I used to live in Tucson, Arizona, which is completely surrounded by mountains and trails and wilderness parks and NATURE. It's very easy to escape the demands of civilization and renew your perspective on all of life's worries. Some people feel this with the ocean... I'm definitely a mountain gal.
Now I live in one of the world's biggest urban centers, and I don't have a car. I really crave escaping the city on a nearly daily basis, so I decided to see what I can do using the methods (and budget) I have available.
There are wilderness areas sprinkled around the outside of São Paulo, but there is a lack of accurate information available about them online. No surprise there, if you've ever been outside North America or Western Europe. The best you can do in this situation is to start the journey without having all of the answers. Adventure!
In the Parque Estadual da Cantareira, there is a small mountain called Pedra Grande. This is NOT the Pedra Grande in Atibaia. This is much closer to São Paulo and much less remote.
I searched for directions on how to get there using the public transport options on Google Maps. As of April 2015, Google is incorrect. It lists several bus lines that simply do not exist and/or do not go anywhere near the park. My boyfriend and I spent a very frustrating half-hour grilling bus station attendants about this before we decided to take a taxi. We figured out how to take a bus back, and now we know for next time.
DIRECTIONS
Go to Metro Parada Inglesa (blue line) and take bus 2020-10 to the very last stop on Rua do Horto. It stops right in front of a city park, and then it turns around to go back to the metro station. Continue walking north, uphill, on Rua do Horto until you reach the entrance to Parque Estadual da Cantareira. It's 10-15 minutes of walking from the bust stop, and it's in a nice neighborhood.
HOURS
Open weekends and holidays, 8am-5pm
We got there around 9:30am on a holiday, and it was busy!
PRICE
R$14 for most people, R$7 for students and seniors.
After we got in the park, Silas and I decided to go straight for the Pedra Grande. The trail there is paved or semi-paved the whole way. There were lots of trail runners, but we just power walked. I can't even call it hiking really, because the hills in my neighborhood are much steeper.
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From the entrance to the top of Pedra Grande and back is 9.6km. The lake is about 3 more kilometers added on to the total hike, so a total of 13km, give or take. Getting to the metro and back, and wandering around looking for the bus gave us 7+km. Our morning outing was over 20km.
It felt awesome to get into the jungle and out of the cementscape that is São Paulo. Deff going back here again.
Now I live in one of the world's biggest urban centers, and I don't have a car. I really crave escaping the city on a nearly daily basis, so I decided to see what I can do using the methods (and budget) I have available.
There are wilderness areas sprinkled around the outside of São Paulo, but there is a lack of accurate information available about them online. No surprise there, if you've ever been outside North America or Western Europe. The best you can do in this situation is to start the journey without having all of the answers. Adventure!
In the Parque Estadual da Cantareira, there is a small mountain called Pedra Grande. This is NOT the Pedra Grande in Atibaia. This is much closer to São Paulo and much less remote.
I searched for directions on how to get there using the public transport options on Google Maps. As of April 2015, Google is incorrect. It lists several bus lines that simply do not exist and/or do not go anywhere near the park. My boyfriend and I spent a very frustrating half-hour grilling bus station attendants about this before we decided to take a taxi. We figured out how to take a bus back, and now we know for next time.
DIRECTIONS
Go to Metro Parada Inglesa (blue line) and take bus 2020-10 to the very last stop on Rua do Horto. It stops right in front of a city park, and then it turns around to go back to the metro station. Continue walking north, uphill, on Rua do Horto until you reach the entrance to Parque Estadual da Cantareira. It's 10-15 minutes of walking from the bust stop, and it's in a nice neighborhood.
HOURS
Open weekends and holidays, 8am-5pm
We got there around 9:30am on a holiday, and it was busy!
PRICE
R$14 for most people, R$7 for students and seniors.
After we got in the park, Silas and I decided to go straight for the Pedra Grande. The trail there is paved or semi-paved the whole way. There were lots of trail runners, but we just power walked. I can't even call it hiking really, because the hills in my neighborhood are much steeper.
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We couldn't hear the city. It was awesome.
Here's looking south from the tallest point in the park, on top of Pedra Grande.
There are several side trails that are not paved, including one that leads to a monkey colony (supposedly). Here's a nice topographical map of the whole park which shows the main trail but not the side ones. We stuck to the clearly marked and giant-spider-free trail and continued further north into the park. At the end of this main trail is a pond and picnic area.
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We fed the fish and then headed back to the entrance.
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From the entrance to the top of Pedra Grande and back is 9.6km. The lake is about 3 more kilometers added on to the total hike, so a total of 13km, give or take. Getting to the metro and back, and wandering around looking for the bus gave us 7+km. Our morning outing was over 20km.
It felt awesome to get into the jungle and out of the cementscape that is São Paulo. Deff going back here again.
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