$15 entrance fee to the Rincon de la Vieja NP. The park is open daily from 8:00 to 16:00, but note the trails to Catarata la Cangreja and Cataratas Escondidas close at 12:00 noon to allow the hikers enough time to explore and return to the park's headquarter and parking lot by 16:00 when the park closes its gates to the visitors. We were told that it'd take roughly 4 hours for most hikers to do the Catarata la Cangreja hike (and back, of course). We managed to get it done in little less than 3 hours at a comfortable 2.4 mph average pace with some breaks here and there (mostly at the waterfall). Had I had not been carrying Felix in the Deuter carrier bag, which weighs about 50 lbs, I could have done it comfortably in 2 to little over 2 hours. Unfortunately, we did not have enough time to hit Cataratas Escondidas this time around because we needed to reserve the rest of the time until the park's closure to check out its gift shop and to hike the Las Pailas trail. Thanks to the sun that peaked out of the clouds, the waterfall and its pool were in beautiful turquoise blue color unexpectedly and highlighted our hike w/ a major surprise! I strongly recommend this hike in addition to the Las Pailas trail. They are so significantly different, yet both AMAZINGLY beautiful!!

Hiking/Backpacking

Costa Rica, CR, Pura Vida, Rincon de la Vieja National Park, Parque Nacional Rincon de la Vieja, Catarata la Cangreja

Curubandé, Provincia Guanacaste, Costa Rica

time : Dec 11, 2019 11:48 AM

duration : 2h 51m 3s

distance : 6.8 mi

total_ascent : 1316 ft

highest_point : 2811 ft

avg_speed : 2.4 mi/h

user_id : NomadHeeday

user_firstname : Heeday

user_lastname : Nakahashi

$15 entrance fee to the Rincon de la Vieja NP. The park is open daily from 8:00 to 16:00, but note the trails to Catarata la Cangreja and Cataratas Escondidas close at 12:00 noon to allow the hikers enough time to explore and return to the park's headquarter and parking lot by 16:00 when the park closes its gates to the visitors. We were told that it'd take roughly 4 hours for most hikers to do the Catarata la Cangreja hike (and back, of course). We managed to get it done in little less than 3 hours at a comfortable 2.4 mph average pace with some breaks here and there (mostly at the waterfall). Had I had not been carrying Felix in the Deuter carrier bag, which weighs about 50 lbs, I could have done it comfortably in 2 to little over 2 hours. Unfortunately, we did not have enough time to hit Cataratas Escondidas this time around because we needed to reserve the rest of the time until the park's closure to check out its gift shop and to hike the Las Pailas trail. Thanks to the sun that peaked out of the clouds, the waterfall and its pool were in beautiful turquoise blue color unexpectedly and highlighted our hike w/ a major surprise! I strongly recommend this hike in addition to the Las Pailas trail. They are so significantly different, yet both AMAZINGLY beautiful!!