The Vagabond Hiker

Hiking, trekking, and climbing the world

Hiking Southwest Utah and Beyond, Part 1

Southern Nevada and the Arizona Strip

Although I have published a number of blogs from my travels around the US, despite spending about 10 months in St George, Utah in the past two years, I have been remiss in describing any of my hikes in this wonderful part of the country. This post is the first of two that will attempt to remedy that omission.

Driving North from Las Vegas to St George Utah on Interstate 15, one observes a number of desert peaks and ranges in southern Nevada before entering the dramatic Virgin River Gorge in Arizona, part of a narrow belt of land in Mojave County Arizona completely cut off from the rest of the state by the Grand Canyon.

Nevada

Autumn morning light, Charleston Peak, Spring Mountains Nevada. North of Las Vegas, Charleston Peak (11,918 ft) is the highest peak in southern Nevada and the 8th most prominent mountain in the lower 48. Amazingly, it was actually possible to do the 19 mile loop hike to the summit in a very long day from St George.
A gnarled Bristlecone Pine on Charleston Peak. Some of these hardy trees are several thousand years old. Amazing survivors!
Lynda down-climbing on Muddy Peak, the most interesting – though not the highest – of the Muddy Mountains east of Las Vegas. A long 4WD drive from the highway made it even more special.
A creamsicle sandstone formation in Hidden Valley, at the base of Muddy Peak.
Moapa Peak, to the north of I15 in Nevada, is the second highest peak of the Mormon Mountains. Here is some interesting Class 3 climbing enroute to the summit.
The Vagabond Hiker hanging on the knife-edge summit ridge of Moapa Peak. There is about 1000 ft of air under my heels. A desert classic that I am leading once again this coming week.
On Davidson Peak summit, the Little Mormon Mountains, Nevada. This climb, though not particularly difficult, was much more interesting than I had assumed.
Gold Butte National Monument is an amazing place Southwest of Mesquite, Nevada. Here is an especially complex eroded sandstone formation.
Some Joshua Trees in Gold Butte. They are actually succulents, not trees.
The Newspaper Rock petroglyph, Gold Butte. The monument is an archeological showcase of the native Paiute culture.

Arizona

Virgin River Gorge from the summit of Shadow Mountain, at the southern entrance to the Gorge. Glorious!
View of Virgin River Gorge from Peak 4302 in the Beaver Dam Wilderness, on the north side of the Gorge. Note the swollen, muddy river from all the rain this past winter.
Posing with a milk-vetch, Beaver Dam Wilderness
Taking a picture from Cedar Pocket Ridge in the Gorge
Peak 5060 from the south, off of Cedar Pockets Rd. Note the Joshua Tree in bloom. As far as I knew, this peak, high point of the Beaver Dam Mountains in Arizona, had never been climbed from this side, so I had to try. . .
An interesting rock “face” on Peak 5060. My attempt summitting from the south was without success.
The Shiprock formation in the Gorge. Scrambling to the top made an otherwise easy hike along the Gorge much more exciting.
20230419_094334_Western Redbud_Blackrock Canyon
Western Redbud, Blackrock Canyon at the north end of Virgin River Gorge. Despite the difficult lighting, one can appreciate the beauty of these flowering trees in such an arid landscape.
View southwest from Mt Dellenbaugh, just to the north of the Grand Canyon in Arizona. Talk about remote: it’s 70 miles’ drive from a paved road. Three members of John Wesley Powell’s 1869 expedition exited from the Canyon here and were never seen again.

The final part of this two-part blog post should be ready in the next week or two, given time between upcoming hiking and backpack trips.

The Vagabond Hiker

Guanacaste (Costa Rica) Walks and Wildlife

As my last visit to Costa Rica was more than 16 years ago and I never made it to this northwestern province in any event, I thought it was not before time that I returned to this stable democracy in Central America. My brother Clifford and his wife visited for much of the time. A three bedroom AirBnb house near Liberia airport was a good base for exploring the province.

A few longer hikes, combined with some leisurely nature walks and swimming in the warm Pacific Ocean proved a delightful respite from the North American winter.

Rincon de la Vieja National Park was the number one reason I visited Guanacaste. We hiked here on two different days. This photo and several that follow were taken on the leisurely Fumarolic Mud Pots loop trail.
Volcan Rincon de la Vieja in the mist
Impressive ficus roots
A seasonal waterfall on the Mud Pots loop
A juvenile Black Spiny-tailed Iguana along the trail
Passion flower (Passiflora menispermifolia) with a leaf-footed bug. This walk was a great opportunity to try out my new Olympus Tough TG-6 camera that replaced my recently-deceased Leica (see previous post).
White-throated magpie jay (Calocitta formosa). About my only decent photo of a bird in Costa Rica!
Indian head flower (Aphelandra scabra) with ants
Looking up
A more rigorous hike by far in Rincon de la Vieja was to the Escondito and Cangreja waterfalls. Here is a vista from near Escondito, the higher and more challenging portion of the hike.
Escondito waterfall. I had it to myself.
Cangreja (Blue Lagoon) waterfall, the far more popular destination. View the video full screen (the little button on the lower right)
Panorama of Playa Ocatal, one of the two beaches I visited. This one had some decent snorkeling at the west end (left side here). Playa Panama was better for swimming and only a 15 minutes drive from our AirBnb.
The Santa Rosa National Park hacienda. The road down to the coast was closed, so we settled for the Nature Trail hike and viewpoint walk from the hacienda.
Monk’s cap (Malvaviscus arboreus). Santa Rosa protects a large portion of the endangered tropical dry forest ecosystem in Costa Rica.
Panorama from Santa Rosa’s monument view point east towards three volcanoes.
A stately oak in Santa Rosa NP, a former cattle ranch.
I saw this scarlet creeper (Ipomoea hederifolia) in Diria National Park, where I did an otherwise boring hike primarily along a jeep track.
Two-toed sloths hanging around in Diamonte Eco Park. The next several photos are from here of fauna I couldn’t hope to find in the wild. . .
Crocs and friends
A pair of Jaguars, king of the New World cats
A Blue Morpho at Diamonte. We saw many of these butterflies at Rincon de la Vieja, but getting a good photo of one with its wings open was nigh on impossible.
Breeding male green iguana at Diamonte trying to impress a female. I never knew they could get this color. View the video full screen.
A coastal vista at Las Catalinas. I did a several mile loop hike out to Punta Guachipelines. It turns out the area is privately owned and I should have bought a day pass. Oops!
Making vegetarian empanadas with Clifford and Valerie at Tio Leo’s. We did a coffee/orchard tour which included much more than simply coffee! It was conveniently located just down the road from our AirBnb west of Liberia airport.
Turquoise-browed Motmot. No, this is Notnot my photo. Despite numerous attempts, the best I could do was miserable. Many mornings I enjoyed watching him from my balcony sitting out for the dawn chorus with my first cup of coffee and binoculars. Wonderful!

I am back in the States, hiking in the Palm Springs, California area and planning my upcoming European summer. I’ll be spending five weeks at an amazing apartment overlooking (a distant) Lake Garda and then basing myself near Windsor Great Park in England from late June until the end of September. From there I am planning several trips to Europe and beyond.

Later this spring, once my plans have gelled, I’ll post a travel schedule. Until then I’m taking a few months off from this blog. . . but not from hiking!

Get out and enjoy nature,

The Vagabond Hiker

The Hidden Guianas

Of the four great, pristine rain-forests left on the planet I explored one of them, the Iwokrama, on a journey to the three least visited countries in South America. More than 80% of Suriname, French Guiana and Guyana is covered with dense jungle, much remaining uncharted. Along with the mangroves, savannas and coastline, these natural habitats play host to some of the richest biodiversity ever recorded. My itinerary, organized by Wilderness Explorers, showcased the breath-taking diversity of these three unique countries, located on the North-eastern shoulder of South America.

The Guainas: Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana

Suriname

I arrived in Suriname’s capital, Paramaribo, a couple of days early to better adjust to the time (and weather!) change from southern Utah. The excellent restaurant and refreshing swimming pool at the Torarica Resort made acclimatization for the following two week trip with five Brits that much easier.

Presidential Palace Paramaribo, Suriname, was the centerpiece of a walking tour of the historic town center
Houses near Fort Zeelandia, Paramaribo, highlighting the Dutch clapboard architecture
Paramaribo’s Saint-Peter-and-Paul Basilica, one of the largest wooden churches in the world
Egrets at sunset on the Commewijne River, Nieuw Amsterdam. While we did not see any pink river dolphins, the sunset tour on the river was special nonetheless.
A house on the former plantation of Rust en Werk (“Rest and Work”), on the Commiwijne River. Presumably Rust refers to the dissipated lives of the Dutch plantation owners and Werk refers to the slaves’ arduous toil.
Atjoni marina, Upper Suriname River. A three hour drive from Paramaribo brought us to the end of the road above the Brokopondo Reservoir and the start of our two hour river journey upstream in one of these pirogues.
Passing a lodge along the Upper Suriname River
A lizard on a wooden sculpture at the Saramaca museum of indigenous culture
My Danpaati lodge cabin view. The lodge was definitely deluxe, with en-suite bathrooms, a salt water swimming pool, and a fine dining restaurant and bar.
An interesting tree on our walk near Dan Village

To respect the wishes of the Maroon inhabitants of Dan Village, I had not taken photos of them. Sadly, the tree above was the last photo taken with my Panasonic Lumix, which drowned in a rain-forest deluge moments later. RIP.

French Guiana

Technically not a country, but rather and overseas department of France, our travel day from Paramaribo to Cayenne, French Guyana, consisted of six hours travel by van, divided in two by a river border crossing on a motorized pirogue.

Moiwana Monument in Eastern Suriname. The 1986 massacre of women and children that took place here was never properly investigated or the perpetrators held accountable.
The Transportation Prison at St. Laurent-du-Maroni, French Guiana. Our schoolmarmish guide seemed enthralled by grisly details. Papillon was incarcerated here for a few months in cell #47.
Our tour of France’s inhumane penal system continued on the Îles du Salut. Shown is a view of a prison on St Joseph Island, closed only in 1953.
St Joseph Island cemetery for the wardens and their families. The inmates’ bodies were simply dumped in the Atlantic Ocean.
A pool for the wardens on St Joseph Island. Quite refreshing after our circumambulation of the island!
Devil’s Island seen from Isle Royale, where we had lunch in a restored tourist hotel. The white building seen here is where Alfred Dreyfus was held in isolation for several years.

Guyana

The onward journey to Guyana was no less arduous – and certainly longer – than that to French Guiana. Five hours of driving back to Paramaribo, and then a flight to Georgetown early the following morning reinforced to me the isolation of this corner of South America. The congested, dilapidated capital of Guyana aside, our trip definitely concluded on a high note as the Iwokrama Rainforest, savannas of southern Guyana, and dramatic Kaieteur Falls were without a doubt the tour’s highlights.

Kaieteur Falls, at 226 m (741 ft) the highest single-drop falls in the world. An hour long flight on a Cessna 208B to a remote airstrip followed by a half-hour walk brought our group to some stunning view points
Down-valley view from Kaieteur Falls
The Vagabond Hiker standing well back from the edge at Kaieteur Falls

A tiny golden rocket frog near Kaieteur Falls. Lack of a decent camera really told here.
Atta River Lodge hibiscus. Not many flowers were in bloom at the end of the dry season. We flew from Georgetown to the Iwokrama airstrip for a three day journey into the rain-forest and savanna of central and southern Guyana. We stopped briefly for lunch at this Research Station and lodge.
View from Turtle Mountain, Iwokrama Rainforest. The trailhead was a short boat trip from our rain-forest lodge. Although the hike was less than two hours round trip, we were all soaked with sweat long before the end.
Our indigenous guide and an interesting tree in the Iwokrama Forest. Much of the forest is protected, and the rest sustainably harvested, or so we were told.
The Essequibo River from our boat, returning from the Turtle Mountain hike. The Essequibo is the largest river between the Orinoco and the Amazon, flowing north from Brazil to the Atlantic Ocean.
A male Cock-of-the-Rock, the photo taken through a spotting scope. This walk and bird watching excursion was a great break from our long drive to our next lodge, in the savanna.
Surama Eco-Lodge, near the eponymous village located in the savanna, our home for two nights. Like the Iwokrama Rain-forest Lodge, it is run and staffed by the local people.
An early morning hike rewarded us with this great view from Surama mountain.
An afternoon walk brought us to the Burra Burra River where a local boatman took us in his canoe to observe birds and caimans. The trip was far more interesting than perhaps this photo shows.
A birding walk on the final morning at the Surama Ecolodge ticked more than two dozen species for us. A great end to the two week trip!

As a codicil to the story of my deceased Lumix, I just acquired an Olympus Tough TG-6, a rugged water-proof, dust-proof, shock-proof, etc, camera. We’ll see how this latest device works out on my next trip, to Costa Rica’s Guanacaste Province in two weeks, the subject of my next blog post.

The Vagabond Hiker

Categories

Subscribe for Updates