Whitewater Christmas

Christmas day was our first full day in Costa Rica and we would be heading to La Fortuna from San José. Since it’s on the way, Ro suggested we do whitewater rafting today and do activities in La Fortuna the following day. Everyone agreed, so the full group was doing rafting. We boarded our van around 730 and left San José. Past Alajuela, we stopped at a small roadside shop to pick up some breakfast. Further north, we made our first sightseeing stop at La Paz Waterfall, a beautiful 120-foot roadside waterfall along Route 126 just past the La Paz Waterfall Gardens.

We got off the van and had the chance to walk around for a bit to see the waterfall from different angles.

After this stop, we made a quick stop in San Miguel, so everyone on the tour who needed water shoes could pick some up and then we got off the main road to head to the put-in for rafting on Rio Sarapiquí. A few other vans of tourists were rafting as well, so there were about eight boats heading down the river. Sandy, Tim, and I were in one boat with our guide Jeffrey. After reviewing safety and rafting instructions, we took to the water. This section of the river is great for whitewater rafting with class II, III, and IV rapids.

We’ve done whitewater rafting in the past and generally there are some good rapids, followed by stretches of relatively flat water. Not so on Sarapiqui. It was pretty much rapid after rapid and rapid. It was a lot of fun and we got very wet. At one point, a waterfall tumbled down a small tributary into the river. Our guide steered our raft so that we went directly under the waterfall and got drenched.

This section of river flows through a rainforest and at one point we could see toucans up in the trees, but the rafting was too intense for more than a quick glance. About half-way through the trip, we made a stop at a calm section for a snack. There was a nice set of rapids right before this part and Jeffery suggested to Sandy that she “ride the bull”, or sit on the front of the raft. Sandy managed to stay on going down the rapids, but then Jeffrey pushed her in with his paddle! We then steered our boat to shore and stopped for a bit. As another raft of our group was coming down, both Jamie and Allie fell out of the boat. Jamey was able to get right back in, but Allie continued down the rapids, being rescued at the last minute. Once everybody stopped, the guides cut up some pineapple and watermelon for snacks. I took the opportunity to hike upstream and swim back down the rapids again without a raft. Then, we continued down the river to the take-out spot. After drying out a little, the vans took us all back to the outfitters’ place and we had a big lunch here. After lunch, we continued on towards La Fortuna. About half-way there, near Aguas Zarcas, we stopped for a restroom break at a grocery store. Ro pointed out a three-toed sloth high in a tree in the parking lot. He was a little too high for a good shot of him, but we could definitely see his three claws. Having a local around to point out stuff like that was great. After this break, we continued on the rest of the way to La Fortuna. First, we stopped at the Desafio office to pay for our whitewater rafting and to book activities for the following day. Sandy and I had purchased the adrenaline bundle, so we would be canyoneering/ waterfall rappelling and one more activity. We decided on stand-up paddleboarding on Lake Arenal. Once done here, we headed to our hotel, Monte Real. The hotel had a nice pool and scenic grounds and the room was very nice. The room was much larger than the night before with a queen size bed, instead of two twin beds. There were lovely flowers blooming all around the grounds of the hotel.

After getting settled into our room, we met back up with the group and headed into town for a group dinner at Lava Lounge. I got a cheeseburger here and it was good. After dinner, Ro arranged for a van to pick us up and drove us to a hot springs. Well, not exactly a spring, more like a hot river. We parked near the Tabacón Thermal Resort entrance. This free attraction wasn’t well known with tourists and was more popular with locals. A few amorous couples could be seen in the warm water. We walked down to the river and then river-walked upstream to a nice spot to sit in the warm water. I think that this river originates at the resort and the warm water continues flowing out on its way to Arenal River. The current was moving quite quickly, so we had to really anchor ourselves to the ground. It was raining, but the cool rain got canceled out by the warm river water. After about an hour enjoying the warm water, we headed back to the van and back to our hotel for the night.

Christmas Eve in San Jose

For the holiday season this year, Sandy and I headed to Costa Rica for an action-packed week of adventure and fun. My employer has an end-of-year holiday shut down and I didn’t want to let perfectly good vacation time go to waste. We left Raleigh early on Christmas Eve. Since the holidays are peak travel time, everything was very busy. We had to have our car valet-parked at Fast Park and Relax before heading to the airport as the parking lot was completely full. Fortunately, we made it to the airport in time and none of our flights were delayed. We flew to Charlotte and from there to San José. It was quite warm in Raleigh when we left, so not much of a difference in temperature when we arrived in Costa Rica. After deplaning and clearing customs, we found our driver and met Dana from Toronto, another tourist on our G Adventures trip. The driver took us to Hotel Autentico in San José and after checking into our room, we headed out to get cash from a bank and had a late lunch/early dinner at Soda Tapia. Sandy and I both got a steak sandwich. They were good, but really big. We should have just split one. After eating, we went for a stroll around Parque la Sabana, the central park of San José.

The tropical flowers blooming in the park were absolutely beautiful, including some bright yellow trumpetbush.

We also saw male great-tailed grackles, a bird that looks somewhat like a crow with a long tail.

There was a huge Christmas tree sponsored by Coca-Cola, as well as a pretty artificial lake with ducks.

As the sun was beginning to set, we had beautiful views of the lake.

We then headed back to the hotel and met up with more of our tour group and our amazing tour guide, Ro. After introducing ourselves, Ro went over some of the logistics of the trip and background information. After the meeting, we went for dinner in the hotel. Sandy and I weren’t hungry as we had eaten so much just a little bit earlier so we had a couple drinks and socialized with the group and then went to bed early.

Holiday Hike in Gaston County

This past Saturday, we headed to the Charlotte area for a holiday hike and fun with friends in Gaston County. This December has been unseasonably warm, but it was chilly for the weekend, a welcome relief for steep climbing and scrambling at Crowders Mountain. We met in the Chapel Hill area to form carpools and headed south on I-85 to Crowders Mountain State Park. We arrived at the Linwood Road Access area of the park at about 1030 and started our hike. We started off on the Backside Trail towards Crowders Mountain, but when we got to the split, turned right on Crowders Trail and bypassed the mountain. We would be stopping here on the way back, so we followed Crowders Trail around the side of the mountain. We had a group of twelve and most of us were wearing some type of holiday apparel. At one point, a guy walking in the other direction was looking at Bob’s Santa hat and tripped over a rock. Apparently, our holiday flair was distracting to other park guests! We crossed Sparrow Springs Road and continued towards the park office. At the intersection with Pinnacle Trail, we went straight on this trail, continuing towards the trail’s namesake mountain.  After passing the intersection with the campground spur trails, the Pinnacle Trail leads over a rocky ridgeline. I really enjoy visiting Crowders Mountain for the rocky trails that require a bit of climbing and scrambling. Right after this rocky section, the Turnback Trail splits off and then it becomes steeper as it heads up to the summit of the Pinnacle. There are a couple of switchbacks and then the last part of the trail is pretty much just straight up. The trail ends right below the rocky summit.

We climbed up some rocks here and stopped to eat lunch. Looking west, there are sweeping views with the South Mountains visible and the Black Mountains far off in the distance.  Going north a bit to the true summit of the peak, I could see Crowders Mountain, the park office, and the Charlotte skyline far in the distance.

After lunch, we found some more rocks to climb around on enjoy the views. We saw a large black vulture perched in a tree not far from here.

He waited around long enough for some pictures and then flew off. Then we started making our hike back. We followed Pinnacle Trail back down the mountain, then turned right to get on Turnback Trail to make a partial loop to head back to the park office. We stopped here for a couple minutes to use the restrooms and then took Crowders Trail back to the road crossing. Across Sparrow Springs Road, we turned right to take Rocktop Trail to the summit of Crowders Mountain.

Rocktop is my favorite trail in the park as it involves a lot of rock scrambling along the rocky spine of the mountain. At a few points where there are breaks in the trees, the trail provides good views of the surrounding countryside.

Towards the end of the trail, we got on the Tower Trail, which is also the access road to the radio towers on top of the mountain. We hiked this steep road up to the towers at the summit of the mountain and then went a little further to the overlook.

The views from here are great and the skyline of Charlotte was clearly visible to the northeast.

We also saw some climbing ropes leading down. As we were getting ready to leave, a woman climbed up and was adjusting the ropes to take down from the day. It’s amazing to see how skilled some climbers are in maneuvering around on the cliffs, seeming to defy gravity. If we improve our climbing skills, I’d love to come back out here for some rock climbing. From here, we took the Backside Trail back down to the parking lot. We drove into Gastonia and had dinner at Tequilas on West Main Street. After dinner, we took US-74 east towards McAdenville to see the Christmas lights. It was extremely crowded with unbelievable traffic, so we parked at Food Lion on Market Street and walked up Wesleyan Drive. McAdenville, also called Christmastown USA, lives up to its nickname in December.

Walking down Wesleyan Drive and Main Street, very house, building, store, and tree are covered in Christmas lights. Trees lining the small lake in the middle of downtown were especially scenic.

We also saw a Shelby Cobra covered in lights.

Once we got towards the end of Main Street, we turned around and headed back. It was quite cold, especially carrying a tripod, but it was fun seeing all the pretty lights.

Driving home, we saw the traffic on US-74 stretched back for miles. I’m sure glad we opted to get out and walk rather than trying to drive through town.

Lassiter Swamp

It was very chilly Sunday morning when we awoke around sunrise. We layered up to get out of the tent and then packed our stuff up. Without the heavy firewood, we were able to get all our stuff on the boats and only have to make one trip back to the parking at Merchants Millpond. It was a lovely morning for a paddle, even if it was chilly, and the pond was beautiful in the early morning light. Back at the boat ramp, we packed up the car and got the boats back up on the rood, then set out for a hike before heading home. From the boat ramp parking, we hiked along Mill Pond Road over the dam, where a great blue heron was wading in the murky water.

Past here, a short spur trail led through the woods to the park office. After checking out, we started hiking the Lassiter Trail, the longest trail in the park. Almost immediately, we saw a deer on the trail, but she ran off before we could get a picture. The trail follows the millpond’s shore at first, crossing a wide section of the millpond on a boardwalk.

The water all around here was very mucky and this area looked like the epitome of a swamp.

Shortly after this point, the trail split to form a loop. Turning right, we soon passed the path that leads to the campsite where we had stayed the night before. We also saw some American Beautyberry growing here.

This bush makes pretty purple berries that are popular with birds. I have a bush growing in the backyard, but this was the first time I had seen it wild. The trail then crosses the old fire roads where bicycling is permitted and then heads past Lassiter Swamp.

Lassiter Swamp is located near the head of the millpond where Bennets Creek flows into it. This was another beautiful area of murky water and deformed cypress trees that were gnarled into the most bizarre shapes. Along this section here, we saw a marbled orb weaver spider. I was surprised that it wasn't too cold for it.

I don't particularly care for spiders, but these orb weavers have really pretty coloring and patterns. After Lassiter Swamp, the trail heads back, passing an area near private property and finishing up the loop.

There were several benches along the trail to stop and enjoy the view of the forest and swamp. We then hiked back to the car and started making our way home.

Kayak Camping at Merchants Millpond

Last weekend, Sandy and I headed to northeastern NC for kayak camping at Merchants Millpond State Park. This fall has been exceptionally wet and rainy, so we were excited for a dry weekend to take our boats out. We left Raleigh shortly after sunrise and began traveling east, making it to the park around 1030. First, we stopped by the visitor center to check in and get a parking pass for the car. They didn’t have any firewood here, so we swung by the family campground to pick up a bundle. Then we drove to the boat ramp and got our stuff ready to head out onto the millpond. It was our first time taking the boats out overnight for a camping trip. With the firewood, we couldn’t get all of our stuff in the boats. So we got the tent and most camping gear in first, along with a couple pieces of the heavy firewood, and planned to come back for the rest. Once our boats were all packed up, we set off paddling across the millpond.

As we got in the water, we had to paddle through some thick green “muck” along the surface of the pond that really made paddling more of an effort. But soon, we got past it and followed the orange trail towards the canoe campsite.

There were a tremendous number of beautiful bald cypress trees in the pond, though unfortunately, they had pretty much lost all of their leaves by now. I was able to find a couple patches of remaining fall color.

When we got to the campsites, we got out of the water at camp site 1. From here, we carried our gear to site 4 and got our stuff set up. I walked down to the shore here, so I would know how to paddle back to the right campsite. Once our tent was all set up, we headed back to site 1 and got back on the water. We paddled along the yellow trail towards the group canoe campsites and then continued further into the millpond and “enchanted forest”.

The many cypress trees sticking up out of the shallow pond were draped in beautiful Spanish moss and made for a beautiful and relaxing scene. It was too cold for any alligators to be out that we could see, but we did spot one lone turtle sunning himself on an exposed log.

We paddled around for a while in this area, then started making our way back to the boat ramp. We cooked dinner at the picnic area here so we wouldn’t have to hang food at the campsite and I did a quick loop around the Cypress Point Trail.

After dinner, we packed the rest of our stuff and firewood for the paddle back to camp.

There was about 30 minutes left of daylight when we got back to our site, so we spent that time gathering small branches and twigs to start our fire. Fortunately, there was plenty of downed wood all around the campsite. It got quite cold once the sun went down, but the campfire kept us warm until it was time for bed.