Bob Timm (right) and assistants load pack horse for trip to the base 

 camp. Photo by James S. Ashe. 



The bam which provided laboratory space at Monteverde. Photo by 

 James S. Ashe. 



those few remarkably beautiful days that occur briefly 

 between the period of cold blowing mists that come from 

 the east, and the heavy rains that come from the west. 

 We are indeed fortunate to be working here at this time 

 because our final study site in this area is a one-and-a- 

 half-hour walk up a very steep trail to the top of the 

 highest mountain in all of northern Costa Rica, Cerro 

 Amigos. Working at this site in the rain or mist would be 

 virtually impossible. 



The first leg of our expedition involved a survey of 

 the mammalian fauna along an elevational transect in a 

 newly expanded national park in northeastern Costa 

 Rica, the Zona Protectora, at the invitation of the 

 National Park Service. This five-week survey involved 

 studies in magnificent, but rugged, virgin rain and cloud 

 forest from near sea level to the crest of Volcano Barba, 

 which rises to over 2,800 meters (about 9,500 feet). The 

 region represents one of the most remote and unexplored 

 tracts of wilderness in all of Costa Rica. Access to the 

 area is very difficult. We were able to take a 4-wheel 

 drive vehicle across old abandoned logging roads to a 

 trail head. There we transferred our gear to short, but 

 ruggedly built, pack horses for the long, physically 

 demanding, slog to the initial base camp. Once there, 

 however, all travel within the area, from the lowest to 



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