Archive for the 'Outdoors' Category
Posted by Ted Hopton on March 1, 2008
Easily the prettiest wildlife I saw in Costa Rica was the Blue Morhpo butterfly. I did not get a good picture of one, but I selected the image at right because you can see how large these bright blue butterflies are.
The first one I saw startled me — I thought either my eyes were playing tricks on me, or someone else was. As we sat eating lunch in La Danta Salvaje after swimming in the 500′ waterfall’s pool, I saw what appeared to be a nearly neon bright disk flashing blue, disappearing, then flashing bright blue again, on and off in an erratic pattern in the air going across the river. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Costa Rica, Outdoors, Travel | Tagged: Blue Morpho, Costa Rica, insects, La Danta Salvaje, Outdoors, preserve, rain forest | No Comments »
Posted by Ted Hopton on March 1, 2008
We did not actually see many “wild” animals in La Danta Salvaje’s rain forest preserve. I’m sure our group of hikers was far from discreet in terms of noise as far as any wildlife was concerned. It would have been pretty easy to detect us and avoid us. But we did have some encounters with wildlife.
Tapirs
We found tapir tracks, including some very large ones. The trails we hiked on were originally tapir trails, so we were really the trespassers on their pathways. Seeing a tapir is rare, however, and we did not have the privilege.
Jaguar
We did see a jaguar track, however, which was really cool. They are quite rare, so to find that one was in the immediate area was exciting. Although we never saw the cat, we may have had an encounter with it, just the same.
On our third day in La Danta Salvaje, Mike and I found ourselves trailing the rest of our group, which was being led by Bernardo that day (Bernardo and Lydia live just down the mountain from La Danta Salvaje, and they consist of the staff at the lodge when groups stay there). We were on the monkey trail in search of monkeys, and then headed down to a swimming hole at the river. As we walked through the dense forest, I heard a strange sound. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Costa Rica, Outdoors, Travel | Tagged: Animals, Costa Rica, jaguars, La Danta Salvaje, Outdoors, preserve, rain forest, Sasquatch, tapirs | No Comments »
Posted by Ted Hopton on February 28, 2008
I’m sure I’ll do more with my hundreds of photos from my trip (and there were entire days when I did not take any, so there could have been far more). But just to get started, I’ll post the links to them here. I’ve divided them into several albums and some are small and some are not — I’m hoping to eventually supplement them with photos my friends took on the trip.
Click on the photo on the right of Big Mike and Kimsan (El Huevito) to see the pictures from
La Danta Salvaje, the rain forest preserve. Still, there are many things I remember that are missing among these pictures, so I will try to supplement this gallery with my friends’ photos. For example, I don’t have any photos of us swimming in the waterfall pool, although I do have video that I will post after I edit it. Unfortunately, Kimsan lost his SD card from his camera, and I think he was the one who took still photos at the waterfall, so we’ll have to see how many photos we can turn up. You’ll get a good sense of the jungle feeling from the photos taken on our hikes, but I am afraid the pictures of tapir and jaguar tracks look like I accidentally pressed the shutter while carrying the camera.
Click on the photo to the left to see just a few photos taken at Casa Viva, the lovely place owned by the truly gracious and friendly Jeanie Waller, where I stayed in Punta Uva, just down the road from Puerto Viejo. That’s me “chillaxing” in the hammock. I want more photos of the grounds, which were stunning, and of the beach that was just a few yards away. I have a good bit of video, but have not edited it, yet.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Costa Rica, Outdoors, Photographs, Travel | Tagged: Beto Torres, Casa Viva, Costa Rica, David Vaughan, Dawn Yates, La Danta Selvaje, La Salsa Brava, Molly Bragdon, Puerto Viejo, Punta Uva, rain forest, San Jose, surfing, Travel | 1 Comment »
Posted by Ted Hopton on February 28, 2008
Here’s an interesting puzzle: in the rain forest preserve where I spent four days, La Danta Salvaje, in Costa Rica, there are no mosquitos at night. During the day, the little blood-suckers would come around at times, like when you’re relaxing in the hammock on the porch enjoying the gorgeous view and the birds flitting around from tree to tree, so they certainly are present in the rain forest and they know how to bite.
But we slept with the windows open at night in the lodge without any mosquito netting. No problem. I don’t know why it’s essentially the reverse situation there of what we have here in the US, where night-time is the preferred mosquito feeding time. Maybe I’ll research it later, or maybe someone out there knows the reason why and can explain it.
Honestly, I was expecting far more bugs, but overall it was not significantly different than Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Costa Rica, Outdoors, Travel | Tagged: Costa Rica, insects, La Danta Salvaje, mosquitos, Outdoors, preserve, rain forest, Tapir flies | No Comments »
Posted by Ted Hopton on February 4, 2008
I’m not a skier, but I liked reading this NYT story about Vermont (and other states’) documented lost ski areas, relics from the postwar surge of skiing in America.
read more | digg story
Posted in Nostalgia, Outdoors | Tagged: Nostalgia, Outdoors, ski, ski areas | No Comments »
Posted by Ted Hopton on February 4, 2008
Maybe I should try ski jumping sometime? That ought to scare me silly. If I could overcome that kind of fear and do it, wow! Here’s an article about an East Coast ski jumping festival that got me thinking about it: “Slide, Jump, Fly in Connecticut.” They also give ski jumping lessons there, when the festival isn’t going on. Hmmm….
Posted in Outdoors, Sports | Tagged: Adventure, Outdoors, ski jumping, Sports | No Comments »
Posted by Ted Hopton on January 20, 2008
In the NYT Travel section, there’s an “Adventure Guide to Mexico,” by Bonnie Tsui, which covers surfing, rock climbing, deep-sea fishing, mountain biking, snorkeling with whale sharks, bird watching and hiking. I can’t say Mexico jumps to my mind when I think of adventure travel. But two of the activities described appealed to me.
First, snorkeling with whale sharks would be amazing. I’ll never forget when I first learned of whale sharks in dramatic fashion as Thor Heyerdahl recounted his terrifying encounter with one on his lonely and vulnerable raft in Kon-Tiki. Boy, did that adventure story ever capture my imagination! And it imbued me with such a healthy respect for the sea that I have little desire to challenge it, but the idea of swimming up close to the gentle but largest giants of fish is appealing.
But the adventure in Mexico that most caught my attention is the hiking trip in the Sierra Norte. Not only does the terrain sound cool to hike, but staying in local indigenous villages would be the greatest attraction for me. Put it all together, and it sounds like a fantastic trip: Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Outdoors, Travel | Tagged: hiking, Outdoors, Travel | No Comments »
Posted by Ted Hopton on January 19, 2008
Given my love of literature combined with a growing interest in hiking and the outdoors, I’d have to say that climbing Kilimanjaro would be on my life list. It’s not very high, although I understand the longer I wait, the less the mountain will look like I imagine it from reading Hemingway. This NYT Travel article, “On Africa’s Roof, Still Crowned With Snow,” got me thinking about it today.
Posted in Environment, Outdoors, Travel | Tagged: Adventure, Environment, hiking, Outdoors, Travel | No Comments »
