Alto Ribeira Touristic State Park and Pariquera - Abaixo 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 150 km into the recorded legs. Next is Pariquera - Abaixo State Park.

3. 3. Pariquera - Abaixo State Park

   Between the Ribeira de Iguape river and the coast of southern São Paulo state, the land is low, green and wet, covered in a patchwork of banana plantations, rice fields, mangroves and patches of dense Atlantic Forest. The Pariquera-Abaixo State Park protects one of these patches, part of the larger network of Atlantic Forest reserves of southeast Brazil listed by UNESCO in 1999, a region that holds some of the most extensive surviving stretches of this once vast forest.

   Read the complete Pariquera - Abaixo State Park write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   about 359 km into the recorded legs you reach Pariquera - Abaixo 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.