Stage 2

On this stage we leave the heat and humidity of the coastal plain behind and ascend 725 meters (2,379 feet). After carefully walking along and crossing Highway 32, we ascend on a gravel road that slowly transitions into a far less used road the further up it we go. The climb is relentless over much of the first half of the stage where the majority of the elevation gain occurs. Scattered residences give way to farms, which give way to open grazing land. The rough, eroded gravel of the steeper grades becomes dirt roads on the flats where mud can reach over the tops of shoes. The views in the open areas are of rolling hills and farms while the views back early on are the final ones of the coastal plain and the Atlantic Ocean. Finally we emerge at the entrance to Parque Nacional Barbilla and the Cabecar Indigenous Territory of Nairi Awari.