One of the best-kept secrets among Costa Rica’s national parks is also one of its largest. This ironic oversight is partly due to the fact that Parque Nacional Juan Castro Blanco is so young. The 14,453-hectare park was founded on the grounds of a smaller, pre-existing conservation area in 1992. Since then, MINAE has managed to acquire only 722 hectares of the land, and they are just now establishing basics of tourist infrastructure, such as maps, marked trails, ranger offices. Unfortunately, the monetary limitations that have prevented MINAE’s acquistion of the park’s land have also affected the speed of trail development in the park. At this point, the rangers exist more to prevent poaching than to promote tourism. However, it is still possible to visit the park and see its pristine cloud forests, 60% of which are primary growth. Given its altitude and climate, Juan Castro Blanco is similar to heavily touristed Monteverde, but many locals favor this less-developed park for its more-authentic, small-town feel and even better opportunities for wildlife sighting. The park’s forests host 80% of the country’s endemic species, including sloths, white-faced monkeys, pumas, linets, wild chickens, and the ever-elusive quetzals, and MINAE officials are only beginning to document the species inhabiting this enormous park. In addition to wildlife, the park also has a stellar collection of sulfur baths, century-old abandoned mines, numerous hydroelectric projects, and four volcanoes: Platanar, Porvenir, Viejo, and Cañón del Río Toro. Visit the multi-hued lagoons of Pozo Verde and El Congo near San José de la Montaña or the majestic cold-water falls of Catarata Río Toro, Claro, Agrio, and Quebrada Gata at Bajos del Toro Amarillo. There is currently only one official pathway, extending from San José de la Montaña in the west to Bajos del Toro Amarillo in the east, but adventurous travelers can enter the park and explore as they please, if they don’t mind the trouble of getting there and the host of potentially dangerous animals that await.
The fact that over 95% of the park is in the hands of local finceros means that you can enter it from many points. Two entrances have tourist services: San José de la Montaña in the southwest and Bajos del Toro Amarillo in the east, separated by 60km of highway. Bajos del Toro Amarillo can be reached by car and public transport, but the only way to enter the park is on a trek or a 4WD vehicle.
The Bajos del Toro Amarillo entrance is served by two public transportation hubs: Sarchí in the south and Río Cuarto in the north. To reach Sarchí, take a bus from Av. 5, C. 18 in San José. From Sarchí, a public bus departs from in front of the Sarchí Sur Tourist Office and heads to Río Cuarto via Bajos del Toro Amarillo (1hr., 3pm, ¢800). Coming from the north, you can reach Río Cuarto by taking a bus from Puerto Viejo de Sarapiquí headed to Ciudad Quesada/San Carlos (1½hr., 10 per day, ¢765), or a bus from Ciudad Quesada/San Carlos headed for San Miguel (1hr.; 6 per day; ¢485). A bus passes through Río Cuarto on its way to Sarchí via Bajos del Toro Amarillo (1hr., 5:30pm, ¢800). If you take public transport, try to stay in the center, as other hotels tend to be 3km or more walks from town.
To get to San José de la Montaña (not to be mistaken for San José de la Montaña of Heredia) from San José, contact the rangers’ office to see if one of the rangers is making the trip from El Sucre, or contact Ecological Refuge Montreal del Norte Lodge. You will need to get to El Sucre from Ciudad Quesada/San Carlos. A taxi from Ciudad Quesada/San Carlos to San José de la Montaña costs about ¢20,000; you’ll need a 4WD to make the trip.
Both Bajos del Toro Amarillo and San José de La Montaña are small, relatively isolated pueblitos. Bajos del Toro runs along one main road; the rangers’ office is 2½km down a difficult gravel path that begins 200m to the north of the police station on this road. The rangers have no phone, but you can contact them by calling or sending a fax to the police station (☎2761 1923); they will get the message whenever they stop in town, usually every couple of days. The rangers’ office in San José de la Montaña (☎2460 5462) is closer to town center. Although there are no official guides, the rangers are happy to point visitors in the right direction. The closest banks and hospitals from Bajos del Toro Amarillo are in Venecia and Rio Cuarto; from San José de la Montaña, the closest are in Ciudad Quesada . The nearest police station to San José de la Montaña is in El Sucre.
Bajos del Toro Amarillo offers a number of lodging and dining options near Juan Castro Blanco.
The higher altitude and lower temperatures of Bajos del Toro Amarillo make it conducive to trout farming, and you’ll see many homemade signs advertising trucha as you enter town. Mini Super Toro Amarillo, across from the police station in the center of Bajos del Toro Amarillo, has a very limited selection of basic groceries. (Open daily 7am-8pm.) There is no market in San José de la Montaña, so pick up everything you need in El Sucre beforehand.
There are currently no MINAE-licensed tour guides for Parque Juan Castro Blanco, but you can make informal arrangements with experienced locals. Because most of the park is privately owned, there is no fee to enter, though if you enter private property, you may have to pay a fee to the proprietor.
In Bajas del Toro Amarillo, the main attraction is the Catarata del Toro, a spectacular 100m waterfall plunging down a rock wall to the heavily forested ravine below. The waterfall is accessible only through the Catarata Del Toro Hotel and Rappelling Company , which maintains a picturesque path that leads to five miradores, each with a unique view of the waterfall (entrance US$10, children/students/seniors US$5; rappelling excursion US$62, students US$56; open daily 7am-5pm). The biological reserve Bosque de Paz, 300m down the gravel road that begins 250m south of Nene, has 22km of paths that wind through primary and secondary forest, past three waterfalls, and around a gorgeous orchid garden. (☎2761 1266, San José office ☎2234 6676; www.bosquedepaz.com. Advanced reservations necessary. Prices vary depending on the size of the group. MC/V.) Luis Guillermo Rodríguez is a knowledgeable, reputable guide who can give you tours of the area’s waterfalls, the nearby cheese factory, and his own orchid garden. (☎2761 1938. 2 houses south of the church, or ask for him at Típico Toro Amarillo. Unfixed price.) In San José de la Montaña, Bernardita of the Ecological Refuge has two sons who can take you on the MINAE trail, which leads to the mines (3hr. hike, negotiable price) and to the fossilized crater of Pozo Verde (45min.).
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