About Puerto Rico's stunning new trail traverses a tropical rainforest:  The pioneering 40-mile path through El Yunque National Forest will take you from beaches to mountain peaks. Puerto Rico's new Nor Este (Northeast) trail takes hikers from the coral reefs and bioluminescent lagoon of Fajardo to the highest peak in El Yunque National Forest - a 28,000 acre tropical rainforest known for its beauty and biodiversity. Only 25 to 50 hikers a day will be allowed to experience the 40-mile, three to five day adventure. While the official route is about 90 percent complete, you can already hike it. "Rarely can you hike in a rainforest, be at a mountain peak in the clouds, and go to the beach all in the same day," says Kenan Adams, forest supervisor of El Yunque.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     The NorEste Trail is a pioneering collaboration between a half-dozen U.S. and Puerto Rican national, municipal, and local governmental, nonprofit, and community organizations. "When you connect a trail like this, just like other regional trails like the Pacific Crest Trail and the Appalation Trail, you have intermixed land ownership from land reserves, state reserves, U.S. Forest Services properties, and private land in between," says David Ilse, public services staff officer for the USDA Forest Service. "It's quite the coordination effort to pull all of that together."  At a time when Puerto Rico's land is coming under private and foreign ownership, this community-led inituitive lets nature and cultural enthusiasts tap into the rare, rugged beauty of the island while contributing to local communities along the way.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 The NorEste Trail starts (or ends) in the Cabezas de San Juan Nature Reserve in Fajardo, a protected space rich with mangroves, coral reefs, dry forests, beaches, and lagoons. From here, hikers can see nearly the entire route, the beachfront, and the 3,524-foot-tall El Toro. Follow the path through Seven Seas Beach and the Northeast Ecological Corridor, (an important nesting ground for leatherback sea turtles) to the Kioscos de Luqyillo, a collection of family-owned food stalls. Hikers can refuel on alcapurrias (meat-stuffed fritters made from yucca, taro, or plantains) or mofungo (fried mashed green plantains served with meat or seafood).                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           The Taino, the Indigenous people who have inhabited Puerto Rico since at least 3000 B.C., considering the land that is now El Yunque (yuke meaning-"white lands" in Taino, referring to the clouds) sacred. You can still see Taino petroglyphics in the southern part of the forest. Soon after the Taino showed gold to Christopher Columbus during his second voyage to the Americas in 1493, the Spanish enslaved them. But gold wasn't the only resource the Spaniards took from Puerto Rico. Wood was also a precious commodity, and Spaniards nearly deforested the entire mainland before converting El Yunque into one of the oldest forest reserves in the Western Hemisphere in 1876. (Puerto Rico's Taina Route explores an Indigenous culture that was nearly wiped out.)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           After the U.S. invaded Puerto Rico and gained control in 1898, President Theodore Roosevelt's Civilian Conservation Corps continued to reforesting El Yunque. Over 2,600 local laborers built trails, roads, and facilities--using only equipment they could carry on their backs. Protected areas, including Vieques and Culebra, two of the major islands of Puerto Rico's archipelago of more than a hundred islands, make up 16 percent of the country--compared to the United States' 12 percent. Nilsa Maria, who started Mariposa con Botas (Butterfly with Boots), a hiking group for women seeking a reprieve from their daily lives, says educating yourself before visiting a place is a powerful tool. Rivera Rodriguez says "We are blessed to be able to walk into this place. When you're hiking and you see the potential it kind of brings tears to your eyes. It's beautiful."