Hi, I live in Puerto Rico about 40 min from the Caribbean (El Yunque) National forest featuring several peaks over or close to 1000m only a few miles from the ocean. There are several good trails.

I connected a few of the trails for a close to 9 miles hike round trip. Total climb was about 2000 ft on rocky trails (mostly small rocks/gravel) with some stairs and concrete paved sections thrown in. It was very very humid and wet but not too hot although it was only comfortably cool well above the 2500ft level, bellow that its muggy. Bugs were not a problem, i didnt even notice any mosquitoes at the higher elevations. There are many streams and creeks and small waterfalls along the way. Most trees and palms are moss covered, throw in some fog/clouds and at times the scene is quite surreal. Its best to pack light and put everything inside ziploc bags.

It was hard to take photos due to the fact that it rained a lot so the camera stayed packed most of the time. There isnt much interesting fauna. There are certainly no large animals in the forest. I did not even see many birds. but interesting plant life is abundant along with some insects. Look closely and you will see plenty of awesome macro shot opportunities with a few panoramic vistas thrown in if the weather cooperates (mornings are best for any images that will include sky).

Weather is good year round but its best to avoid the rainy months of may/june, august/september and late november/december. The best bet is late january to march and early april.

The trails are well marked and decently mantained. On the weekends there is a good bit of traffic. You will lots of people that are not well prepared on the trail but a lot of them incredibly make it even in flip flops. But they will suffer more than they should! Danger is apparently low because the trail doesnt seem hazardous because of the dense vegetation but look closely and along the El Yunque trail there is a dangerous drop throughout the trail. Slip off the edge and you will face grave bodily harm and in some places a fall is certain death. At times the trail is just a narrow singletrack only a couple of feet wide. But its hard to get lost. Along the El yunque trail you just cant veer off the trail since there is quite a drop almost all the way through. Near the top there is rock that serves as a great lookout but watch out since you will have 200-300m drops on all three sides.

I logged the route on my GPS, here are a few images:

Looks like a beautiful place to be...

Mike.

Here are a few more pics i took today. Wandering even a bit off the trail is really tough going. Its very easy to get hurt since the terrain is very steep and slippery. But the are several streams and small waterfalls that are just awesome but off the trail so its worth it imho.

(the tower is where I was heading)

In the second image, what's the 'tower' on top of the mountain?

Mike.

Its a lookout tower build by the Civil Conservation Corps in the 1930's.

El Yunque National Forest (formerly known as Caribbean National Forest) is about 28,000 acres and is the only Rainforest in the United States National Forest System (from wiki: The forest region was initially set aside in 1876 by the King Alfonso XII of Spain, and represents one of the oldest reserves in the Western Hemisphere. It was established as the Luquillo Forest Reserve on 17 January 1903 by the General Land Office with 65,950 acres (266.9 km2), and became a National Forest in 1906. It was renamed Caribbean National Forest on 4 June 1935.)