Mt. Chirripo

This was by far the most difficult and rewarding experience I have had during my time in Costa Rica. Mt. Chirripo is the highest mountain in Costa Rica, second highest in all of Central America, standing at 12,533 ft. Two friends, Emma and Ben, and I decided to conquer the 40 km, two day hike. After taking the final exam for our Intermediate Conversation and Grammer class, we made the journey from San Jose, south, to San Isidro. From there, we managed to catch the last bus to San Geraldo where we would spend the night. After traveling through the rain on what the locals refer to as "the road of death", the bus finally dropped us off somewhere between a soccer field and La Roca Dura Bar (The Hard Rock Bar, no relation to the popular café); these are probably two of the few and most recognizable landmarks in the tiny town of San Geraldo. Being ill prepared and not knowing if we would make it all the way to San Geraldo that night, we had not bothered to book a hostel. Because of our location, none of our cell phones had service. We entered the bar and the nice owner with a pony tail offered to make some phone calls to different hostels for us. After numerous phone calls, it was clear that there were no available hostels in town that night. Being the nice guy he is, the owner offered us the floor in the basement of his bar. We reluctantly accepted.

Let me begin by saying, the logistics of this trip were nearly impossible to figure out ahead of time by phone or internet. We knew: we needed to purchase entrance tickets into the park and reserve spots in the lodge on the side of the mountain and the park office in San Geraldo sells only 10 walk-in tickets and 50 reserved tickets per day (we were unable to reserve tickets because come to find out, the office was closed two weeks before our trip for holiday and therefore was not answering their phones).

After talking it over, we decided that it would be best to get up early and wait in line at the park office until it opened at 6. After a night with little sleep, we woke at 4:30 and walked to the office. We were the first ones there and a line started to form after us. Once in the office, we found out they were out of tickets for that day. But how could that be? We were the first ones in line that day. Ah, little did we know, you can purchase a ticket one day in advance. This would have been impossible for us because we got to San Geraldo too late the night before. In any case, after much deliberation, we decided to buy tickets for the next day and return to San Jose a day late (Monday night). With a whole day to kill, we walked 3km toward the trailhead and found a more suitable place for the night. We stayed at Casa Mariposa, where we were originally hoping to stay. Not only did we get the private "Jungle Room" for the price of a dorm, but we also got a little taste of home. This was my favorite Costa Rican hostel experience. The owners turned their mountain home, conveniently at the Chirripo trailhead, into an ecofriendly haven for hikers on their way up the mountain.

At this point, we still had our whole Saturday free. The owners of the hostel told us about a free nature reserve up the road. We hiked along a river complete with waterfalls, saw more wild animals that I can name, and had a good pre-Chirripo workout.

And so it begins: The next morning we woke yet again at 4:30 in order to get an early 5 am start at the trailhead. With bags full of warm clothes, water, and snacks we started our 14.5 km journey for the day. While the trail was well marked, it was not well kept. Because tour groups are able to hire guides and horses to bring their stuff up to the base camp and the afternoon rain downpours, the once nice trial is now little more than a incline covered in mud 6 inches deep. The first 7 km were not too horrible. We had a nice break at a water fill station around this time. The next 7 km were not so kind. We went between steep gains of 1000 ft. per km and actually walking downhill. The downhill part sounds nice until you realize that you will have to make up all of the elevation that you just lost. The last two kilometers of the day, 13 and 14, were among the worst we saw. No only had we gained almost 10,000 feet but the rain also decided to accompany us for the last hour or so of our hike. I could not have been happier to see the Crestone Base camp sign. Our first day was, 7 hours, 14.5 km, and around 10,000 feet in elevation gain.

It was amazing to see the distinct ecosystems we passed through on this first day. It started as your typical Costa Rican rainforest, turned into a cloud forest, then the trees turned to stalks of bamboo, and finally into a dry, somewhat barren trail lined by want looked like sage brush sprouting out of red clay; ah, a taste of home.

 After a frigid, mostly sleepless night in slightly damp clothes, we started the next part of our journey to the summit. 2:30 am seems very early on any given day but it seems absolutely absurd when you are on the side of a mountain, in the middle of Costa Rica, watching your breath travel through the air by the only the light of the stars. By 4:30 we completed the last 5 km and reached the summit. It was perfect timing as the sun began to peek over the clouds. For the next hour we sat and experienced every color imaginable pass through the sky, as the rest of Central America lay sound asleep in their beds. I will never be able to capture the beauty I saw at the summit of Chirripo in words. Maybe these pictures will give you a better idea…

Nope, these still cannot do it justice.

Once the sun came up, we realized that not only could we see Panama, but we could also see both The Caribbean Sea and The Pacific Ocean and their coasts. For me, this was truly a once in a lifetime experience.

After all the hard work of getting to the top, we decided that we should probably head back down to real life before the afternoon rain came for its daily visit. Although, I definitely under estimated the difficulty of the decent; It ended up being pretty miserable. The first 10 km or so were not so bad; we made good time and enjoyed the opportunity to take in more of the scenery that we had missed the first time. It was when my jogging turned into limping from twisting my ankles and my once happy feet started to cry from blisters, that the day started to go downhill, literally. With only 6 km left, my mood went from bad to worse. It was a combination of these first few factors in addition to the ankle deep mud and horse poop that had me going at a snails pace with tears building in my eyes. After slipping and falling for the next few hours, I finally waddled my way past the trailhead.

I will not lie to you, this was probably one of the worst days of my life (that I can remember thus far); I had never been so physically and mentally exhausted. Despite all of this, my experience on Cerro Chirripo can compare to nothing else I have seen or done in my entire life. It was well worth all of the blood, sweat, and tears, literally