Puerto Rico Day 8 - El Yunque National Forest

El Yunque is the only tropical rainforest in the National Forest System and the most visited place in Puerto Rico. I'd planned to reserve entry the month before we visited, as the website advises, but completely forgot to do that. Luckily, a limited number of spots are made available the day before, so at 8:00am on Christmas morning, I was on my computer making our reservation. I was amazed to see how quickly the reservations disappeared - the system didn't work for me the first time, so when I tried the second time the number of spots available had decreased from 90 to 21. Thank goodness I was successful the second time!

Before visiting, we read up on the park in our guidebook and traveler blog posts, and talked to several people about their experiences, yet we were still surprised. It was as rainy as you might guess, but had fewer opportunities for exploration than we expected. There were only a few trails open to hiking (with just a few more closed due to storm damage). We were hoping for expansive views at scenic overlooks, but the cloud forest was true to its name and granted practically no visibility. Yet, it was the most vibrant, lush environment I've ever encountered, and I couldn't get over seeing palm trees throughout a rainforest.

Christmas books and Kindles came in handy on the 50-minute drive to the national forest.

Our first stop was Juan Diego creek, which had two waterfalls.

The first one was easy to access, but the upper waterfall required some

hiking/scrambling/climbing up small cliffs using an old rope skills.

After that we parked near the Caimitillo Picnic area and started hiking.

We planned to hike to peak and hope for a viewpoint that would allow us to

see the Caribbean. It began raining within minutes of embarking on the

Mt. Britton trail and hardly stopped. We really were in the cloud forest!

Mt. Britton Tower

Beautiful view at the top of the tower.
And it was so windy that when Jack dropped a little stick he'd been holding,
instead of falling to the floor, it was swept off by the wind.

Cool view from the bottom looking up.

And perhaps my favorite, the view looking back at the trail.

After reaching that viewpoint, Cat wanted to do a little more hiking,

so we continued on to El Yunque peak (and rock). Luke wasn't into

the idea of doing more hiking. On the short hike to the waterfall earlier

in the morning, he'd told me, "I'm a UGOAT - Ultimate Greatest of All Time!"

When he complained about hiking El Yunque, I challenged him.
"I thought you wre a UGOAT?"

"I've already passed the UGOAT. This is a whole 'nother thing."

El Yunque Peak Tower
(Also very foggy.)

I'm happy to report that it didn't take too long for Luke to get out of his funk.
Though slipping at El Yuque Rock and getting mildly hurt did put a damper on things.
It was there that he said, "This ground is literally just mud. (Pause) Ughh."

The fog had cleared a bit so we could enjoy this view during our descent to the car.

I thought this was a beautiful cascading stream
below a nearby baño (pool).

Our lunch was peanut butter sandwiches and
other typical picnic fare from the back of the van.
Cat didn't want to share the popcorn and Doritos.

Baño de Oro

Our last stop within the park was this iconic El Yunque
landmark, called Yokahu Tower. It reminded me of Rapunzel's tower.
Do you see Cat and Liza in the lower windows?

View from the top.

I loved how the windows framed the mountains,
clouds, and forest outside.

The visitors' center wasn't open when we arrived at the park, so we stopped to check it out on our way out. It was the most scenic visitors' center I've ever seen, with a gorgeous nature walk on the grounds,  open air exhibits on multiple levels, and even a few native parrots on display.

Bonus Scenic Pic: