An Ode to El Yunque

Growing up, El Yunque was an expected school field trip every few years. It was the kind of field trip you get excited about. Long bus ride, hang out in the forest, make sure to bring your bathing suit in case we went to a cascade – even though no one ever got in cause the water is freezing. Now as an adult and as a cyclist, I have a new appreciation for El Yunque.

El Yunque is only tropical rainforest in the US. It is not the highest peak in Puerto Rico, but it is the most symbolic. El Yunque was the home of Yocajú, the main god of the indigenous Taino people that were killed by the Spanish – but that's a (sad) story for another day. El Yunque is the Caribbean equivalent to Mount Olympus, and it is still uniquely mysterious in a physically palpable way. There are two ways you can feel the mountain living and breathing: riding up the mountain or hiking in the forest. I recommend both, but this is a blog about bikes.

One of the few cascades visible from the road up

First of all, riding up El Yunque is absolutely brutal. It is a little over 7.5 miles, 2,217 feet of climbing, and unpredictable weather. It's roughly less than an hour all the way up, depending on you. You'll suffer at the bottom, where the mountain greets you with a section that tops out a 22%. The first half of the climb is generally worse than the second. There are a healthy amount of switchbacks, but the killer features are the countless “S” turns that just get steeper and steeper. It is dense forest, so you don't see what's coming up next until you're out of the turn. It can either be a view of the sky, a short downhill, or in all likelihood, another wall leading to another blind turn. That's a unique feature about El Yunque: it is so dense that it can be disorienting – tourists get lost in the trails all the time. Ride up it 5 times and you'll see that it's still hard to remember what comes next after each turn. Thankfully, we have a road so there's nothing to worry about.

All photos by Alvaro Soltero

If you're going to ride up El Yunque, do it without headphones. As you go higher and higher, you'll start hearing the sounds of the forest. The wind whizzing. The birds calls. The mysterious whooshing sound of wind pushing rain water off tree branches. The ground animals scurrying away from the sides of the road as you approach. Not to mention the couple of stray dogs that live up there. The sounds get more intense the higher up you go. When you reach the top, the road becomes one lane and does a loop. Stop and listen (and catch your breath). You'll feel the spookiness of a forest where nothing ever stays still, yet you can't see any movement. El Yunque truly is a special place. No wonder the Tainos worshipped it as the home of a god.

Unclear if this dog and his pack are stray. They live on this corner, and there is a souvenir shop on the right (not pictured)

About 3/4ths of the way up. There are multiple viewing options along the way.

Then you go full send down the road. Arguably the best part of the ride.

A few tips for riding El Yunque, if you're ever up to the task:

• Check the weather. Yes, it's unpredictable, but you'll probably be OK if it looks favorable. It'll be awful so if the forecast is ugly.

• Cars beep before they go into the blind corners, so don't be alarmed. They do it to notify that they're there. It's a good thing. Bring a whistle if you want to participate (yes, people do this)

• Watch out for wet roads downhill. It is a rainforest, after all. It might be dry at the start of the corner and wet at the end, so keep an eye out.

• There is one turn that has a pack of 3-4 dogs. It is the corner that has a big souvenir shop, about halfway up. They will chase you but they won't bite. If you're afraid, just wait for a car to come up/down and follow it. They'll get out of the way.

• I have heard 3 stories from friends about people riding down El Yunque on carbon rim brakes and having serious accidents. Specifically, rims overheating and failing. Please be careful with this. You'll notice rim brakes are generally unpopular in PR because of the heat. It’s for a reason.