A good friend of mine came to visit this past weekend so we decided to do some ecotourism at Toro Negro State Park.
Getting to Toro Negro in and of itself is an adventure. If you’re travelling from San Juan, my advice is to take the highway south all the way to Jauna Diaz. Once in Juana Diaz you follow two roads: Carr. 149 and then Carr. 143 also known as “Ruta Panoramica”. Even with the GPS and directions from two different people we asked along the way, we still got lost. Don’t worry it’s the good kind of lost.
Situated in the middle of the island of Puerto Rico, the journey through the serpentine slopes to Toro Negro State Park in Jayuya is quite an experience. The route all the way up this mountainous region is through two vehicle curving roads that sometime feel like they are one and a half vehicle roads. It will definitely make you nervous if you are not used to this kind of driving.
The views all the way up to the park are something else, I felt as if I wasn’t in Puerto Rico anymore. At one point we were so high up that we could actually see all the way to the southern coast of Puerto Rico.
Finally, about two hours past our estimated arrival time, we made it to the  administration office or ranger station and parked. The offices are only open weekdays which didn’t help because the maps provided are a bit hard to read and don’t show the routes clearly.
Instead of following the trail on the map we wanted to hike through, we decided just try and find whichever we could. I’m pretty sure we ended up finding routes 8 (Charco La Confesora Trail) and 9 ( Doña Petra Trail).
We walked down the road from the ranger station to the camping area. From there we trekked down towards the Charco la Confesora. The trail was muddy from all the visitors who come exclusively to swim in the “charco” (puddle or pool).
After a while at the natural pool area, jumping from stone to stone, looking at tiny zig-zagging fish and tadpoles. We headed back the same trail we came from and to the intersection towards the Doña Petra trail. Ideally we wanted to do a nice loop, trail 8 (Charco La Confesora Trail), then 5 (Las Cuarentas Trail) and finally trail 9 ( Doña Petra Trail), but since we never did find trail Las Cuarentas we headed back.
Trail Doña Petra was a series of slopes and hills. Up and down past streams and vegetation. The height of the trees made the path was dark and humid. Coming from city it was nice to see butterflies fluttering about and plants that seemed prehistoric.
Then, I found what I had thought was but a myth, wild berries. Some of my friends from the countryside had told me about wild berries. How as kids they would play outdoors and find the delicious treats but in recent years became impossible to find. There they were, in a thorny bush, the little red berries!
After about two hours in the trails we set back to the parking lot. Driving through the curving road at night can be a bit nerve-racking and so I wanted to be on our way back to the metropolitan area before dark.
I think my little attempt at ecotourism went quite well! Check out this link:
http://www.puertoricodaytrips.com/toro-negro-forest/
They have tons of helpful information if you’re looking to visit Toro Negro State Park.
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A TO' TREN 