Catarata Caño Seco - Turrialba
We went to see a waterfall with springs hidden in a Turrialba farm, despite the rain we continued our trip and skies cleared up so we ended up having an amazing time. Don’t let the bad weather keep you from going, pack your stuff and take a hike, because everything is a matter of attitude.
How to get there? You have to go to Santa Cruz of Turrialba, near the colonnade on the left there is an entrance that has a bar called Noah's Ark, from there without deviating pass through San Antonio then pass the school of Guayabo (super cute and different), then at the intersection on the right, go to Guayabo Park. On the left, you are looking for Torito - La Orieta (the whole path is unpaved and combined asphalt). From that point towards Torito it’s approx 3k and you will come across another crossing, to the left you’re heading to Torito and to the right you go to the Orieta, this last one is the best option since the road condition is much better, then you get to another crossing and you have to turn left, from here it’s 600m going up then there is another junction, take the left, from the fountain It’s 100m, you’ll see the entrance of our gate on the left, it’s wooden and has a high wall.
Waze: https://waze.com/ul/hd1u2zg3s0
Vehicle:4x4 high clearance car Parking:Yes Pets:Yes Camping:Yes Contact: Tatiana: 8990 3481 https://www.facebook.com/fuentelodge/ Cost: ¢ 2000 per person ¢ 6000 per camping In the place, they can make food with previous notice.
What to bring? Comfortable clothes for walking, trail tennis, swimsuit, towel, repellent, and sunscreen.
Distance:2km Difficulty: Moderate / High
- The high part is only for a moment when going to the springs, the rest is moderate. Accessibility:Not accessible
We left early for Santa Cruz of Turrialba, we went first to the Irazú and on the way, we used Waze to avoid going to Turrialba center (it’s more tedious), near Guayabo. After driving approximately 2:30 hours with intermittent rains we arrived at Tatiana’s house (host of this trip) where they received us with a cheese and egg burrito, all Turrialba made and with coffee to load batteries.
We waited almost an hour for the rain to stop and finally escaped, we started walking around the farm. The path that goes to the waterfall goes through a small artisan dairy (I say it like that so it sounds hipster). Then you go down a little hill, pass through a ravine and then a farm to later run into the forest that protects the Caño Seco River.
To get to the first waterfall you go down a 200m trail that’s a bit broken, the arrival to the waterfall is shocking, the waterfall is quite high and we ran into luck, maybe not the best luck since it was so filled up due to the rains that we could not swim but it generated a super refreshing drizzle. Normally one can bathe in the waterfall without any problem and it is very cool. We were like 20 minutes since we wanted to visit the pools so we started walking back to the paddock above, and it was already getting cold.
The pools are about 20 minutes away from the waterfall, first you go up a paddock and then you have to go down a path under construction (it’s probably finished by now), then we had to go down until we reached the pool. The pools are perfect, they have crystal clear water and the waterfall is tiny, there is also enough space to put bags down, get a picnic setup or just stay and chill. We were here an hour tops and got ready to leave because we noticed that the river was growing and we did not want to risk a Waterhead incident.
When we were heading back through the paddock it started to rain, we got soaked and got to the house to change into dry clothes, we ate a tray of pork rinds with yucca so delicious we licked our fingers. Once full we got ready to return to San Jose, happy to have visited a new place, with nice people who received us and treated us like family.