Climbing Pedra Da Gavea, Rio De Janeiro (alternate route)

Pedra da Gávea is one of Rio de Janeiro’s most beautiful, but at the same time most technical hikes.
Getting to the summit of this 844m high granite monolith is no walk in the park. but the reward of conquering its steep slopes is a fantastic 360° view of the south and west zones of Rio de Janeiro, as well as the Tijuca forest, which is with its 3.200 hectares the largest man made urban forest in the world.
Pedra da Gávea is located in the Tijuca forest, between São Conrado and Barra da Tijuca. It is the largest monolith in the world, located near the sea shore and its shape (one of the vertical slopes resembles the face of an older man called “cabeça do Emperador” or “head of the Emperor”) gave birth to a number of legends like the one that the face was carved out by Phoenicians as a tribute to one of their leaders.
There is a (small) parking for the Pedra da Gávea trail is at the end of the Estrada Sorimã. On weekends and holidays, you want to get there early or there might be no more parking space left and you will have to leave your car further down the street, but the street is very narrow and it is not uncommon for cars to get scratched.
The trail:
To enter the trail, you’ll have to sign in with the guards at the entrance. They can give you a map. The estimated time to complete the hike is from 4 to 8 hours, so make sure you have enough water and some food with you. The last thing you need is to run low on energy and have nothing to eat or drink.
Despite the trail leading through the forest most of the time, the highest part is exposed and especially on the top, the sun can be very hot, so it is better to have sunscreen in your backpack as well.
You start of on a cobblestone road that changes after about 10 minutes in a dirt trail. Not long into the hike, you’ll hear the sound of a waterfall (Cachoeira da Sorimã). On hot days you are welcome to take a refreshing shower or “banho de Cachu” there. As you see in my video... there wasn’t much of a waterfall 😜
On the Gavea route, the path gets steeper, and along the way there are two places where you will have to do some easy rock scaling. Easy doesn’t mean safe though. Those rocks can be slippery so make sure you are always very focused. There are yellow arrows painted on the rocks to guide you on the way up.
As the trail is mainly going through the forest, there are not a lot of places where you have a “view”, but that changes once you get to the top.
A word of Caution - Pedra da Gávea is not your average hike.
Although the Pedra da Gávea is one of the most visited natural tourist attractions in Rio, it also has the sad statistic of the mountain with the most accidents, some of them fatal. Usually these accidents are the result of inexperienced or unprepared hikers underestimating the technical characteristics of the climb. One part in particular is notoriously difficult.
The path we (josh and I) took is called the “Cachoeira“ Aka waterfall, it’s a separate hike that does not meet up to the main trail except from the top of Gavea. It also take you to a fantastic spot called “Garganta Do Ceu” or “Throat of the Sky” where from a cave like spot you see the beaches of São Conrado and Morro Dois Irmãos (2 brothers). Once you have you fill of wow... You will come to a steep 30m high wall of rocks. You should not attempt to do this part on your own unless you’re an experienced rock climber. (Btw the first cable is broken... we did some not so wise moves to get up a 10m strip... where you hear me say “unless you’re a monkey or a hiker, don’t take this route...”) also keep in mind that you will arrive at that point you are already tired after one to two hours of intense uphill hiking and a few stretches of scaling rocks. Your physical condition should be really good for this hike. Remember that you also have to get down again afterwards.
If you manage the climb up Pedra da Gávea, your reward is a fabulous view over the city of Rio de Janeiro and the Tijuca Forest.
Enjoy, and please share, comment, like and subscribe to our channel.
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Catherine St-Pierre
PHYSIKINACTION
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[@alan30189]

Nice! Thank you for sharing this. This monolithic mountain popped up on my PC when I started it up and that's what brought me to watch your video of it. Looks like a nice climb.

[@physikinaction]

Thank you! That was a challenge indeed. Awesome views. Scary spots... once we were done the hike. Both phones were out and we ended up walking back to the hotel 4miles away, lol!

[@X_explorer]

Very good clip!

[@physikinaction]

Thank you! Was such an amazing climb even if I totally freaked out at one part.

[@FoneA79]

Nice video! Was jw...I’m gonna b In Rio next month and want to do this. How is the way down? Do u have to hold any ropes to climb down? Thanks

[@physikinaction]

Hi! Going up and down the actual trail is fine. We just went up the hidden path. Unless it has been maintained by someone you’ll have a hard time finding it and I would not go down the way I went up, lol! But I did see many rappel ropes and clips so I’d imagine it is something offered with special groups??? The normal trail is great and once at the top you can explore... big area... do go to the highest point cause it’s awesome! You’ll need good gripping shoes and water, and snacks lol! Call an Uber to take you up and an Uber to take you down... taxis are crazy expensive. We just walked back to the hotel... 3 miles away... if you’d like more info, hit me up!

[@hmxr7153]

“The throat of heaven”

[@physikinaction]

It was definitely intense! But worst the climb...

[@chevy89kim]

Just incredible !!!

[@physikinaction]

It was gorgeous thank you!

[@paulwilliamdixon3674]

It's GAH-vee-uh and not ga-VEE-uh.