Costa Rica National Parks / North Pacific / Tenorio & Miravalles Volcanoes

Hardly explored and for those who like hiking steep trails. It consists of four volcanic peaks and two twin-craters. The slopes are covered with savannah, rain forest at middle elevations and cloud forests at higher elevations. From its top spreads the sight for Guatuso and San Carlos lowlands, Lake Nicaragua, Cano Negro National Reserve and Arenal Lake. A legend exists about an eruption in 1816, but the volcano was observed to be densely forested in 1864 and is not considered to have erupted in historical time. Since 1989 it has been under a pre-feasibility study to determine its geothermal potential.

Various hiking tour are offered, e.g.: Spend a half or full day hiking along the Rio Celeste. The Rio Celeste is named after the color of its water a bright, jewel-blue caused by many dissolved, natural minerals, like cobalt. A guide will take you through secondary and primary rainforest, and pack in your lunch, fresh juices and water. From trailhead, it is only a 2 km (1.2 miles) hike to the breathtaking Rio Celeste waterfall. The adventurous can swim near pounding 70-foot falls. A 7 km (4.3 miles) hike takes you beyond the falls and deeper into the virgin rain forest, home to pumas, tapirs and other animals. You will trek to the streaming hot and cool springs of the local volcanoes, mineral mud pits and the blue lagoon of the Rio Celeste. Allow a full day to hike, swim, lunch, and rest up afterwards.