La Cangreja Waterfall Costa Rica Hike Guide

La Cangreja Waterfall is the largest waterfall that you can hike to located within Rincon de La Vieja Volcano National Park. The hike out to the waterfall involves lots of elevation gain and has trail conditions that range from packed dirt to mud. Once you arrive at La Cangreja Waterfall, you will be greeted by a 130ft waterfall and a light blue pool underneath it. This hike is great for those with some experience and who are in decent shape.

La Cangreja Waterfall Quick Facts

Virtual Trail Guide: La Cangreja Waterfall

La Cangreja Waterfall Rating: ★★★★ (4/5 Stars)

Distance: 6.2 miles RT

Elevation Start: 2,769 ft

Lowest Point on Hike: 2,000 ft

Total Elevation Gain: 1,400 ft

Estimated Time to Complete: 3-4 Hours RT

Difficulty: Moderate – What does this mean?

Class: Class 1 – What does this mean?

Season: Year Round

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Directions to La Cangreja Waterfall

Trailhead: Rincon de la Vieja Volcano National Park

Parking: There is a larger parking lot at the visitor’s center of the National Park. This area has restrooms and a small “museum” aka a bunch of animal parts in various display cases.

Fees: There are two fees that you need to pay before hiking to La Cangreja Waterfall. First, you must pay 700 colones (about $1.50) per person to pass through private lane (completely BS fee), then you must pay $15 a person to enter the park. The $15 fee can be easy to miss (we did), so be sure to pay at the window to the left once you enter the building. When you exit the park, they will ask you for your ticket number, so either memorize that or keep the ticket(s) on you.

Summary

Guides: Guides are really not necessary on the hike to La Cangreja Waterfall. I am sure you could hire one, but the trail is very straightforward and outside of having someone to talk to about the park, I can’t see how they would enhance your visit at all.

Hours: 8:00AM – 4:00PM – Closed Mondays

Dogs: Dogs are not allowed inside Rincon de la Vieja Volcano National Park or on the hike to La Cangreja waterfall.

Make it a Loop: There are many trails inside Rincon de la Vieja Volcano National Park and some of them can hiked together to make a loop. View a complete park map here. If you are looking to hike to La Cangreja Waterfall only, it is an out and back hike.

Trail X Factors: Elevation Gain

The hike out to La Cangreja Waterfall was really not too difficult. Rolling terrain with a noticeable hill down to the falls that started about a half mile away from the base pool. However, the hike there is pretty deceptive in terms of elevation loss. On the way back from La Cangreja Waterfall, you have a solid amount of elevation gain that is occurs basically the entire 3.5 miles from waterfall back to the visitor’s center. Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t like hiking a mountain, but with high heat and humidity, the hike back to the car could certainly take you longer than the way out to La Cangreja Waterfall.

Hike Tip(s):

• Swimming at the Waterfall: Unfortunately, as of fall 2018, swimming is not allowed at La Cangreja Waterfall. I am not 100% sure why, but can say that it might be due to the extremely shallow pool that sits at the base of the fall.  I mention this because you will see lots of pictures/videos (including myself) swimming at the waterfall, but it is no longer allowed.
• 12PM Trail Closing: If you want to hike to La Cangreja Waterfall, you must enter the park before 12PM, otherwise park rangers close the trail.
• Hidden Gems: Don’t want to give anything away, but I recommend looking around the waterfall for some hidden gems, you can thank me later.

Best Views:  Obviously the best views are at the waterfall itself for this hike. However, on your way out to the falls, you will have some beautiful rainforest hiking as well.

La Cangreja Waterfall Hike Route

Gear Needed

• Mickey’s Mountain Kit
• Footwear: Hiking Shoes/boots – Hiking boots/shoes are 100% necessary to enjoy the park, but you can bring sandals or water shoes for areas around the waterfall.
• Optional: Swimsuit
• Optional: Water Shoes / sandals
• Optional: Towel
• Optional: Camera
• Optional: Tripod

Our Trip La Cangreja Waterfall: November 2018

Our trip to Costa Rica was coming to an end and we decided to do one last hike before we relaxed at the beach for a few days. We found Rincon de la Vieja Volcano Park and two waterfalls within it, one of them was La Cangreja Waterfall. It was a longer hike, but a nice way to work up a sweat than relax in the pools underneath the huge waterfall. After a somewhat confusing trip to find the park entrance, we arrived, parked and entered Rincon de la Veija. The park map was somewhat awful, but the park signage was pretty clear. Swimming was not allowed at La Cangreja Waterfall on this day. (NOTE: turns out this was a permanent change, most likely due to shallow water levels)  We started a short walk up the concrete path and then almost immediately took a left to start a dirt trail to La Cangreja Waterfall. 

It was a hot a humid day, but the trail provided a decent amount of coverage from the sun for the first mile or so. This hike was drastically different than the two other waterfalls we had visited in Costa Rica and felt more like the hiking experience we were used to in Colorado. There were other hikers on the trail, but after a while we created distance from most of them and had our own secluded piece of nature in the forests below Rincon de la Vieja Volcano. We walked the dirt (and sometimes mud) trail for about an hour and reached the first fork in the road. The right led to Escondida Waterfall and the left led to La Cangreja Waterfall. (Our original plan was to hike to both, but we ran out of time.)

We decided to head to La Cangreja Waterfall first, so we took a left and continued down the trail. After some more hiking in the forest, the scenery took a massive change and went from thick, lush forest to wide open fields. I had a theory that this space probably used to be a forest, but the active volcano had wiped out this area years ago and it was still regrowing. Near this point, the trail started to work down into the valley where the waterfall. It was a pretty steady downhill walk for about a 1/2 mile until we reached the final slippery section of trail near La Cangreja Waterfall.

The waterfall was beautiful. Massive, powerful and fed a turquoise blue pool that sat beneath it. It was a beautiful spot, but we did share it with 20 or so other hikers. While I wouldn’t consider this as crowded as Nuayaca Falls, the space was smaller so people were a bit more condensed here. Jackie and I enjoyed the falls for a while, exploring the edge of the pool, taking lots of pictures and eating some snacks. After a while, we saw other people starting to swim in the pool beneath the waterfall. We were so torn, but decided to take a quick dip. The water was lukewarm and very shallow which was far different than Nuayaca Waterfall. 

After an hour or so of enjoying La Cangreja Waterfall, we decided we should probably head back to the car. The hike out was much more difficult due to a ton of elevation gain. We saw some Capuchin Monkeys on the way out, but no signs of animals otherwise. As we went to exit the park, some of the workers asked us for our ticket number. We had no idea what they were talking about. Turns out, we completely missed paying the $15 per person entrance fee on the way in. Whoops! 

Overall, we enjoyed the hike to La Cangreja Waterfall. It was a top hike on our visit to Costa Rica, but certainly a longer hike. I would recommend this hike for intermediate hikers and families who have enough food and water for the long journey to and from the waterfall. We ended up skipping Escondida Waterfall, but it really didn’t look like we missed out on that much. Check out my video below for more information about La Cangreja Waterfall. 

La Cangreja Waterfall Virtual Trail Guide