About La Coca Falls
La Coca Falls is a straightforward waterfall to visit in the main part of the El Yunque Rainforest in northeastern Puerto Rico.
It’s conveniently situated next to the main road PR-191 through the rainforest so it could very well be the most popular and most photographed waterfall on the island.
As you can see in the photo above, this waterfall holds its own in terms of its scenic allure thanks to its 26m (86ft drop) over a wide rock wall.
Our late season visit in late April resulted in the falls taking on a segmented appearance, but I’m aware that during hurricane season between May and November, it could easily become a massive curtain of water.
Speaking of hurricanes, El Yunque National Forest was heavily damaged from Hurricane Maria in 2017, which resulted in the PR-191 road no longer passing through the entirety of the reserve while also knocking out access to La Mina Falls.
In fact, with our inability to visit La Mina Falls in 2022, which was the most popular hike in El Yunque, that pretty much all but ensured that La Coca Falls would be the most popular publicly accessible waterfall left.
Further complicating matters, hurricane damage followed by the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak caused the US Forest Service to institute a reservation system to even access the main part of El Yunque Rainforest (including La Coca Falls).
In our situation, we made a booking through recreation.gov a month before our planned visit, which was checked for during our eventual visit.
Nevertheless, aside from the hoops and hurdles to enable our visit, the experience itself only required a few minutes for viewing from the bridge.
There’s also an informal scramble to the left side of the bridge leading up to an outcrop right in front of the upper section of La Coca Falls.
This scramble is short, but rocky and slippery, as it’s often an introduction to how risky and potentially dangerous jungle scrambling in a humid rainforest can be.
It looked like the scrambling trail kept going further up the jungle, but I didn’t pursue it any further so I can’t say if it only went to the top of the falls nor if there was more to this experience.
Overall, our visit only took about 25 minutes, including all the scrambling and time spent on the bridge.
In fact, it was easy to continue the tour of El Yunque to the impressive Yokahu Tower just a couple minutes drive further to the south, which was another roadside stop like La Coca Falls.
Authorities
La Coca Falls resides within El Yunque National Forest near Luquillo in the Rio Grande Municipality, Puerto Rico. It is administered by the US Forest Service. For information or inquiries about the area as well as current conditions, visit their website.
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