Alto Ribeira Touristic State Park and Jacupiranga State Park

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Alto Ribeira Touristic State Park

   The Ribeira valley, in the south of Sao Paulo state, holds the largest remaining stretch of Atlantic Forest in Brazil, and under it lies one of the great cave regions of the Americas. The park called PETAR, the Alto Ribeira Touristic State Park, covers hills of limestone that are riddled with hundreds of caves, many of them with underground rivers, huge chambers and elaborate formations of stalactites and stalagmites. The forest above is thick with ferns, bromeliads and trees draped in moss, and it belongs to the Atlantic Forest South-East Reserves, a UNESCO World Heritage listing from 1999.

   Read the complete Alto Ribeira Touristic State Park write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Alto Ribeira Touristic State Park is where the day begins. Next is Intervales State Park.

2. 2. Intervales State Park

   There is a place in the hills of south-east São Paulo state where you can hear a monkey you will probably never see. The muriqui, the largest primate in the Americas, lives in the Atlantic Forest of the Serra de Paranapiacaba, and Intervales State Park, one of the largest protected areas of that forest, is one of its refuges. The park covers more than forty thousand hectares of steep, misty hills, with giant ferns, bromeliads, orchids and trees hung with vines, and it is part of the Atlantic Forest South-East Reserves, listed by UNESCO in 1999. Toucans, tapirs and, rarely, jaguars share it.

   Read the complete Intervales State Park write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Intervales State Park comes up about 174 km into the recorded legs. Next is Jacupiranga State Park.

3. 3. Jacupiranga State Park

   The Vale do Ribeira, in the far south of São Paulo state, holds the largest continuous remnant of Atlantic Forest left in Brazil, and the Jacupiranga area, near the border with Paraná, is part of that green expanse. The Atlantic Forest once covered much of Brazil's coast, but centuries of logging, farming and urban growth reduced it to a fraction of its former extent, and what remains here, together with neighbouring reserves, forms part of the UNESCO site of the Atlantic Forest Southeast Reserves, inscribed in 1999. The forest is incredibly rich in species, with jaguars, pumas, monkeys, toucans and countless orchids and bromeliads.

   Read the complete Jacupiranga State Park write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   about 405 km into the recorded legs you reach Jacupiranga State Park. Next is back through Intervales State Park.

4. 4. back through Intervales State Park

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Intervales State Park write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   back through Intervales State Park, late in the day. Next is Alto Ribeira Touristic State Park.

5. 5. Alto Ribeira Touristic State Park

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Alto Ribeira Touristic State Park write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Back at Alto Ribeira Touristic State Park. That is the ride.