Serras do Cordeiro and Guaraguacu Ecological Station
Plan this ride
Recorded distance
273 km
Riding-time estimate
5 h 02
Journey
Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
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.
A 273 km round trip from Quatro Barras - roughly 5 h 02 in the saddle. The stops in between: Zone & State Park Pau Oco Turistical Prese, Guaraguacu Ecological Station and back through Zone & State Park Pau Oco Turistical Prese. The line favours views over speed.
Scenic road chapters
Estrada da Graciosa
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 86 km this is Estrada da Graciosa, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Chapter facts
Length
86 km
Named road
Estrada da Graciosa
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Serras do Cordeiro
South of Curitiba the Serra do Mar stops being a distant wall and becomes a country of its own, folded into sharp green peaks that rise from the coastal plain of Paraná to well over a thousand metres. The Serras do Cordeiro belong to that mountain tangle, in the zone of protected land and state parks around Pau Oco, near the town of Quatro Barras. Pico Paraná, the highest summit in southern Brazil, and the pyramid of Marumbi are the big names nearby, and the whole range is blanketed by Atlantic forest, a wet, mossy, orchid-hung woodland that catches the clouds coming off the ocean and drips for most of the year.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Serras do Cordeiro is where the day begins. Next is Zone & State Park Pau Oco Turistical Prese.
2. Zone & State Park Pau Oco Turistical Prese
In 1873, the province of Paraná in southern Brazil opened a road down the Serra do Mar from Curitiba to the coast, and it is still there, paved with stone setts, winding through the Atlantic forest in more than a dozen kilometres of bends. The Serra do Mar here is part of the Atlantic Forest South-East Reserves, listed by UNESCO in 1999, one of the largest remaining stretches of a forest that once covered much of the Brazilian coast.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Zone & State Park Pau Oco Turistical Prese comes up about 86 km into the recorded legs. Next is Guaraguacu Ecological Station.
3. Guaraguaçu Ecological Station
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.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Serras do Cordeiro. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Serras do Cordeiro to Zone & State Park Pau Oco Turistical Prese
Serras do Cordeiro → Zone & State Park Pau Oco Turistical Prese is 86 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Zone & State Park Pau Oco Turistical Prese to Guaraguacu Ecological Station
Zone & State Park Pau Oco Turistical Prese → Guaraguacu Ecological Station is 58 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Guaraguaçu Ecological Station to back through Zone & State Park Pau Oco Turistical Prese
Guaraguaçu Ecological Station → back through Zone & State Park Pau Oco Turistical Prese is 50 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Zone & State Park Pau Oco Turistical Prese to Serras do Cordeiro
back through Zone & State Park Pau Oco Turistical Prese → Serras do Cordeiro is 78 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.