Rincon de la Vieja Volcano

Rincon de la Vieja Volcano

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Places To See - Volcanoes


Location: Rincon de la Vieja National Park, Guanacaste Volcanic Mountain Range, 40 km (25 mi.) east of Liberia

Altitude: 1905 meters (6250 feet)


Old Lady Rincon is a million years old and still carrying on as the third most active volcano in Costa Rica. The last real blowouts – clouds of ash, earthquakes and noise – came between 1966 and 1970. The most recent activity was in 1983, 1984, 1991, and 1996. The volcano has nine active craters; though only one of these can be counted on to give a good volcanic performance. The active crater is elliptically shaped, about 500 meters (1641 ft.) wide and 100 meters (328 ft.) deep. At the bottom is a 20 meters (66 ft.) wide fumarole, a pit of molten rock boiling at 250 °C (482 °F).

Follow the track south of the active crater, and you'll find a small freshwater lake (100 meters by 40 meters), some pretty waterfalls, hot springs, steam geysers and boiling mud pools.

The Santa María Volcano is the dormant twin cone of Rincon rising to 1916 meters (6286 feet), making it the highest peak of the National Park.  It is located at the eastern end of the Rincon volcano complex.
 
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