Salto Collazo

Lares, San Sebastian, Puerto Rico

About Salto Collazo

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Waterfall Safety and Common Sense

Salto Collazo can be either a convenient roadside waterfall or a bit of an adventure for something a bit more.

You see, this is really a pair of waterfalls on either side of the road bridge along the PR-111 between the towns of San Sebastian and Lares in Western Puerto Rico.

Salto_Collazo_067_04172022 - Salto Collazo
Salto Collazo

For most passerbys driving this route, the upper waterfall is easily seen right from its colorful road bridge though there’s also a short path leading down from the left side (looking upstream) of the bridge going right to the bottom of this upper tier.

Experiencing the falls in this manner only takes a few minutes provided you’ve managed to park at one of the informal pullout spaces around the bridge.

The only catch is that since it’s a west-facing waterfall, you might be looking right against the morning sun as we did during our visit.

Now if you’re observant, you might also notice (and hear) another waterfall on the downstream side of the road bridge.

Salto_Collazo_027_04172022 - Looking downstream across the base of the upper drop of the Salto Collazo Waterfall
Looking downstream across the base of the upper drop of the Salto Collazo Waterfall

Unfortunately, this lower drop of Salto Collazo is harder to see, and it turns out that getting in front of this part of the waterfall requires some work.

How To Reach The Lower Salto Collazo Waterfall

I figured out that in order to get down to the bottom of the mysterious Lower Salto Collazo Waterfall, I had to go down a narrow road on east side of the bridge.

Then, as I descended the road, I looked to the right in search of a use trail that might get me down to the bottom of the falls without doing a fatal cliff plunge.

As much as the litter that I noticed in the jungle alongside the road (as I suspected some locals have used as a dumping ground), this litter actually hinted at the path that ultimately got me to the bottom relatively safely.

Salto_Collazo_085_04172022 - As shameful as the amount of litter along the scramble to the bottom of Salto Collazo, it actually hinted to me where people have been before, and thus it ironically helped me to find the safest way down there
As shameful as the amount of litter along the scramble to the bottom of Salto Collazo, it actually hinted to me where people have been before, and thus it ironically helped me to find the safest way down there

Although the path was narrow, overgrown, muddy, and steep in spots, I managed to get to the stream a bit further downstream from the base of Salto Collazo (but still maintaining a visual on it), and then I scrambled upstream.

Right at the base of the falls was a fairly large and secluded plunge pool fronting a vertical drop (I’m guessing is at least 35m or more) with a morning glow on the underside of the road bridge right above it.

If not for more litter (including discarded plastics and broken bottles) finging the plunge pool of the falls, this was actually a really nice spot as I’d imagine far fewer people make it down here than up by the upper waterfall.

Overall, this scramble took me around 15-20 minutes in each direction.

Salto_Collazo_053_04172022 - Hint of the bottom of Salto Collazo once I finally scrambled down to its stream
Hint of the bottom of Salto Collazo once I finally scrambled down to its stream

During most of that time, I spent it route-finding while wondering if I was trespassing or not (the litter around here suggested that no one assumed ownership here).

Authorities

Salto Collazo resides in the municipality of San Sebastián, Puerto Rico. I couldn’t tell if access to this waterfall involved going through private property, but it didn’t seem to be protected by a reserve nor any official authority.

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Tagged with: pr-111, western puerto rico, san sebastian, lares, roadside, scramble, litter, cordillera central, puerto rico



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