The trekking level difficulty of any tour is by far the most important aspect to consider when planning your trekking or hiking activity.Trekking and Hiking are great outdoor activities. Both provide you with excellent benefits for your overall fitness and health. However, you need to take the time to read the difficulty level for each tour offered on our website.
Even though for every person the difficulty of treks and hikes may vary, Costa Rica Trekking Expeditions has established certain factors to determine the trekking difficulty level for both hikes and treks offered on this website. This way, you have a clearer idea of what to expect and the physical condition you need. Therefore, You are warned to take this seriously and do not risk your health taking a tour level that you are not familiar with yet. Finally, be honest with us and make sure your hiking experience meets the characteristics for each level.
A tour like this is suitable for most people, young and old in good health (no heart deceases or any other that will affect your health when taking the tour). Elevation gain in this hikes does not exceed 500 m (1640 ft). On the other hand, the total distance is no more than 4 km in a hike (1 day hike).
In the case of trekking, the same conditions are given but for more than one day. The trails in both categories have no major obstacles. That is, no crossing streams, walking over wooden logs, using hands to move through, and the like. The backpack consists of a camel bag (or bottle of water), snacks, poncho, candies or similar (very light backpack and no need to carry anything additional) Trails are in great condition and well signed posted. Tour does not exceed 5 hours including resting near waterfalls or any other natural attraction, unless more hours are required for transportation.
In order for any visitor to take a tour of this category or superior, they are expected to have walked under similar conditions or do regular exercise like running or walking (cardiovascular activity). For hiking activities (1 day tour) the trail for this category does not exceed 8 km long, but notice it can be even less than 4 km with obstacles including using your hands to climb up for short distances (please check out the tour description to make sure if there can be obstacles like this). When some sort of climbing is involved, hiking is never suitable for elders.
Distances for trekking in the moderate level can go up to 12 km each day. Additionally, the elevation gain in this kind of activities does not exceed 1000 m (3280 f). Notice any trek that exceeds this elevation gain will belong to any of the upper level on this scale. Moreover, trails are mostly in good condition with occasional streams to cross, hanging bridges, big stones, muddy ground, or logs on the way. Hiking goes on for more than 3 hours each day. Backpack includes lunch, snacks, camel bag or bottle of water, and poncho. Adding more weight to the backpack will make any tour like this to be challenging (next level). Thus, consider this before taking the tour. For most treks porter service is available at extra-cost so that you can book the service in advance.
For hikers in good physical health and good hiking condition (people used to hiking similar distances in a regular basis). Hikes involve distances up to 12 km long in total. Additionally, the elevation gain does not go beyond 1,300 meters. Enough water, snacks, and candies are necessary in your backpack, which should not exceed 4 kg in total.
On the other hand, treks of this sort can be up to 15 km a day including a light backpack to carry only the supply of water (1.5 lt at least), snacks, candies and essential items to be able to reach the campground. Moreover, carrying all the items by yourself will upgrade the difficulty category to Demanding (up to 6 kg) or Extreme (up to 12 kg). Unless you have experience carrying loads under similar conditions, do not carry your own stuff. We suggest you to hire porter service for this purpose. Including a hiking pole will be of great help for this types of hikes, so if possible take one or two sticks with you. On the other hand, trails require good physical condition as occasional streams to cross, hanging bridges, big stones, muddy ground, or logs can show up on the way. Finally, It may take up to 8 hours of hiking each day.
First of all, experienced hikers are expected for this kind of hikes, which consist of a total of 18 km in total. Hikes of this kind mostly involve long distances and elevation gain as factors for upgrading the level. Daypack include at least 2lt of water, candies, enough food (sandwiches or similar) to regain calories lost. The weight will not exceed 4kg, if so hikers will face an Extreme hike instead. The
total elevation gain does not exceed 2000 m.
Trekking journeys consist of trails up to 18 km long per day and a total elevation gain of 1,500 meters each day. Back pack includes only the necessary stuff during the hiking time (water, snacks, candies, etc). Carrying all your stuff makes it an extreme trek. Treks of this sort usually involve walking through narrow trails with frequent obstacles on the way, crossing streams or using logs as bridges, trails are usually muddy, and very little maintenance is given to the trail.
We are a tour operator established in Costa Rica that offers hiking and mountaineering options for those who wish to explore the most remote and majestic places in Costa Rica.
When planning your trip, it is advisable to know certain aspects about the country you visit. Therefore, we have a section you may want to read in order to know generalities of the country.
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San Isidro de El General
Pérez Zeledón, San José
Costa Rica 11901
+(506)83782641
info@trekkingcostarica.com
