Day Three, El Yunque

Of all the things that Terri said she wanted to do while on vacation in this tropical paradise, hiking in the rain-forest was near the top. We had that opportunity at El Yunque, a US National Forest a half hours drive from the hotel we were staying at.

The forest is a 28,000 acre reserve situated near the Northeastern tip of the Island. The forest receives nearly 200 inches of rain annually. The island forest has over 150 species of animals and fish, however, there are no large animals that live naturally in this forest.

We entered the forest on a small foot path just off a roadside parking spot:  La Coca trail, named for the La Coca falls. The trail would cross the stream at the foot of the falls.  I had read online a little about this specific trail, it was supposed to be a little technical, a good hike and take you deep into the rain forest. The sign indicated a 1.6 mile hike awaited us. I did not pay attention to the elevation difference, the highest elevation on the climb would be 1476 feet above sea level, and at the lowest we would be at 820 feet above sea level. A
difference of 656 feet! By the end of the hike, which traversed hillside and valley numerous times we had easily walked 3.2 miles of trail, we had easily climbed .5 miles.

For the first few hundred yards I continued to feel like I was in another land. Like some magical land in a Jules Vern story, we walked a fairly manicured path through the dense undergrowth until we reached a wide spot where the trail picked its way across a bolder strewn rain-forest stream. Here, looking up stream a few hundred feet was a small rain-forest waterfall. We could have ended our trek

here, the view was beautiful; however we had hopes of seeing a larger waterfall deeper in the rain-forest. The trail picked up on the other side of the stream, so we picked our way across the boulders to a set of vertical rock steps carefully laid up the steep opposing slope of the stream. We traversed the steps and found ourselves on a new path, one that had very little tending and was at times no wider than two feet side by side. The trail from here was somewhat precarious, and not well marked. Occasionally I stopped to carve a notch on a tree for way-finding later, or took note of other notches or flags that previous hikers had placed so the trail could be identified in the deep undergrowth. By the time we reached our midway point, we were ready for a rest. We thought there would be some large fall at the midway point, however, there was no waterfall, just cool mountain water flowing loudly between rocks the size of my pick-up truck. We sat and relished the walk so far and ate a power bar, drank some water. For a moment, we were so alone, it felt like we had discovered this secret place and were the first to lay eyes on it.

Our hike out was uneventful, by the time we found the car we were ready for some air conditioning and a real meal. We headed down the mountain into the neighborhoods East of San Juan and found a little bakery and we enjoyed breakfast and a pastry. We were tired conquerors. It was a day to remember, something we never dreamed we would do, strike out on an adventure deep into a wilderness trail.

That night, dinner refueled our bodies, our walk, refueled our imagination and sense of adventure.