Puerto Rico, part 5b- El Yunque National Forest

Here’s your brief history lesson:

El Yunque National Forest, located in the municipality of Río Grande in the NE portion of Puerto Rico, is one of our smallest forest at around 29,000 acres, but the only tropical rainforest in our National Forest system. It is part of the Sierra Luquillo Mountains. The area was formally set aside as a reserve in 1876 by King Alfonso the XII of Spain, in order to preserve the area against the rapidly growing population, and at the time, poor agricultural practices. The U.S. acquired Puerto Rico in 1898 and in 1903, President Theodore Roosevelt established the Luquillo Forest Reserve. It became a National Forest in 1906. It was renamed the Caribbean National Forest in 1935, and renamed El Yunque National Forest in 2007. There was timber and other military use during World Wars I & II, but also reforestation efforts. There has been ongoing scientific and conservation research in several dedicated areas of the forest since 1956. Most of the recreational infrastructure was built in the 1980s. The forest and infrastructure has been assaulted and heavily damaged by hurricanes Hugo (1989), George (1998), and Irma & Maria (2017). It is home to the critically endangered Puerto Rican Parrot (we did not see any). [Wikipedia][Forest Service]

Our day in the forest

The main recreation area along Route 191 is the primary attraction. You drive along the road and make stops at designated parking areas to view the scenery and make hikes of various lengths. As of our visit, there was still damage from the 2017 hurricanes, so some trails are closed, including the one to La Mina Falls, which is typically a popular hike. We arrived around 9am, presented our tickets at the entry point, then drove on in. [Tickets must be booked in advance. If you have more time to read, see my anecdote, and additional information about the park, below the slide show.]

• We stopped at several key points. Here are the highlights. Baño Grande was built in the late 1930s by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), as part of the New Deal era. It’s formed by a stone and masonry dam and arched bridge with cobblestone path. It even had a restroom at one point (now a ruin). The 18-foot deep pool is fed by the La Mina River watershed. It served as a public swimming pool from 1936-1968 when it was then closed due to safety concerns. Now it’s just a scenic spot. 

• Our main hike of the day was up to the Mt. Britton Tower. This was another New Deal era construction of stone and masonry, built by the CCC in 1937-38 as an observation tower. The hike took us through a palm forest and cloud forest. The views from the top were marvelous! As we descended and got back to the intersection with the El Yunque Peak Trail, we decided we were pretty hot and tired and opted not to pursue that peak. So we returned to our cars and started to head back down toward the entrance, but with a couple of more stops planned. 

• La Mina Falls may have been closed, but the Juan Diego falls were open to hikers, and it was only about a half mile, mostly flat. Doable for tired footsies and a tired, hot pooch. We followed the Juan Diego Trail to the falls. We were not prepared for swimming, but Ocean had no qualms about laying down in the water, away from the natural pool formed by the falls, where several people were enjoying the cool, refreshing waters. Next time, I’m packing my swimsuit.

• Our final stop on the way down was a the Yokahú Tower. It’s a 69-foot tower that was built by a former Forest Supervisor in the early 1960s. From its top, one can view four forest types in the National Forest area. Wish I’d read about it before hand. I just stood up there and thought, “Great views!”

After the Yokahú Tower, we headed out of the forest in search of lunch in the town of Río Grande. We ended up at a lovely roof-top restaurant for a late lunch. We got back to our apartments around 5pm for rest and showers. Around 7pm we were starting to get hungry, so we all ordered pizza from a place in Old San Juan that delivers and chowed down in Mike & Victoria’s digs. We were all beat, but in that “we’ve been enjoying the outdoors all day” kind of way.

Enjoy the slide show of El Yunque. As you read in my post last week, we returned to Salinas the following day after a ton of shopping. Our next stop would be the Spanish Virgin Islands, which is what I will tell you about next time.

Until then, stay safe and take care of each other! 

Additional information about the park:

Entering the main area on route 191 requires a ticket, and those reservations are made online through the Forest Service for just $2/car. They control how many vehicles, private and tour, enter the park each day. If you just showed up, it’s highly likely you’d be turned away. Sometimes tickets are available weeks in advance, but most often they’re made available only 24 hours ahead of time, and they go fast! We did not know this in advance, so it was lucky that Dave decided to book our planned Tuesday excursion early Monday morning before we even left Salinas. He went online around 7:30 am and learned that you need to set up an account first, so he did that. At 8am, tickets for the 8-11am entry time became available. It took Dave only 15 minutes to purchase our tickets and by the time he was done, half the slots were gone. He checked about 15 minutes after that, just out of curiosity; there were only 9 slots left. Phew, that was close! 

• There’s also an 11am-1pm entry option and those tickets become available at 11am.  Regardless of entrance time, once you’re in the park you can stay until it closes at 5pm.
• The Visitor Center does not require a reservation to enter, but it does incur a fee of $8/person, payable at the gate. We did not visit this.
• There are a couple of other roads that go through lesser traveled parts of the forest and do not require tickets. There are trails and scenic drives/stops, but some are closed, so check the website first.