Plan your Hike
“(On the way up to Corcovado) The hiker suddenly emerges from the dimness and darkness of the forest to the pleasant surprise of clarity and mild temperature, which can even feel cold and cutting when the wind blows strong”
Hermann Burmeister, German naturalist, 1850
Below we summarize the most important topics about the Transcarioca Trail.
Do you already know the Trail’s SIGNAGE? If not, click here to learn more.
Overnight on the trail
The Transcarioca Trail has regular exits to asphalt roads, so sleeping in the forest is not necessary. Most sections of the Transcarioca Trail take no more than a morning and part of the afternoon, and some do not exceed two hours, which reduces the amount of equipment needed by hikers.
Clothing and Footwear
Good footwear is essential. This can be either a hiking boot, found in outdoor equipment stores, or sneakers with non-slip treads that keep your feet firm and comfortable. Prefer footwear that protects and gives firmness to the ankles, which is the case with hiking boots and high-top sneakers. If you fear being bitten by a snake, remember that the Butantã Institute recommends wearing knee-high boots.
Whatever your choice, do not debut a new pair of shoes on the Transcarioca Trail. Blisters can make you regret that idea.
— Clothing varies according to the route and the person, but it should be comfortable. A good pair of worn jeans, as long as they are loose, and a long-sleeved t-shirt should suffice. Sweatpants are also a good option, and for those who do not fear the inevitable scratches and insect bites, loose shorts will certainly be a smart decision on hotter days. When climbing high peaks such as Pedra do Telégrafo, Pico da Pedra Branca and Pico da Tijuca, among others, always bring a jacket.
— In winter, even if you are not climbing a peak and even if the day is sunny, never forget to bring a good warm coat. Only then will you be protected if night catches you in the forest. Do not underestimate the risk of hypothermia and always have a first aid manual at hand that teaches you how to deal with this and other problems that may occur on a hike.
– Always bring a cap and sunscreen on all trails, as the sun can be strong on some sections of the Transcarioca Trail, with risk of dehydration and heatstroke. If you are allergic to insect bites, always have a good repellent with you.
Sudden weather changes
Remember that the weather changes abruptly. Do not forget to bring a good raincoat. In this regard, avoid conventional raincoats and look for a model specially designed for hiking, found in specialized stores. Also, if you are caught in the rain, avoid walking in open fields and places where you are the highest point, becoming a potential lightning rod. As soon as it starts raining during a hike, return home immediately and, if that is not possible, seek shelter.
Let’s talk about your backpack
Carry your gear in a small backpack. Having your hands free at all times is very important because, besides being more comfortable, it is safer. The Transcarioca Trail consists of uneven and sometimes slippery paths. Carrying shoulder bags, shopping bags or other objects will tire you quickly and make you lose your balance easily. Always keep in mind that you may need to use your hands to support yourself on a tree or to cushion a possible fall.
— In your backpack, it is recommended to always carry a Swiss army knife, a map of the region, a compass, a GPS, a whistle, toilet paper, a plastic bag for trash, and a small case with basic medications, as well as a first aid manual.
— Consider a flashlight as an indispensable item of your individual equipment. Because even if you take all precautions, there is always the possibility of being caught by darkness. Headlamps are the most recommended as they leave your hands free. To prevent the flashlight from turning on accidentally in the backpack, place the batteries with the poles inverted. Prefer alkaline batteries and always have a new spare set with you.
Food
A light snack and at least one liter of water or an isotonic drink per group member is recommended. When choosing food, consider your personal preferences, but try to reconcile them with products of low weight and high energy value. Some suggestions are chocolate, granola or other cereal bars, fresh or dried fruits, raisins, almonds, peanuts, nuts, salami, cheese, boxed yogurt, hard-boiled eggs, cookies and natural sandwiches. Also, always leave home well-fed.
Hiking with children
When hiking with children, let the older ones carry part of the weight in their backpacks, such as fruit or water, so they progress at the same pace. To avoid boredom, common among children, make them feel responsible for the group’s safety by suggesting they interpret the Transcarioca Trail signage and guide the way. Be especially careful with the little ones’ food and always bring a jacket for each of them. Also have them wear brightly colored clothing (avoid green), and give each of them a whistle to make it easier to locate them if they get lost.
In case of emergency
Finally, familiarize yourself with emergency procedures, read and always carry a first aid manual, and consider taking a first responder course.
Useful phone numbers:
- SAMU (Emergency Ambulance): 192
- Fire Department: 193
- Environmental Police: (21) 2253-1177
- Military Police: 190
Safety Tips
To avoid accidents, do not take unnecessary risks. Know that the number of people who suffer from vertigo is greater than imagined. Respect your limits and those of others. Some sections of the Transcarioca Trail pass through exposed heights. Although in no case do they represent great danger, avoid forcing a fellow hiker to continue when they feel unable to overcome a frightening obstacle.
— Before leaving on an excursion on the Transcarioca Trail, talk to the ecotourism guide accompanying you and the other group members, planning lines of action for possible accidents and other unforeseen events.
— In case of an emergency, before making any decision, carefully analyze the situation, taking into account the severity of the incident, the distance separating the group from the nearest help, weather conditions, terrain type and geographical features to be crossed, and the number of daylight hours remaining. Only then plan your line of action, also considering the physical and psychological condition of the group and the available equipment.
— Never hike the Transcarioca Trail at night. Most of its sections are through dense forest, which becomes very dark immediately after sunset, not benefiting even from the last minutes of twilight light. Besides the risk of getting lost, walking in the dark also implies likely falls and collisions, with often serious consequences. Always bring a watch and a GPS and calculate the hike, considering the time needed for the return. Get used to leaving, as a rule, a good safety margin — at least two hours — relative to the planned end of the hike and sunset time. Remember that in a group, watches are also important instruments for coordinating meeting times.
— Never leave home without a map of the Transcarioca Trail section you will hike (one copy for each group member), as well as other navigation tools such as GPS, compass and altimeter.
— Cultivate the habit of informing a family member or close friend of the Transcarioca Trail section planned for the hike and the time you plan to be back. This procedure will facilitate your search in case of accident or getting lost. If you have a cell phone, consider bringing it. In unforeseen cases it can be very useful.
— Never hike the Transcarioca Trail alone. Groups of at least three people, plus an ecotourism professional, are the recommended size for hikers, with four being the ideal number. If someone gets seriously injured and cannot be moved, one companion can stay to take care of them while two others go for help, thus preventing any hiker from being left alone. On the other hand, avoid groups larger than five people. In such cases, the difference in physical fitness and trail skills usually found among individuals in a large group greatly increases the risk of someone getting hurt or lost.
— Whenever hiking the Transcarioca Trail, be accompanied by a professional ecotourism guide. Until you are fully confident in your sense of direction in the forest and know the area well, never leave the signed route with the boot-with-christ logo (Transcarioca Trail logo), avoiding alternative forks, even if they seem like inviting shortcuts.
— When in a group, stay together and try to follow at the pace of the slowest. Never stay at distances where it is not possible to establish audible contact with voice or with the aid of a whistle.
— Take precautions to avoid getting lost. Pay attention to at most not finding the path (getting lost is going from A to B, not reaching B nor being able to return to A. Not finding the path, on the other hand, is going from A to B, not finding B, but being able to return to A).
— If you stop seeing the Transcarioca Trail logo along the hike, it means you have taken the wrong path. Upon realizing you are not on the right trail, do not insist on it and try to return to the indicated route. Do this as soon as you notice that the trail you are following is becoming very overgrown or starting to disappear. Try to find your way back by retracing your steps until you find some Transcarioca Trail signage. When going back, pay attention to see if you took a wrong turn at any fork. If this procedure does not help, upon realizing you are lost, take the following steps:
— Calm the most nervous ones and reiterate that neither the Tijuca Forest, nor the Pedra Branca Massif, nor the Municipal Nature Parks crossed by the Transcarioca Trail are impenetrable forests, but small forest parks crossed by several trails, frequently used by hikers, and located within an urban area, the city of Rio de Janeiro. Also remember that in Alto da Boa Vista there is a Fire Department unit specialized in search and rescue operations, with great experience in the matter, and that they will probably be able to find you within at most 24 hours.
— Avoid panic and, if in a group, do not disperse. Reiterate to everyone that the worst that can happen is having to wait a few hours for rescue.
— If you are very insecure and have no idea where you are, avoid leaving the place where you are. Since you were hiking the Transcarioca Trail, whose route is well known, when lost you will not be far from a point on the path. By moving thoughtlessly, you risk moving further away from the normal route, making the job harder for the professionals tasked with finding you.
— Never move at night. If caught by darkness, stay where you are and wait until dawn to continue looking for the path. Remember that sleeping in the forest, although uncomfortable, is much less dangerous than walking in the dark. In the first scenario, having paid attention to the recommendation to bring a jacket, at most you will catch a cold, while if you insist on walking on a trail you cannot see, you may fall and seriously injure yourself.
— Never start hiking the Transcarioca Trail after noon.
— Finally, when planning your hike, keep in mind that the distance and duration information for the Transcarioca Trail sections should be understood only as indicative and never as absolute values (also do not forget to always multiply these numbers by two when intending to return the same way, since the time and distance indications only account for the outward journey). Furthermore, hike time varies greatly according to the physical fitness of the hikers and group size — the larger the number of people, the slower the hike. The Transcarioca Trail indications, however, consider groups of four.
Living with nature
The history of human development can be translated by the evolutionary unfolding of the domestication of the environment. This occurred through the subjugation of wild animals and the transformation of scary and inhospitable forests into docile pastures and plantations. More recently, with the industrial revolution, came cities, pollution and the vertiginous population growth that so frightened Malthus.
As a consequence, forested regions have been reduced all over the world and in some countries they have practically disappeared completely. As could not be otherwise, such devastation provoked, still in the last century, a reaction in the form of a conservationist movement, which led to the creation of National Parks around the world.
This movement was slow to reach Brazil. Here, although André Rebouças demanded its creation as early as 1878, the first National Park — Itatiaia — was only created in 1937; the Parks connected by the Transcarioca Trail are much more recent: Tijuca National Park dates from 1961, Pedra Branca State Park from 1974, and Paisagem Carioca Municipal Natural Park from 2003.
In fact, the Brazilian people’s neglect of their environmental heritage has caused the Atlantic Forest situation to deteriorate rapidly. Considered by some scientists as the most biodiverse forest in the world (even surpassing the Amazon), the Atlantic Forest suffered from being promiscuously close to Brazil’s large population axis.
The demographic explosion on the coast and in the southeast region of the country, with the developmental pressures arising from it, caused cities, factories, plantations and pastures to take increasingly more land from the Atlantic Forest. Recently, this process has taken on frightening proportions, to the point that this forest is considered internationally, alongside the jungles of Madagascar Island in Africa, as the most threatened forest on the entire planet.
Indeed, studies by the S.O.S. Atlantic Forest organization indicated, in 1990, that we had decimated, from 1500 to that date, 92% of the total area of this forest. Such destruction finally provoked a general outcry that led to the proliferation of National and State Parks and other Environmental Conservation Units. More recently, at the political level, States and Municipalities have created Environmental Secretariats and the Union has even created a Ministry to deal with the problem.
Such measures, however, are not sufficient. The country is poor; the Parks are difficult to implement and have costly administrative and oversight apparatus. Even within their legally established limits, deforestation persists. Land grabbing of ecological areas, illegal timber trade, criminal hunting and burning continue without the government being able to react adequately.
In truth, no conservation is possible without this objective being a popular desire. This will is reflected in the individual attitude of each Brazilian citizen. We all, therefore, have a share of responsibility in maintaining what remains of this spectacular forest.
Therefore, when hiking the Transcarioca Trail, help preserve what is left of nature in Rio de Janeiro. Be ecologically correct, but also monitor others. If it is the popular aspiration that this small portion of forest does not meet the same end as the rest of the Atlantic Forest, we must all preserve and pressure the Government and bad users so that the law is enforced. It is necessary, however, to understand that the Government only exists as an expression of popular will and without it there is no legitimacy to oversee the maintenance of the Parks.
In other words, we all have the obligation not to harm, but also to report deforestation, invasions, hunting, hot air balloons, garbage dumping or any other harmful act to the Atlantic Forest. Ultimately, the survival of the dying forest is in our hands.
Therefore: Try to be an environmentally responsible hiker. When hiking the Transcarioca Trail, remember that it crosses the Atlantic Forest, a natural heritage to be preserved. The greatest threat to the integrity of our forests comes from ourselves, human beings. To prevent your hike from contributing to environmental degradation, pay special attention to some details:
— The garbage collection service does not extend to the Transcarioca Trail. Try to become aware that the collective behavior of practicing “minimum impact hiking” begins with individual attitudes. If each of us waits for others to stop destroying the forest to also start worrying about the health of nature, soon we will have no more peace or tranquility on the trails, which will be transformed into gigantic garbage dumps. Environmental conservation is a collective act that results from the sum of small individual efforts.
— To minimize the environmental impact of your hike, when walking on the Transcarioca Trail, always bring a plastic bag to bring back all the trash you produce. As much as possible, also pick up trash that more careless hikers may have left on the Trail. Remember that even fruit remains have a strong negative impact on the ecological balance. By leaving a seed along the way, you may be responsible for introducing an exotic plant that will further contribute to mischaracterizing the already seriously threatened plant unity of the Atlantic Forest.
— Do not remove flowers. Do not damage vegetation. Do not molest animals. Do not paint; no matter how good an artist you are, please leave the forest as it is.
— If you smoke, hold your butts. Do not throw away your cigarette butt. Besides the serious fire hazard, remember that the cigarette filter, which is highly toxic, can be ingested by an animal, and is a polluting agent that takes about twenty years to decompose.
— Remember that trails are almost always natural conduits for rainwater drainage. Therefore, do not contribute to worsening a problem that is already serious. The Transcarioca Trail maintenance teams have made a great effort to maintain its drainage and layout at levels that reduce erosion. Avoid the temptation to cut corners when reaching a zigzag. A lazy attitude, when added to the strong summer storms in Rio, can transform an innocent stretch of the Transcarioca Trail into a gigantic gully. Do not build shortcuts. Do not leave the trail. Say no to attitudes that contribute to erosion.
— Do not bring pets to Conservation Units connected by the Transcarioca Trail. Dogs and cats, especially, are voracious predators and, regarding illegal hunters, the damage done by humans is already serious enough, not needing any animal help.
— Do not make campfires. Remember the sad scenario caused in Pedra Branca State Park and on the northern slope of Tijuca Forest National Park by hot air balloons, lightning and cigarette butts.
— Destroy and report traps you find. Report hunters (the Environmental Police Command asks the population to contribute with information by contacting Disque Denúncia at (21) 2253-1177 or through CPAm itself at (21) 2334-7634).
— Do not throw trash on the trails. Do not increase hillside erosion. Do not scare or feed the animals. Do not break branches or unnecessarily damage vegetation. Interfere as little as possible with nature. Keep the Transcarioca Trail as it is, so that one day your children and grandchildren can enjoy it with the same pleasure it gives you today.