Altavista, or Azaenegue

View west from the viewpoint, La Aldea de San Nicolás to the left

A walk along the crest of Altavista, or Azaenegue in aboriginal language, towards a viewpoint on the end closer to La Aldea is one of the easy and beautiful linear walks in the vicinity of Artenara village, on the edge of Tamadaba nature park. It does have some ascents, with the corresponding descents, but they are as light as they go on the island. There is no getting lost either. The only problem here is the transport to the start of the walk, the same as in nearly all of the walks to the west of Artenara. Once again, driving, or being driven, is the most realistic option for a one-day trip. But, unlike Faneque, you can do it if you stay in Artenara village; you can even do the longer version of the walk starting in Artenara and using the public transport, but you will have yourself a very tiresome day.

Faneque behind the solitary pine. The pine was burnt partially in the Valleseco wildfire in 2019

I first stood at the viewpoint on Altavista a few years ago, while on a walk with Arawak (sigggghhh, hope they come back one day). I was infinitely impressed by the views, but I think that the awe I felt was partially due to not knowing what I was looking at. Now when I look at the distant mountains, villages and reservoirs, I can name many of them and visualize the walks that exist around them. It feels different, but also quite brilliant.

Teide peeking over his comfort blanket. Poor old thing, he must be cold

There are a few different starting points for this walk between Artenara and the mountain itself, the farthest being, obviously, Artenara. We started from the nearest one, Degollada del Sargento pass. The place is easy to miss if you drive. Look to your left often and stop when you see the view opening towards Caldera de Tejeda. There is a small car park and an information display. If you drive right past, as we did, turn around. The road, GC-216, will make a one-way counterclockwise loop about three km from the pass. If you find yourself there, you’ve obviously gone too far, but there is a good thing to it, too — the road will bring you right back to the pass, eventually, and you will drive through very impressive scenery.

Roque Bentayga, as majestic as ever, set off by the cloudfall behind it. Roque Nublo to the right. I prefer Bentayga myself.

The above-mentioned information display shows the route and gives the distances. I believe it’s impossible to get truly lost on this one. There are very few forks, and only at one point could it be somewhat confusing — when one path goes to the right, to La Aldea. But it’s easily sorted — if you realize that you are going horizontally for a goodish while after a fork, just come back and take another branch.

View down from the viewpoint towards Parralillo reservoir.
A very narrow and curvy road on the other side of it joins La Aldea and Acusa/Artenara

You can just follow the path to and back or you can vary just a little by going to the trig point. The end viewpoint of Altavista is not the top of the crest, so if you want to be able to say you’ve been to the top, you need to go out of the way a little and then come back to the main path. Or, once the trig point is done, you can continue along the crest, but that’s more scrambling than walking. If you are out for an easy walk, stick to the paths. If you are looking for a little adventure, go ahead and scramble to your heart’s content.

View down to El Risco village, where the Camino del Cartero starts. Faneque to the right.
I told you I can put names to many places, didn’t I?

The to-and-back from the Degollada del Sargento is between 9 and 10 kilometers, depending on whether you want to go out of the way a bit and explore. One of the possible mini-adventures is shortcutting across a stony outcrop, Las Lajas de Jabón, i.e. The Soap Flagstones. As you can see in the linked photo, the rocks are flat (hence Flagstones). They are also on a slope, slippery when wet (hence Soap) an absolute bugger to walk on after rains, so I’d discourage this little shortcut when there is water on the surface. As you can see from the same photo, the path runs just below and around the Flagstones, so you can simply follow it.

The sparse pines on the western slope of Altavista peter out completely when you look towards La Aldea.

Well, there is little to add. Views are beautiful all the way, but you do need a day which is relatively open. On cloudy day, the tops of Altavista and its neighbour, Tamadaba massif, tend to be inside low clouds, so you will see little, if anything at all.

Something you can always see — the Canary Pines of all ages and sizes. Cute little glaucous shoots, about one year old.

Here is the route, with a small side branch close to the final viewpoint, darting to the trig point and back.

The fields of the plateau of Acusa (low center) were still yellow and dry when we went.
They will be turning green soon, we had some good rains recently.

Just one more point. As I’ve already mentioned, you can start your walk in Artenara, but that will add 9 km to the total distance, and that is not a short walk anymore, obviously.

The zigzagging road in the background leads to Acusa. I can see a path running along the crest to its tip, may be worth exploring next time.

I have a lot (and I mean A LOT) of photos of Artenara, Altavista, Teide, Tamadaba and Caldera de Tejeda on Shutterstock.