Welcome to Thoughts From the Trail, a list of random thoughts, ideas, questions, photos, music, and other information related to my trail adventures, hiking, walking, biking, or other!
El Yunque National Forest
November 7, 2021 – By car, On foot
- There were so many different types of flora and fauna I didn’t know! As always, I tried to enjoy the moment instead of take pictures, but I took enough photos so I could identify some of the plant life later.
- I wrote down the note, “get to know what I’m surrounded by like get to know person sitting next to on a plane.” I’m not exactly sure what I meant by that. I hate when that happens. At the time of jotting down it down, I assume it is enough to trigger the thought later, but sometimes it isn’t. Maybe it’ll come back to me someday…
- There is something about hearing another language that makes us (or them) feel like an outsider. While the words might not be the same, there are shared languages we all speak. We know the difficulty of an uphill climb and the relief at the top. We know the impressiveness of nature and the beauty that surrounds us, even if we don’t know what each individual thing is called.
- It was an incredible experience, to see a rainforest in all of its glory, dripping in humidity, in full color, high definition, and surround sound.
- Frequency illusion is so apparent in places like this. I will assume that the experience is heightened when 1. everything is new, 2. things blend in. Halfway through the hike, I spy a tree snail. Eventually, I cannot go 15 steps without seeing another. We easily saw over 100. Same thing with unfurling ferns. I noticed one up close and kept seeing them over and over for the duration of the hike.
- No two steps are the same, even on an out and back route.
- Throughout the hike, as we walked up and up and up, I kept envisioning the image we all got in grade school as the diagram of a forest canopy.
- To hear the sounds of el coqui is reason enough to visit Puerto Rico.
- When can I come back? Soon, I hope.
Trail Tunes
I listened to this playlist while writing this post. Thanks for the killer music recommendations, Ojo De Tigre! (For more info on this, check out #6 in the Rising Tide – November 2021.)
Post Trail Discoveries
After getting off the trail, I reluctantly left the island I made it home. In reminiscing about the trip and keeping Puerto Rico fresh in my mind, I did some more digging and discovered a few other things worth sharing:
- Here is some history of El Yunque National Forest.
- I’ll be adding some books to my To-Read list – some about trees and animals, others about culture and history.
- We saw so many tree snails that we lost count! After we were off the trail, I Googled them to learn a bit more. They sure are fascinating creatures! Want to be impressed / grossed out? Look up how they eat and defecate.
- After the hike, we did some more exploring, and I did some more writing about it. Check out El Mejor for more.
