Category: fauna

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Scrambling Rumiñahui Volcano, Ecuador

Trip report by BestHike editor Rick McCharles.

We signed on for a climb of Rumiñahui Central with Secret Garden Cotopaxi.

Spoiler. Lexi, Tahel, and myself all made it to 4,643m. Super happy here. Our guide was terrific.

Rumiñahui is considered a lead-up to Cotopaxi (5,897m) and then Chimborazo (6,263–6,310m).

Rumiñahui is a dormant, heavily eroded stratovolcano 4,721 metres (15,489 ft) above sea level.

Situated in the Andes mountains 40 km south of Quito, Ecuador, it is overshadowed by its famous neighbour Cotopaxi.

This mountain is in Cotopaxi National Park, so we drove directly towards the big peak. Excellent weather early morning.

We parked at Lake Limpiopungo at approximately 3,850m. Many different species of birds alight here.

Headed to that central peak.

We saw rabbits at the beginning while climbing up through paramo.

And condors floating in the updraft.

On the way down, our guide spotted wild horses below.

We had amazing views of Cotopaxi.

I call it a scramble because this mountain is quite jagged. We used our hands quite a bit at the top. Tahel put spare socks on her hands. I used a buff for protection. None of us had opted to carry gloves.

Check this rugged mountaineer.

Ready for Kilimanjaro, coming up next.

The most surprising moment of the trip was having a caracara land on the summit just as we were celebrating.

A bit slow getting to the top, we actually ran down much of the mountain as Tahel had to catch a bus back to Quito at 3pm.

We stopped to chat with this group at 1pm. Just starting up.

Well … they had horrific hard rainfall in the afternoon. You really want to finish your hiking by 2pm in the Andes.

Click PLAY or watch our adventure on YouTube.

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Southern California Camping

Trip report by BestHike editor Rick McCharles

I wanted to sleep one night in the desert.

I started late afternoon on the Bear Creek Oasis Trail out of La Quinta Cove.

There are plenty of walking options. I found the unsigned trail heading towards “Palm Oasis” using AllTrails offline.

There’s a nice picnic area near the start. No dogs allowed past this point.

All of the hiking in this area is good. But there are very few birds, reptiles, animals, or insects.

When it got dark, I looked for a sandy spot to set up my tent with a view over the town.

A very quiet night.

I used the iPhone 16 Pro Night Mode in RAW (ProRAW) for enhanced low-light detail. This sky photo looks much better than what I could see with the naked eye.

Dawn next morning woke me.

It was bright by 6am.

Early Sunday morning, hikers passed before 7am. Followed soon after by trail runners. This is a good trail to get some vertical. 708m elevation gain if you do the entire 15km return.

I climbed a little higher — then headed down for breakfast and coffee.





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El Camino de Costa Rica 280 km

El Camino de Costa Rica is a breathtaking 280 km / 174 mile hike from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean, which is no easy feat even for the most experienced hikers.

While it can be intimidating to take on this type of adventure, there are so many incredible things to see and do while trekking this route, from tropical beaches and dense trails to mountain villages and indigenous communities.

official website

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

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MacRitchie Reservoir & TreeTop Walk Loop, Singapore

Trip report by BestHike editor Rick McCharles

MacRitchie Reservoir is Singapore‘s oldest. One of the island nation’s most popular parks.

Highlight for me was seeing 2 of the world’s smallest hoofed animals, the lesser mouse deer.

Not expecting these little guys — about 45 cm (18 inches) and 2 kg (4.4 lb) — my first thought seeing them in the foliage is that they were GIANT RATS. 😀

You can hike a multitude of trails at MacRitchie ➙ or go kayak / canoeing.

I tried the MacRitchie Reservoir and TreeTop Walk Loop.

  • 12.2km
  • 3–3.5hr
  • 281m elevation gain
  • Zig Zag bridge
  • Performing Arts Pavilion

Unfortunately, I arrived at the TreeTop Walk about 15 minutes after it closed — and, no, you cannot sneak across when locked up. 😀

I had to backtrack a bit. Then continue to the next landmark, Jelutong Tower.

I’m finding the flat jungle walks in Singapore mostly offer views of … jungle.

The tower finally gave me a chance to get up high and see the surrounding vista.

A big surprise is to see so few insects and spiders in October. Nice.

After a couple of months in S.E. Asia, I’m well used to macaques. You see them many times on this hike. But most on the Singapore Island Country Club.

Somewhat marshy in places, this park has a lot of high quality boardwalk.

I was on boardwalk as darkness fell. Lovely over the water.

I shortened the loop somewhat because it got very dark on narrow boardwalks.

Because I was still in the city, I caught a nearby bus and was quickly back to my hostel.

MacRitchie is a terrific urban hike.

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Singapore Botanic Gardens

by BestHike editor Rick McCharles

Singapore Botanic Gardens is a huge tropical green space located at the fringe of the Orchard Road shopping district.

I walked the Singapore Botanic Gardens Loop. Plus some side trips.

This 3.9km trail offers a delightful walk through the a lush tropical oasis and the country’s first UNESCO World Heritage Site.

IF you wanted to walk every trail, it would take perhaps 3 hours. The park is huge.

Singapore Botanic Gardens Map (https://www.nparks.gov.sg/sbg/visit-us)

More than 10,000 species of flora are spread over its 82 hectares (200 acres) area, which is stretched vertically; the longest distance between the northern and southern ends is 2.5 km (1.6 mi).

The Botanic Gardens receives about 4.5 million visitors annually. …

The National Orchid Garden is the main attraction within the Botanic Gardens. Located on the mid-western side of the Garden, the hilly three-hectare site has a collection of more than 1,000 species and 2,000 hybrids of orchids. …

Vanda Miss Joaquim, the national flower of Singapore

The park is free. But there is an extra admission cost for the Orchard Garden.

It’s Singapore, so everything is done with quality.

Desert Landscape

You’ll see many different birds. Chickens. But the most interesting for me are the many Monitor Lizards. Mostly carnivorous. Growing to  a length of 1 – 1.5m.

Read a detailed review with photos – A Visitor Guide to Singapore Botanic Gardens

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

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Climbing Rinjani, Indonesia – day 0

Trip report by BestHike editor Rick McCharles

Three days, two nights in the tent.

Cost is USD $220 to $330/ person.

I’ve long wanted to climb astonishing Mount Rinjani not far from Bali, Indonesia.

I took the local boat from Gili Trawangan to Lombok island for the start of our guided climb of Rinjani. I could see it in the distance.

Our group met up at a local restaurant close to Bangsal Port ➙ then we were efficiently (if dangerously) driven up to Senaru village at 400m. 

Screenshot

We had a typical Indonesian lunch based on rice or noodles. 

We dropped bags in our surprisingly interesting rooms. 

Then set off to see two local waterfalls. 

Plenty of macaques await ready to grab at your purse, backpack, or any kind of plastic bag.

Here’s the 1st waterfall. 

MOST interesting here is a fun tire tube ride underground through the irrigation channel.  I’d be too chicken, myself.  😀 

Here’s the 2nd even more impressive falls. 

Back at the guesthouse we did our introductory briefing on the volcano climb.  We had hoped two more would join us.  One was in hospital for some reason.  The other cancelled last minute.  

Rinjani is 3,726 metres (12,224 ft), making it the second-highest volcano in Indonesia. 

We had signed up for the longer 3 days, 2 nights in the tent option. 

That turned out to be the right decision. Our itinerary the BEST HIKE.

Click PLAY or watch a preview on YouTube.

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Climbing Rinjani, Indonesia – day 1

Trip report by BestHike editor Rick McCharles

MOST groups on our itinerary camp on the 1st volcano ridge day 1. Our guide offered us the chance to descend 3 hours to camp at the lake, instead. Super tough 1st day — but we were all glad we did it.

Mount Rinjani Crater Rim 1st night on the 3 day trek.

We were up for the dawn.  I added milk powder to my brutal black instant coffee. 

Banana pancakes excellent, as always. 

Driving up to the start at 600m we stopped for a blessing.  An important tradition with the local Sasak people as well as Hindus. 

Still clean and keen at the start.  

They’ve had a lot of deaths on this mountain, the most recent June 2025. 

Another died May 2025. Both from falls.

We each had to register with photo ID.   The Gunung Rinjani National Park, established 1997, is trying to make this adventure safer — but they have a long way to go.  It’s dangerous. 

Our goal was the 1st crater rim — only 6.9km.  Sounds easy until you calculate you need gain 2km in elevation over that short distance!

We started on the far right of this map.

The start through jungle was relatively easy.  THEN it got steep and challenging. 

Wherever hikers might stop to eat, long-tailed macaques will be waiting.  

These wild cousins are more worrisome than the ‘tame’, well-fed ones in the Monkey Forest, Ubud. 

Breakfast !

We hiked into and out of clouds. 

Crater rim beckons. 

This — really — is the best vista on the hike.   Crater lake Sagara Anak is huge, the colour unforgettable.  The volcano’s eruption in 1257 is considered one of the most powerful global volcanic events of the last 2,000 years.

We were scheduled to set up our camp on the ridge here at 2,600m. 

But we opted, instead, to hike down to the lake at 2000m, saving us 3-4 hours on day 2. 

We all agreed to go for it. 

OUCH …

That decent is awful and dangerous.  I took no photos.  We had to concentrate on every technical step. 

It was a relief to finally get to the lake.  This one of my toughest hiking days of all time.

We arrived just before dusk. 

Alpenglow time. 

Each group has their own toilet tent.  

The alternative at major camps are these good looking public toilets.  This one was filthy!  But some are quite new.  Fairly clean. 

Major camps have emergency shelters.  I don’t doubt they are used frequently.  The trek is risky. 

Our guide sent us to the hotsprings with one of the porters.  Fantastic.  A highlight of the entire trip. 

Tim (tim_de_bruijn on Instagram) was a full-time social media manager for a major Dutch soccer team. He showed us fantastic photography tips on his iPhone, including these two. It was pitch dark at the hotsprings!

Pitch dark at camp, as well.

tim_de_bruijn

Most amazing of all was his capture of the night stars. Very few of these were visible to the human eye. This from an iPhone 16 Pro Max.

tim_de_bruijn
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Climbing Rinjani, Indonesia – day 2

Trip report by BestHike editor Rick McCharles

SUMMIT DAY

Tim’s great selfie (tim_de_bruijn on Instagram)

Awoke at the lake before dawn.  Went straight to the hotsprings on my own.  Had the hot bath to myself. 

We packed up camp quickly. 

Said goodbye to the lake. 

There are only a few bridges on this adventure.  More often you scramble down — and back up.   It must be miserable in the rain. 

Rarely are there stone steps.  This ain’t Nepal. 

We had about 600m to gain back climbing up to the 2nd crater rim from the lake. 

It was tough.

When I say tough, in addition to being technical, we increasingly had to deal with slippery ash.  

Once on the ridge, we set-up our tents. Had lunch.  Then a short lie down until 2pm.  

One of these pests actually went inside Mason’s tent while he was there! Cheeky.

Tim’s photo (tim_de_bruijn on Instagram)

We’d decided as a group to go for sunset today rather than sunrise the following morning.  This turned out to be our best decision. 

That means we’d climb another 1100m trying to get to the top before the sunset.  A deadline. 

It looked doable to me. 

BUT it got increasingly slippery and dusty as we ascended. 

Once above the clouds, we were motivated by the amazing vista. 

Gorgeous views — though it was dusty plodding in sections. 

Very, very slippery — we all used systems to keep scrambling slippery scree.  I did bouts of 20 steps. 

Made it!  And well before sunset.  

Only 1 other group tried our itinerary.  Perhaps half their group finished, just about sunset. 

In fact, I left the top even before sunset as I wanted some visibility on the scree section at the top before it got dark.  

Descent turned out to be fairly easy.  Mostly screeing through the loose dust and rock (scree).

Views on the way down were even better than on the ascent. 

Eventually we had to turn on our headlamps.  I held mine in one hand, finding it easier to direct the beam. 

Exhausted, we had dinner in our tents.  And went to sleep early.