Wednesday 12/10/2022 Tepezquintle – Las Gemelas – Poza Azul – La Celestial – La Turquesa – La Pintada – Cataratas Las Gemelas – Catarata la Celestial – Blue Falls of Costa Rica
Toro Amarillo
COSTA RICA
Participants: Stephen Davies (Photos, Report), Sue Davies, Cal Stewart, Kerrie Stewart
Our second day of waterfall viewing got off to an ordinary start as we overshot our target and needed to backtrack. It still wasn’t obvious where to start so we ended at the Blue Falls entrance only to discover they owned both and our target was a short walk down the road. We were keen to do both at the discounted price and organised to do that package if we returned tomorrow.
Max elevation: 1228 m
Total climbing: 354 m
Total descent: -330 m
Average speed: 3.59 km/h
Total time: 01:59:49
Once we arrived at the gate at the start of the hike we found a staff member waiting and providing us with a walking stick for the walk.
The walk-in started as a road-like track with sections of stone path between shallow, often muddy tracks. Halfway in a guide joined us to lead us to the first waterfall. This involved a bridge taking us across the rover to the single now much less distinct walking track on its true right bank.
At the end of this track, we arrived at a fork in the river each of which had a beautiful waterfall just upstream from us. The one to our left was up a small canyon whilst the one on the right was more open with a larger plunge pool. Fantastic photos are on offer for each waterfall individually or as a “stereo” pair.
Cataratas Las Gemelas
As we headed back our guide lead us off on two short side trips to more waterfalls. The first is a much lower wider fall. The second involved the descent of quite a few stairs. At the bottom, we needed to clamber over a fallen tree to get to the water’s edge. Here we took turns and carefully balanced ourselves on rocks at the edge of the plunge pool to get our photos, taking care to minimise any spray drifting towards our cameras or phones.
It had become heavily overcast and rained as we walked out but most concerning was the thunder that accompanied it. We arrived safely back to the carpark and were glad to have had the walking poles.
Checking at the entry office we were surprised to find that nobody there had heard any thunder, most likely because of the noise-dampening effect of the surrounding forest. By this time, although there was enough time, we decided to leave the ”main” falls until tomorrow.
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