Serra dos Orgaos National Park

The range was named for organ pipes, which is what the granite spires above Teresopolis look like from a distance, and the best known of them is Dedo de Deus - God's Finger - a pointed tower that appears on the Rio de Janeiro state flag and was first climbed in 1912. Pedra do Sino at 2,275 metres is the high point. The park was created in 1939, among the earliest in Brazil, and protects Atlantic forest running up through cloud forest into high grassland. Its classic route is the Travessia Petropolis-Teresopolis, about thirty kilometres over three days across the range, camping high and crossing the Pedra do Sino ridge; it is the best-known multi-day walk in Brazil and needs registration and reasonable fitness.

History

The park was created on 30 November 1939, the third national park in Brazil, over about 9,000 hectares of Magé, Petrópolis and Teresópolis, to protect the headwaters of the rivers and the mountains; in the 1940s it gained a natural pool, offices, staff houses and four shelters on the Bell Trail, with some 250 staff. When the capital moved to Brasília in the 1960s funding fell away and the facilities decayed, restoration began from 1980, a decree of 2 August 1984 set its area at 10,527 hectares, and from the 1990s old buildings were restored and new ones built (Wikipedia, Serra dos Órgãos National Park).

The landscape

• Dedo de Deus - the granite tower on the state flag, first climbed in 1912.
• The Petropolis-Teresopolis traverse - about thirty kilometres over three days.
• Pedra do Sino - the 2,275-metre high point of the range.
• Forest to high grassland - Atlantic forest giving way to cloud forest and campo.

When to go

April to September, the dry season. Three days for the traverse, a day for lower trails.

Before you go

The traverse must be registered in advance, is walked one way between two towns, and is harder than its distance suggests - steep, exposed and cold at the high camp. Rock climbing on Dedo de Deus is technical and needs a guide. Cloud sits on the range for much of the year.

Nearby

Teresopolis and Petropolis are at either end of the traverse; Rio is south.

Key facts