Eat, Sleep, Hike.

Thats about all I have done for the last 3 days. But a GREAT 3 days they were! And I think I have found my new 'sport' (if you will...) of choice. Backpacking, but not just the traveling kind, because: 1) It's beautiful, challenging, and exclusive. 2) You get to shop for and buy cool equipment. 3) It's an awesome work out with spectacular views!



Cristina and I started off our journey to Chirripo with a few bumps in the road. We got off at the wrong bus stop in San Gerardo de Rivas and somehow manage to walk 2 1/2 km downhill passed the Ranger Station. When the ranger stopped us as he drove by to ask where we were going with our massive packs, we realized we not only had to hike back up the hill, but that the station was closed for the day and would not reopen until 6:30am making our 5am departure impossible. So we ate. And slept. Woke up and ate again. Then checked in at 6:30 and began the 2 1/2 km hike uphill to the trail head.

Now the real hiking could begin! The journey was 15km and about 2000m in elevation gain to the Los Crestones base lodge where we would spend the night. The day was filled with peanut m&m's, power bars, making video documentation every few kilometers, and an hour long torrential downpour. After 8hrs, we made it to the lodge for a heroic ice cold shower and a few hours of daylight to cook some pasta and hot chocolate. We went to bed at 7 due partially to no electricity and partially to exhaustion. Sleep.

The second day on the mountain began with eating a hearty bowl of oatmeal. We set off at 7 to climb that last 5km to the top of Chirripo. A sweaty and steep 2 hours later we arrived at the top....of the WRONG mountain. We took a wrong turn along the hike and ended up across the valley from the tallest mountain we were meant to be climbing. Ugh. The clouds were already beginning to role in so we decided to postpone Chirripo till the following morning. What's an extra 8km anyways? So we hiked down, ate some lunch, took a nap, ate some dinner, and went to bed just after a magnificent sunset.



Day 3 began at 2:45 am to pitch blackness and the alarm clock. We rolled out of bed, threw on our hiking boots and with the light of our headlamps, were off to the correct mountain. Although we were hiking in complete darkness, the stars were amazing! Not a light within miles to drown them out. And after an hour or so we could look back and see the headlamps of other hikers bouncing along the trail. The last km of the journey might has well have been rock climbing. You needed your hands and feet for every step. But by 5:15 am we had ascended Cerro Chirripo just in time for the sunrise! It was freezing, but beautiful!



We hiked back to the base lodge in time to pack up, eat, and begin the 15km trek down. The journey was killer on the knees. It is amazing that going up seemed less steep than going down. 6hrs later, we were greeted by the 0km mark. A welcome sight. In our excitement and exhaustion, we tallied up our trekking to be around 55km (34 miles) of hills. Then of course we went back to our hostel to eat and sleep before busing back to San Jose this morning where we thankfully found flat ground.

if you're not bored yet...view photos.