Top Ten Puerto Rico Travel Destinations: #1 Swimming in El Yunque Waterfall

Last Updated on June 6, 2019 by PowersToTravel

 

El Yunque truly is a busy place.   This is partly due to the beautiful rainforest and partly due to its proximity to San Juan.  Guidebooks tell you to arrive early.  Don’t think that they are exaggerating;  simply do.   We arrived around 10am  and were just able to accomplish all we wanted, by about 1pm.

One reason we were rather “late” in our arrival is because we stopped at a bakery on the way in and bought sub sandwiches.  A word to the wise:  the bakery we went to prepared our subs hot.  We hadn’t expected that.  We ordered the subs in my barely adequate Spanish, choosing our meats and breads.  After a longer wait than we expected they did hand us the bag of subs, however we found them to be hot.  How were we going to be able to picnic on hot subs?  Oh, well, we put them in our cooler in the car, to warm up our drinks.

Once into the park, we stopped at the side of the road to view the La Coca Falls.  The water cascading down like a sheet over the high stone cliff was great for a picture.  But we didn’t take the trail there, since we were planning on the Big Tree trail and swimming in La Mina falls.

Next we stopped in the parking lot at Yocahu Tower, a tall stone tower at the edge of the mountainside part-way to the top.  There was a small shop at the bottom selling drinks, and a wide circular stairway. From the top of the tower we could see the flanks of the mountains, streamed with fog, and Luquillo with its four or so high-rise condo towers, and Fajardo in the distance.

Next we parked at the Big Tree  trailhead.    There are two trails to La Mina Falls.  We could immediately see that roads are windy and narrow and not at all suitable for walking, so it was wisest to park in one lot, and go and return on the same trail. The Big Tree is a trail of approximately .8 miles, longer than the La Mina Trail, but we had read that it was an easier trip back using Big Tree.  It wasn’t a difficult decision.

The trailhead has parking, and someone selling hot food from a grill, and drinks.

The trail was .8 miles up and down and up and down.   On our last stretch down we met a huge party of people heading up, and were very happy to discover the falls area sparsely populated.   We found a rocky area excellent for slipping into the water to the right of the trail, on our side of the stream.  I did not remove my Teva waterproof sandals.  I saw others with bare feet and I don’t know how they coped with walking over and through the rocks to the water.

As I took off my shorts to reveal my bathing suit, and carefully stowed my pump in our backpack, I looked to my right to see another woman doing the same, with her pump.  We had a moment of unity; “What kind do you have?  Do you like yours?” and then I was off to the water.

The water was cool.  Since I was hot from the trail, it wasn’t unpleasant at all.

I frolicked near where the water came pounding down from above, but not under the waterfall.   I hovered around in the fresh water; my husband did go under the falls.  After a bit, I turned back to the trail and saw that another swarm of people had arrived.

Many had come down La Mina trail to arrive at the falls, and I understand that the trip down is faster. However, they desperately wanted to know if there was another way back.  “Sure – go up the Big Tree Trail, it’s about a mile.   It goes up and down but it’s not steep.  But once you get to the top, someone has to walk a long ways along the road to get your car.  The road is not safe at all for walking.”   They sadly returned to their steep trail.

Upon our return to the parking lot, we picked up our hot subs from our cooler.  There is a covered picnic table a very short distance down the trail, and we managed to make the best of our now weirdly warm subs.

Finally, as we arrived in the parking lot to leave, we found our car blocked in by a van.  Vans were blocking much of the parking lot, and we had to find the van driver sitting in the shade at the side, gesture that we wanted to leave, and then carefully extricate our car from the lot.  Our parking lot did not have toilets, so we headed up to La Mina trailhead lot, and very luckily found one empty parking slot.

It truly is not a wilderness experience at all.  But it is a nice walk, if you come early, and a splendid dip in a waterfall.  And for me, to swim in a tropical waterfall was a bucket-list item.

As I remember this experience, I’ll try not to remember the family we passed on our hike back.  Pop music announced them their arrival: the man pushing a stroller through the forest, complete with baby and boom box.

Diabetic Travel Tips

Since this is a hiking experience, food is a primary focus.    Drinks were for sale at the Tower, hot grill items and drinks available at the Big Tree trailhead.  I didn’t see anything beyond the fact that there were rest rooms at La Mina trailhead!  If all else fails, just before you enter the park there is a restaurant to your right.  As mentioned above, waterproof sandals are a necessity to protect your feet.  Since most trail is in the shade, in the rainforest, the sun is not much of a factor as you protect both your pump and your skin.

Related Links

Puerto Rico Day Trips – La Mina Trail

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