Last month I went on vacation with my wife to Puerto Rico for our 10-year anniversary. We stayed at the Rio Del Mar Resort which is perfectly located near San Juan, the northeast coast beaches (and ferry to Isla de Culebra), the bio-luminescent bays, and El Yunque National Rainforest.

I loved the rainforest! I hiked in my huarache sandals which was nice because it was very warm (and wet).

Here is a photo of me glad to be back to the top of La Coca trail:



The trail begins at an elevation of 1476 feet and begins a steep descent, and goes down, down and down. This picture shows one steep and rocky section:



The pointy rocks were challenging.



There was a water crossing at the river below La Coca falls. By this time it had started to rain and we were wearing ponchos.



I handled the water with ease since I didn't care if my sandals got wet.



We turned around when the trail turned into sloppy mud. The trail was still going down down down at this point and we knew we would have to hike back up.



After finishing La Coca trail, we drove further up into the mountains and climbed Yokahu Tower (elevation 1575 ft). The view behind me stretches all the way to the beach!



The El Yunque welcome center is a nice place to stop and learn about the rainforest:



If we make it back to Puerto Rico, I would like to go further up into the mountains and hike on the more remote trails. In particular it would be nice to climb to the peak of El Yunque (the mountain) and the nearby Mt. Britton tower, both reaching elevations above 3000 feet. You can see Mt. Britton tower in the right-most photo hanging at the welcome center:



On our last day in Puerto Rico, we drove back to the rainforest before heading to the airport and hiked down to see La Mina Falls:



The trail to La Mina Falls is actually fully-paved (like a sidewalk). Although the scenery was nice, I was wishing for the feeling of being on a more natural trail. But overall, we had a very nice hiking experience.

More pictures from our trip to Puerto Rico appear in my posts about Old San Juan and the resort and beaches.