El Yunque National Forest

"Thousands of tired, nerve-shaken, over-civilized people are beginning to find out that going to the mountain is going home; that wildness is necessity; that mountain parks and reservations are useful not only as fountains of timber and irrigating rivers, but as fountains of life".John Muir

...So... we decided to go to a fountain of life!!!

Prior to our visit to the beautiful Caguas Mountain for our hiking and ziplining adventure, we toured and explored the El Yunque National Forest on our first day in Puerto Rico

El Yunque National Forest is the only tropical rain forest in the US National Parks system

We drove from San Juan airport to the most amazing El Yunque Rainforest. The drive is beautiful and it took us about 45 minutes. All the signs are in Spanish, which was not a hindrance at all.

We made a quick stop at Palmer Bakery which is on the road to the rainforest in the city of Palmer. We packed some lunch and were geared up for our rainforest exploration to begin.

El Yunque National Forest

We skipped the visitor’s center since I had a printout of the map and we headed to our first stop

La Coca falls at KM 8.1

We parked our car and walked to La Coca Falls. It’s a fall that can be seen from the road and there is no hiking required to enjoy this beautiful glistening waterfall. We did some rock climbing to get up close and personal with the beautiful falls. 





Little one in training

Yokahu Observation Tower at KM 8.9

Our next stop was KM 8.9 to Yokahu Observation Tower. The tower is a must climb (about 100 steps) for all to enjoy the Rainforest views.  As soon as we were ready to head down from the tower it started raining and it was extremely beautiful. Rainfall in the Rainforest and views from the tower - perfect timing, so we stayed a little longer in the tower enjoying the wonderful views

We had our lunch in the serene and beautiful rainforest watching the pitter patter rainfall.. and then we headed to our next spot ...

La Mina Falls at KM 12.2

This is the most popular trail in El Yunque. It has a drop in elevation from 2100ft to 1640ft. The trail is rated ‘challenging’ in difficulty by the US Forest Services, with a narrow path and a series of steps along the trail. As soon as we started the trail, we were immersed in the beauty of the rainforest

The trail is paved and well-maintained making the footing much easier.

The rainforest scenery is beautiful and we passed through a lot of small waterfalls that was so picturesque.

To be so up and close to La Mina waterfall is a wonderful experience.. We loved it !!!

Juan Diego at KM 9.8 

This is a hidden treasure. Its not touristy and popular. We were the only one's here and it was magnificent. To reach this secluded spot, we had to do some rock climbing for about 10 minutes. Its not paved and the climb into the wilderness is a quintessential rainforest hike. We could hear the coqui frogs as we hiked to the falls and my toddler totally loved it. 

The crescendo of joy the beautiful El Yunque rainforest immersed us in is unexplicable. We then drove to our resort in Fajardo and, at night we all slept peacefully with a smile on our face and with an unforgettable memory in our life.

A break in the rainforest is SO worth it!!!!

Waterfall Hiking and Ziplining

“It is the greatest shot of adrenaline to be doing what you have wanted to do so badly. You almost feel like you could fly without the plane.” ~ Charles Lindbergh

I hope that words will provide justice to this wonderful “Break in Routine”. Being immersed in our daily routine, we forget how being amidst Mother Nature could bring inexplicable contentment and excitement. To sprinkle some adventure in our lives, my hubby and I did Waterfall Hiking and Ziplining in the Rainforest. This was a real adventure with such an adrenaline rush.

After researching on the internet, we booked our adventure tour with Ecoquest Tours. They picked us up at 0800AM from our hotel. 6 more couples were to join us however eventually, it was just us and another couple from Texas. A personal tour of the rainforest just for us !!!

Our tour guides Hector and Sayid drove us to San Salvador Rainforest in the beautiful Caguas Mountains located 40 minutes south of San Juan. After a drive through the narrow and winding road that burrowed the countryside, we arrived at our starting point. We put on our helmets and harness and our journey began...

Our trail began with short but STEEP hike from where the van was parked.

Steep hill climb from the van

After some huffing and puffing, we arrived at a small waterfall from where our incredible waterfall hike began.

Waterfall Hiking

The path was through the river and waterfalls. We were hiking uphill alongside of the waterfall, and at times we traversed right up through the waterfall. Water levels changed throughout our route; sometimes only knee-deep other times ankle-deep and in some places chest-deep. This divine river was loaded with small and big waterfalls and we would soak ourselves in the waterfalls to augment our amazing experience.

We arrived at some steep waterfalls and the only way to go was straight up through it so we used ropes to do some thrilling steep rock climbing

I did it!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We walked up and......up through the rocks,waterfalls and river... 

When we finally reached the top, we were greeted by the sound and sight of a majestic 80 feet waterfall. The water was gushing down with full force with the bountiful rainwater. This was a pristine beauty of nature.

Our tour guides told us that they had never seen it so full and when they usually rappel down the waterfall, the water is less than a quarter of what we saw and experienced. They cancelled the rappelling part for our safety, however we just stood and admired the beauty of the surroundings and the falls. We stood enthralled under the gushing water of the magnificent water fall.

After some yummy fresh mangoes and bananas, we set off towards our next big thrill, the ZIPLINING adventure.

Ziplining 
We ziplined a total of 3 lines from different locations in the rainforest.It was extremely thrilling to zip by the rainforest from one tree to the other. It was splendid fun and we let gravity do most of the work to push us along the cable. When the guide would signal, we had to apply pressure to the cable to slow down at the end. The distance of each line was about 300-400 feet long and it was pretty high from the ground too!!

We saw stunning views of the rainforest as we ziplined

I could do this the whole day .... We could hear the coqui frogs and the birds chirping and the river flowing. It was simply beautiful everywhere.

That's me Zip lining...

Once we finished the ziplining, we walked down the mountain and again through crisp clear cool water streams. We then went back to our van, changed into dry clothes and went to eat at one of the resident family’s home.

Lunch Time

It was a fantastic traditional lunch (vegetarian for us) with an amazing view of the rainforest. No restaurant could beat the rainforest view, ambience, lunch and the best flan dessert that we had. Nothing could beat this experience.

I totally recommend Puerto Rico's Ecoquest Adventure Tour (www.ecoquestpr.com ). Some pointers - Book in advance since they get booked up pretty fast. Get a load full of excitement. Enjoy the day!! 

Ahh!! What a day and what an amazing way to celebrate our anniversary month. Love you A :)... u are simply the best!!!

This is where we ate... Great food with great view!!