El Yunque Rainforest, Puerto Rico

January 30, 2015

I recently took a week long "sister's trip" to San Juan, Puerto Rico for all three of our January birthdays. We left the SO's at home, but we all agreed next vacation we'd bring 'em.

Laus on the loose

Of course one of my must-do items included visiting El Yunque Rainforest. We hit it up tourist-style first by stopping by the visitor's center. From there we decided to do the easy in and out La Mina Falls Trail.

Hello!

Heading into the Visitor Center

On the drive to the trailhead we made a quick stop to check out Yokahu Tower. At this point it was pouring rain. No matter - we were in shorts and tanks with swim suits underneath.

Yokahu Tower

Raining in the rainforest

View from the top. We got a peek of the city through the clouds.

Lush

Thoroughly soggy we hopped back into the rental car and drove up to La Mina trailhead. Restrooms are available here and the entrance to the trail is just a little farther down. The entire trail to the falls is essentially all paved/rocked with some concrete stairs so we just hiked in flip flops. Surprisingly it wasn't very slippery. There were several covered picnic shelters for the first part of the hike but none were being used at the time.

La Mina River was on our left side the whole time. It was a lovely hike at just 0.7 miles long descending the whole way. Once we arrived at the waterfall, there were about a dozen people in the water. There's a second pool towards the right. That's were my sisters and I decided to dip our feet in. After taking pictures and watching the kids jump and climb the rocks, we headed back across the bridge.

Looking up

Neat rocks

Final set of stairs down to the waterfall

La Mina Falls

My sister, Diana

To our surprise there were at least 30 teenage kids waiting at the bottom of the stairs to get into the water. So glad we started the hike early. We left just in time.

We had such a nice vacation. Loved it here.

Castillo de San Cristobal in Old San Juan

Wonderland Trail Day 6 - Nickel Creek to Longmire

August 28, 2014

We made it to our last day! I woke up excited to start the day early so we could get to Longmire to clean up, snack on the sour candies and chips stashed in my car and head home. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed this experience every step of the way, but I was also looking forward to going home.

Other than really awful stomach cramps (too much oatmeal?) this last day wasn't too spectacular. We did run in to a couple who recognized us.... well, my bright backpack.. from a few days back. They were halfway done with the Wonderland Trail.

Deep crevasse

We took a quick snack break at Reflection Lake. It was peaceful here with just a couple parked cars at the lot. It was a nice day, too, but lingering clouds obstructed the views of Mt. Rainier and I'm guessing its reflection in the lake.

A few minutes earlier I noticed a bee land on my left arm. Careful not to make any sudden movements, it stung me anyways and flew away. What the heck?! What a JERK bee! It was on my arm for all of 5 seconds just to sting me? I've never been stung before. There was a tingling stinging sensation in my arm for 15 minutes and it barely got swollen. Andy just laughed and told me he used to get stung all the time. Well good for you, but this isn't helping the pain :P I sulked while I ate my Cliff Bar and Andy dried out our tent.

First bee sting. Jerk bee.

And finally:

 :D   WE DID IT   :D

Five days and five nights on the trail is hard. This was one of the most challenging things I've ever done. We've spent five days hiking before, but that was several years ago in the Olympics and I think we covered about 20 miles. I'm so proud of us and still am. Can't wait for our next long adventure. We're thinking some PCT section hikes.

Total miles: 13.3 miles
Total time on trail (including breaks): 7.5 hours

Wonderland Trail Day 5 - White River Campground to Nickel Creek

August 27, 2014

Day 5 was the BIG one - lots of mileage, but also lots to see.

Once I struggled into my damp clothes and got the other garments hanging nicely on our packs (socks and all), we were on our way to a rough but terrific day. Andy and I were probably chatting about food from the day before when suddenly something black emerged behind a log and walked across the trail about 20 yards ahead before continuing on.

Bear first thing in the morning just a couple minutes outside of White River Campground

Yay! Another bear sighting :) It didn't care about us and kept on its hunt for berries. We kept talking to make sure it knew we were there and to avoid any surprises. Well, that was an exciting start to the morning.

Signage

I was super excited for Summerland. Summerland, Summerland, Summerland is all anyone talks about when you bring up Rainier. Well, not really but it sure is popular. The chipmunks definitely get fed here. They're not even scared of people. They were kind of annoying.

Summerland

One bold chipmunk. Then came five more. They sure are friendly.

Om nom nom

Huffing and puffing on leg day

There were so many marmots here. And a lot of clueless day hikers, too. I'm not being mean, but there are literally signs everywhere saying to stay off the sensitive areas and big sticks/log blocking off small boot paths. People walk on them anyways. It hurt to see this.

We continued on from Summerland to Panhandle Gap and the area above Ohanapecosh Park. This section was so beautiful if I write any more I'll just repeat myself saying how beautiful it was. The hike was strenuous and again, there was little to no shade for relief from the sun.

Rock and water. Also sky and clouds.

ME!

Gorgeous

Very cool shards of rock

If we had time we would have loved to climb up. Those ladies encouraged us to, but didn't understand our demanding timeline that day so we continued towards the left.

Much needed lunch break before making our way up then down to Indian Bar

Indian Bar

BE SURE to fill up on water here before continuing

Looking back towards Indian Bar

"We were all the way up there then hiked all the way down there and now we're all the way up here!"

Beginning to worry if we'll make it to camp before the sun sets.

Made it, but had to set up and grab water a half mile down in the dark.

We made it to Nickel Creek with a drop of water and 10 minutes of sunlight left. It's a pretty crappy camping area tucked in the forest about a half mile up from the creek. I think I remember reading the campsite had to be moved due to all the mice or rats or something. Anyways, we didn't care about the lame location (I did for a second but didn't say anything since I planned the trip heh..). We had a tough day and were hungry and thirsty. After setting our stuff down we booked it down to the creek with our headlamps to gather some water for dinner and drinking. Bear poles were available and the toilet was the typical wood box with no walls although this one wasn't very sturdy so careful jumping off!

Total miles: 18.25 miles
Total time on trail (including breaks): 12 hours