Information is at a premium regarding trailheads, and the most common refrain with respect to hiking is that one shouldn’t even contemplate undertaking any hike without a guide. It turns out that this is a bit of circular logic with a manner of common sense. One needs a guide to find the trailhead as they are all blithely unmarked, and remarkably well-hidden for out-of-towners. However, a number of hikes do actually follow pretty straightforward paths.
We began by checking out the small house that serves as the central post for guides in the area. This lies at the foot of the area’s most sought after hike, up to the Cachoeira da Fumaca(sorry, no c cedilha), which translates to Smoke Waterfall. It’s the highest in the National Park, and while seeing the waterfall from the top is awe-inspiring, the views of the surrounding valley are no less spectacular. The trail leads up a fairly steep, zigzagging and very rocky path for about 2 km, and then reaches a scrubby plateau. From there going is easy, although there are—true to the guide’s words—a couple of spots one might inadvertently veer off the path. There are some wet and muddy spots, but as there had been little rain, nothing of serious note. Some blooming orchids, but little else of real note plant-wise. Finally one reaches a clearing, notes a rope for crossing a shallow stream below, and upon climbing up at the opposite end is the famed spot where people crawl out on their bellies for a look at the falls. Crossing back across the river, there is another viewpoint that also affords a look at the falls, which were watery, but hardly gushing.
A couple of days later we arranged for a young guide to take us to visit two waterfalls at the end of the Capao valley. From where we were staying it was about 8 more km down a rutted and grooved dirt road to the cluster of buildings referred to as Bomba. There we parked and headed directly over stones in the river for about 2 hours of crisscrossing the river and walking narrow paths that skirt the banks in the thick semi-tropical growth. Lots of hanging on to trees, limbs, roots and vines to navigate the path, but nothing too tricky—although how the guide(and the few others we encountered) were doing this on flip-flops, remains a mystery to me! The further of the two fall is Purificacao(Purification), presumably for the quite cool water that fills the lovely pool at the base of the falls. Surrounded by stone terraces, some with natural steps, it’s a peaceful place to enjoy the water and then drape yourself over the warm stones to dry. On the return, we stopped at the smaller falls referred to as Angelica for a second round of the same. On our return, we crossed paths with a small snake,which we were assured was harmless—although there are about 17 venomous varieties in the park, including—much to our surprise—the rattlesnake!
On the Sunday, we went to meet our guide at the appointed time and place, but subsequently found that he wasn’t going to be available, but would send us along with his brother-in-law, a mere 17 year old who took us in yet another direction in the valley to again visit some falls and a river. While the road was again precarious to get to the trailhead, the walk was fine, until we actually had to traipse down the mountain to the falls. Vertiginous and muddy, due to torrential rains the night before, we slipped and slid our way down, holding on to any and all available vegetation. The falls are normally quite tame and allow for pleasant swimming, but they were a roaring torrent of foam spilling over rocks, so we found a place to sit and simply wet our feet. Hard to believe it was ever tame, particularly with the dregs of stronger currents and earlier flooding still in evidence. After dabbling, discovered a turtle that had been swept into a small hole in the river bank, then scaled the muddy hill back up, and then headed to the Rio Preto (Black River). Again these falls are usually tame enough that you can (carefully) make your way down several levels to the lower echelons of the river, but again, the currents and the rapids were dangerously fast. We marveled at the termite nests that surround trees—something common to the area—, watched iridescent butterflies dancing over the water, and then headed home, where we arrived to see the tail end of Vale do Capao’s Sunday market, complete with capoeira, a couple of food stands, and the ubiquitous “hippies” as people refer to the wide range of alternative life-style locals.
In the midst of these hikes, we’d moved; from our initial accommodations to a new one right at the edge of town, Pe no Mato, where we met Silvia, the owner. She rolled her eyes at our experiences with our first guide and made sure that we’d have someone different for our last outing. On our last day, Jean showed up to join us for a walk across the plateau to the source of a river, its delightful pools and falls, and the beautiful scenery at one of the area’s most easily recognized mounts—a stalwart crag hundreds of meters high that looks as if it simply fell from the heavens and landed where it is today. It’s referred to as Morrao (Big Hill). Again getting to the trailhead was far more of an adventure than the actual trail, which is lovely but rambling and easy. The place one leave’s one car is another story altogether! The road is appalling even for the best 4 wheel drive vehicles(which was didn’t have!)—and Andres appeared to be cool as a cucumber while getting us through river bed, up dangerously deeply grooved and crooked hills, past yawning sinkholes in the road, all exacerbated by recent nightly downpours. The walk was a delight. The scenery is ample and wide over the scrubby plateau, while the Morrao stares you down from wherever you are. Water trickles everywhere, until suddenly it begins gushing out of the flat expanses of rock, and rushes to form small falls that spill into a series of consecutive pools. There’s even a perfect round opening in the rock to lower yourself into as the water gently rushes past. We had a snack in the shade, swam, and sunned on a selection of rocky outcrops before heading back. Definitely our favorite. Many thanks to Jean’s wonderful company.
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