Heaven: The Stairway To.

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Before I start this blog--which will be awesome--I should note that I completed the blog from my trip with Mom, even though you all didn't get an email. I added about 6 or 7 photos to finish it out, and they're pretty cool!

Ok, so I took about 50% of my photos from this trip within the two days we spent climbing Cerro Chirripó. The first day we started out early in the morning, around 5 maybe, and after about 15 minutes of hiking groggily, I remembered our hiking sticks, dropped my pack, ran down, and ran back up. I felt pretty silly to be running through a forest to find...some sticks, but ours were of bamboo and served us incredibly well throughout the entire trip, especially on the decent! As a matter of fact, Katie and I knighted each other with appropriately ridiculous names. yeah! The hike is around 15K, starting at altitude 1520M and climbing to an impressive 3820M at la cima (the peak). We took our sweet time climbing up, enjoying immensely the change of geography and taking in all the beauty and peace of pristine mountains. We stayed a night at the Crestones Base Camp, and summited the next day. In all ways that are possible, it was perfect.

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Photos

Nacimos Listos
"Born Ready"
And we were. By the time of this photo, the sun had risen to the clouds but not yet to the valley, and we were well on our way (with our sticks)!

Hiker Action Katie
Vamos!

Dramatic Early-Morning Hiker Photo
We took advantage of the wild sunrise to take "we're so tough" photos. This was the "toughest" of them. The first 10K were muddy, not crazy steep, and full of healthy, primary forest.

The Burns
This area of the park has burned several times, and is a wildly eerie high-altitude graveyard of burnt trees. It's the part of the hike where you're hiking through the clouds...

Once a Tree
This is just one of hundreds charred soldiers.

Blown Away
This area, still the Burns, was cool because the clouds flew through us intermittently, as well as blew away my girlfriend!

Climb of Repenters
I can't remember exactly how this culturally translates--literally it's cost of the repents--but basically it told you that you were in for a rough, steep climb. God must have smiled, though, because we made it just fine.

Crestones Base Lodge
This mountain-top-ish lodge serves as base for people who are lucky enough to stay on the mountain for multiple nights and can enjoy the massive hiking trail system. It's enormous for being as remote as it is, and considering how hard it is to get there. However, there is solar-powered electric lights from 6p to 8p, and there's even a few computers with internet access(!). The water is cold, the rooms concrete with bunks, and the people very friendly. We payed 25 dollars to stay and Ticos pay 3. meh. What else is new?

Summit or Bust
We set out the next morning for the summit, pumped and ready to go, and as we hiked along the 5K trail to the summit we watched the clouds clear away and the sun take over the mountain.

At the Mouth of the Monster
The summit in the background looks deceiving tame, but you'll see the illusion broken in the photos to come. We snapped a photo and booked it!

A Long Dive
I took this about a 1/3 way up. I wish I could remember the information on these lakes, as they were formed by something cool...glaciers? tectonic movement? giants and trolls? I don't quite remember, but I remember that they were beautiful.

Everything but Technical
The last .5K is about 10% lateral and 90% straight up. You can see, near the top, right-hand corner of the photo, where trails converge. This point is where the sign in the 2-previous photo stands.

Encima del Mundo!
On top of the world! We made it!

Obligatory Photo
We got a super strange Dane to take the on-top-in-front-of-the-sign photo, but his weird commentary kept Katie and I from showing our true enthusiasm. Once he left, we had way more fun!

Self Timer Rocks
Katie makes me look so good.

BOOM
We were endlessly lucky that the sky opened for us on that day. We're not sure, but we thought we were able to see--and it is very possible on super clear days--both the Atlantic and the Pacific!

My Favorite Photo
At least of Katie and me. It reminds me of how cool it is that we climbed Chirripó together.

Ángel
My favorite photo that I've taken. Check out the wild lighting. If angels had hiking sticks instead of wings...

Been There, Done That...
This is my cocky, yeah-what's-up face after standing around above Cloud 9.

El Conquístador
Not quite what the Spaniards did a few hundred years ago, but I felt pretty wild about it!

Nature Appreciation
Not that I know what they are, but there were many interesting and pretty flowers and plants, even at the highest altitudes.

Descent Through the Clouds
Las Nubes nos comieron. The clouds ate us, on the way down, and it made for a spooky but fun descent. We made up for a lack of ghost sounds with silly riddles and laughing.

Bow to the Mountain
Indeed, I did the same after our triumph. Many Thanks to Chirripó, and especially to my companion.