Cerro Chirripo
It had been a goal of mine to hike Cerro Chirripo, Costa Rica's tallest mountain, before I'd even gotten here. Last week the four of us, Jon, Tiffany, Sam, and myself, living in "Dona del Mar" (the name of our house) decided that we would begin on Monday, the 24th of April.
The first leg of the journey was just getting to the city of San Gerardo de Rivas. This is where the treailhead was. It took us nearly an entire day to get here by bus and get all of the park registration and reservations for the mountain-top hostel taken care of.
We awoke at 4am on the morning of the 25th and had breakfast before starting out on a grueling 14Km hike to the hostel at 11,000ft. We actually hit the trail at 5AM at an elevation of 4,987ft. We hiked through the morning, taking only a few breaks and finally reached the hostel at 11:30AM. We started the hike in tropical forest, hiking through beautiful and lush primary cloud-forest. We eventually hiked through secondary forest that had been growing since a forest-fire in 1992.
We rested for the rest of the day on the 25th, which worked out well since the mountains became socked-in with clouds and it rained for the remainder of the day.
We awoke again at 4AM on the 26th and began the summit hike at around 5AM. We summited by 6:30AM at 12,532 ft (3,820M) with perfect temperatures and clear skies. An awesome 360-degree vista was the reward.
After spending a little time at the summit, we began a 20km hike back to San Gerardo. We stopped at the hostel for brunch and eventually made it down the mountain by 2pm. We stopped at a local restaurant and had a celebratory beer and some lunch.
All in all, it was an awesome trip. We did more that 40Km of mountainous terrain with about 7,500 ft of elevation gain in two days. I've got tons of great pictures that I don't have time or space to post, but I'm sure I'll show them to everyone when I get home in May.
The first leg of the journey was just getting to the city of San Gerardo de Rivas. This is where the treailhead was. It took us nearly an entire day to get here by bus and get all of the park registration and reservations for the mountain-top hostel taken care of.
We awoke at 4am on the morning of the 25th and had breakfast before starting out on a grueling 14Km hike to the hostel at 11,000ft. We actually hit the trail at 5AM at an elevation of 4,987ft. We hiked through the morning, taking only a few breaks and finally reached the hostel at 11:30AM. We started the hike in tropical forest, hiking through beautiful and lush primary cloud-forest. We eventually hiked through secondary forest that had been growing since a forest-fire in 1992.
We rested for the rest of the day on the 25th, which worked out well since the mountains became socked-in with clouds and it rained for the remainder of the day.
We awoke again at 4AM on the 26th and began the summit hike at around 5AM. We summited by 6:30AM at 12,532 ft (3,820M) with perfect temperatures and clear skies. An awesome 360-degree vista was the reward.
After spending a little time at the summit, we began a 20km hike back to San Gerardo. We stopped at the hostel for brunch and eventually made it down the mountain by 2pm. We stopped at a local restaurant and had a celebratory beer and some lunch.
All in all, it was an awesome trip. We did more that 40Km of mountainous terrain with about 7,500 ft of elevation gain in two days. I've got tons of great pictures that I don't have time or space to post, but I'm sure I'll show them to everyone when I get home in May.
posted by Chris | 11:09 AM
3 Comments:
Hi Chris - the hike sounds great. Was it mostly walking, or was there some big rock scrambling (like Camelback). Also, because of the early mornings and elevation, did you have to change clothes mid-hike to accomodate the temperature change? And finally, is it something I would be able to do if I ever got to Costa Rica? Take care - Jeanne & Terry
Looks like ur havin a lot of fun--really envy you and the others who're still there.
My 2 weeks in CR were way too short, and I just hate being back at school and real life.
Hey is that the Diu Wok monkey?
Would love to see the rest of your pics when you have the chance.
have fun,
pura vida,
Bavana
Jeanne and Terry-
The hike was awesome. It was mostly walking, although the terrain was almost never flat. I pretty much stayed in shorts and a t-shirt the whole hike, except when it rained and on the second morning hike to the summit. I think you could definitely do it, although I would recommend taking more than two days. We pushed pretty hard and we were all sore for days afterward.
Bavana-
What's up? I'm back now and getting on with the "real world." That is indeed the Diu Wak monkey. Almost every time I walked by there I had to check to see if he was around. I'm working on getting the rest of my pictures up on the net. I'll let you know as soon as they're up. Pura vida!
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