No trip to Costa Rica can be considered complete until you've visited the Miravalles Volcano.
● Miravalles Volcano.
Area
28,840 acres
Elevation
7,242' Volcano Summit
Temperature
Ranges from 75ºF to 90ºF
Precipitation
up to 140 inches per year
Location
100 miles N of San Jose
Date of Creation
16 March 1976
Last eruption
1946
The Miravalles area is continually monitored, as some seismic activity is taking place under and inside the caldera. However, the last recorded eruption of steam vents was in 1946.
Driving Directions: Miravalles is reached by driving on the Interamerican highway to Bagaces, then turn off to the right. Drive about 20 miles toward Guayabo until you see the signs for Miravalles.The road to these towns is exceptionally good mainly due to the maintenance
given by the ICE for its geothermal plant. The scenery seen in this road is great. Since much of the land is volcanic, there are no forests, and the land is generally used for cattle raising, if at all. Cities such as Liberia and Cañas can be seen from the road,since it is at a higher level than the valleys.
● Miravalles Volcano is an andesitic stratovolcano in Costa Rica .
The park contains a large underground heated reservoir, it is the site of a geothermal energy plant. The hydrothermal field is a hot-water dominated system, with a vapor dominated cap (few tens of meters thick) in some parts of the geothermal field.
Primary cloud forest and rainforest covers the park, which abounds with flora and fauna species in multiple life zones, innumerable rivers, waterfalls and thermal hot springs
The caldera was formed during several major explosive eruptions that produced voluminous dacitic-rhyolitic pyroclastic flows between about 1.5 and 0.6 million years ago.
The only reported historical eruptive activity was a small steam explosion on the SW flank in 1946. High heat flow remains, and Miravalles is the site of the largest developed geothermal field in Costa Rica.
The towns of Guayabo and La Fortuna are the nearest settlements . ( Not to be mistaken by the town La Fortuna of San Carlos which lies near other volcano, the Arenal Volcano ).
● Miravalles Volcano.
