CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
324 km from Pontal do Paraná to Pontal do Paraná, about 7 h 13 of riding. On the way it passes Pico do Marumbi State Park, Salto Morato Private Reserve and back through Pico do Marumbi State Park. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 54 km this is Estrada da Graciosa, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
On the coast of Paraná, between the port city of Paranaguá and the beaches of Pontal do Paraná, the Guaraguaçu Ecological Station protects a stretch of lowland forest, mangrove and sandy restinga along the Guaraguaçu river. It belongs to the network of Atlantic Forest reserves that UNESCO lists for the south and southeast of Brazil, here around the Paranaguá bay, one of the best preserved estuaries on the Brazilian coast. Access to the station itself is restricted, as ecological stations are mainly for research, but the surrounding landscape gives a strong sense of what it protects.
Read the complete Guaraguacu Ecological Station write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Guaraguaçu Ecological Station is where the day begins. Next is Pico do Marumbi State Park.
There are two ways down from Curitiba to the sea, and both are worth knowing. The modern highway, the BR-277, hurtles down the Serra do Mar in a series of viaducts and tunnels, and the old road, the Estrada da Graciosa, built in the nineteenth century, winds through the same forest on cobblestones, with bends so tight and views so green that bikers talk about it for years. The Serra do Mar is a steep coastal range, covered in Atlantic Forest, with clouds that cling to the peaks, and Pico do Marumbi, at about fifteen hundred metres, is the rocky summit that dominates the skyline.
Read the complete Pico do Marumbi State Park write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Pico do Marumbi State Park comes up about 54 km into the recorded legs. Next is Salto Morato Private Reserve.
On the Paraná coast of Brazil the Atlantic Forest comes down almost to the sea, and Salto Morato is a private reserve that protects a good piece of it. A few thousand hectares of dense, wet forest, ferns, palms, orchids and giant trees covered in moss, with a trail that leads to a waterfall of about a hundred metres plunging down a green cliff. The Atlantic Forest was once enormous, running along most of the Brazilian coast, but today only a small fraction survives, and this area, with its neighbours in the Serra do Mar, is one of the best-preserved parts, recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage cluster.
Read the complete Salto Morato Private Reserve write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 161 km into the recorded legs you reach Salto Morato Private Reserve. Next is back through Pico do Marumbi State Park.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Pico do Marumbi State Park write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Pico do Marumbi State Park, late in the day. Next is Guaraguacu Ecological Station.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Guaraguacu Ecological Station write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Guaraguacu Ecological Station. That is the ride.
Guaraguaçu Ecological Station → Pico do Marumbi State Park is 54 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Pico do Marumbi State Park → Salto Morato Private Reserve is 107 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Salto Morato Private Reserve → back through Pico do Marumbi State Park is 109 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Pico do Marumbi State Park → Guaraguacu Ecological Station is 54 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.