words and photos.

This is our tour guide Ivett. She worked hard getting her English correct.