A Hiker's Guide to Costa Rica: Trails, Tips & Toucans (That Will Judge Your Fitness) Welcome to Costa Rica, where every hike comes with a side of existential humidity , at least one howler monkey trying to emotionally intimidate you from a tree, and scenery so jaw-dropping you'll stop mid-climb just to stare — which is convenient, because your lungs will need the break anyway. This is the only Costa Rica hiking guide you'll need: real costs, honest logistics, permit nightmares, and the hikes you absolutely cannot miss — whether you're a family with kids, a solo adventurer trying to prove something to yourself, or a retiree who has decided the Osa Peninsula is a perfectly reasonable place to have a heart-warming personal crisis. If you're planning an epic trek across the entire country, also check out our guide to El Camino de Costa Rica — the ultimate coast-to-coast thru-hike . It's 280 km of pure, beautiful, soul-testing trail, and I say t...

By the Nomadventure Family | Backpacking · Family Travel · Pacific Crest Trail There is a particular kind of madness that descends upon a family when the children start outpacing the parents on a trail. Not metaphorically — literally. One moment you are the wise, experienced adults shepherding your offspring up a boulder field, pointing out interesting lichens and pretending you know what kind of bird that was. The next moment, the kids are forty yards ahead, questioning your cardio fitness with their eyes, and you are bent double over your trekking poles wondering when, exactly, your legs staged this mutiny. This is where we are. And we couldn't be happier about it. Our family has sailed between Maine and the Bahamas, clipped into limestone walls high above the Sonoran Desert in El Potrero Chico, Mexico, and navigated our beloved converted school bus — Base Camp, a 40-foot Skoolie who has opinions about tight turns — through enough mountain switchbacks to give a G...