This is part three and also the last of my trip to Caparaó National Park. I'm a little late with this third report, but a lot of things have happened in the last few weeks that have prevented me from doing it sooner. But here I am, as promised.
In this final post, I'll follow up on the events after the climb up to the Vale Encantado waterfall complex. If you haven't seen any of the previous posts, I suggest you start reading them.
After diving into the crystal-clear wells of the Vale Encantado, it was time to hike back to the Tronqueira campsite, where our car had been parked.
On the walk, before reaching the parking lot, we were curious to see the start of the trail to Pico da Bandeira, since we were passing right by this spot, and we headed to a clearing with a viewpoint, from where we could see these amazing images of the clouds in the late afternoon. I still can't get over these images.
While in front of us a breathtaking view was formed by the late afternoon light, behind us the weather was getting rather cloudy. That's the magic of being high above the clouds, as one of them can suddenly arrive and change the whole atmosphere of the landscape. The scenery quickly took on a melancholy, gray and gloomy, but also beautiful, atmosphere in just a few minutes. All this, combined with the trees of the typical vegetation known as the plateau, created a landscape that is hard to forget.
Walking a little further, I came across a tree with its branches open and exposed, like long arms reaching towards the sky. The surrounding vegetation with yellow flowers also caught my eye and I couldn't help but take note of the scene.
Cachoeira Bonita
We continued along the trail to the parking lot and headed towards the park gate, but halfway there we saw a sign indicating a trail to "Cachoeira Bonita". Although it was starting to get dark, we thought: why not? and headed off on another trail to see one more waterfall for the day.
And I don't regret it at all, because the waterfall really lives up to its name. Bonita in Portuguese means beautifu and photos can't show exactly how impressive this waterfall is. With a huge drop, it's noisy and even a little aggressive for visitors, but it's still absolutely incredible.
And that was our last stop in the Caparaó National Park. In the next chapter, I'll talk about another waterfall in the region, but this time on the Espirito Santo area.
Until next time.
🌳