Chirripo National Park is located at an average of 6562 feet above sea level. Chirripo, Costa Rica has the second tallest mountain peak in Central America, which is the Cerro Chirripo at 12 530 feet above sea level. This National Park protects 123 000 acres of Mountain Park, making it one of the largest protected areas of Costa Rica. This Costa Rica Park has hiking trails and a mountaintop lodge. It is possible to make the climb to the top, but depending on your fitness level it could take you from 8 to 17 hours from the Ranger Station to the mountain lodge. From the mountain lodge there is a 3.7 mile climb to reach the summit. If you are fit enough it could take you two hours to reach it. Most of the Chirripo visitors make the entire climb and descent on the same day.

The Chirripo mountain lodge is more like a station where you can spend the night. You have to bring all your equipment or rent it at one of the San Gerardo town lodges. You have to bring a good and warm sleeping bag, warm cloths (it can freeze at night), light rain gear, hiking shoes, food, energy snacks, heating stove, flashlight, water, lots of sunblock, and insect repellent. You can hire a local to take your bags to the top, but you will also need to take a light backpack with all the necessary stuff for climbing. It is a good idea to put everything in plastic bags in case it pours. Some parts of the Chirripo National Park have recorded annual rainfalls of 7000mm.

The beauty of Chirripo Park is that the climb takes you from tropical lower montane to montane tropical cloud forest sceneries. And at the bottom of this Costa Rica Park, at San Gerardo de Rivas town, you will see the pasture lands. Overall the view all around Chirripo Park is epic; if the day is clear you could see the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Ocean at the same time. Climbing the Cerro Chirripo is a total adventure if are up to the challenge of doing some serious hiking. The weather at Chirripo, Costa Rica is also challenging. Because of the changes in altitude and the closeness to the Equator you can have high temperatures of 80 F to 90 F during the day and low temperatures of below the freezing point at night. In order to do the Chirripo climb you have to make reservations with a lot of anticipation. Contacting a tour operator will be of great help. They can give you all the details about the climb to Chirripo National Park and do all the paperwork for you. It is advised that you stay from two to three days at the Chirripo Mountain Lodge to enjoy this one of a kind Costa Rica Park at its fullest. There are a number of lodges in San Gerardo de Rivas with comfortable accommodations from where you can also arrange transportation to Chirripo National Park.