Manantial de Aguas Vivas
verified
Ungraded
Unknown flood risk
Bijagual, Puntarenas
Short shale descent below the Bijagual waterfall, six rappels with a deep pool worth jumping, and a backward view of Bijagual that is the real reason to bother.
The source is unusually blunt that this one does not earn a trip of its own: run it only if you are already in the area and chaining it with the Rio Camaronal narrows or the upper Tarcolitos below the Bijagual waterfall. The view back at Bijagual from partway down is named as the maximum interest of the descent. First descent 19 April 2018 by Daniele Rocchi, Edu Gomez and Javito Rodriguez, though people from the area had long been walking in to the pool.
Logistics
| Manager | Private land |
|---|---|
| Permit | No government permit. The access and return path crosses private land and there is an entry payment handed to the guard at the return parking lot. That is a landowner toll collected on site, not a government or park fee; the source does not publish the amount. |
| Distance | ~0.4 canyon (600 m) |
| Elevation | ~230 ft of descent |
| Time | ~2 hr (45 min approach, 40 min descent, 40 min exit) |
| Technical | Shale, also catalogued as Rio Tarcolitos Inferior. 6 rappels, longest 60 m; no ACA grade published. A chaotic first section of large blocks that can demand a small rappel to get through, then a rappel into a deep pool that invites a jump, finishing with more pools and small slides. |
| Season | Dec-May |
| Flood risk | Not published by the source. The Dec to May window lines up with the Pacific slope dry season, which is the practical signal here. |
| Crowd | Locals and tourists already walk in to the waterfall and its pool to swim, so the lower part of the descent shares ground with non technical visitors. |
| Coordinates | 9.74262, -84.58653 |