Caldeirão Verde PR9 Main Section
After going on the PR1 hike, because of bad weather forecasts for the rest of our stay, I and Serhii decided to tackle another hike on the same day. Arriving to Parque das Queimadas by taxi, we took a quick look around at the local traditional huts and started walking. The hike follows the PR9 route until the Caldeirão Verde waterfall, since the rest of the route was closed off due to flooding.
The hike starts off in a lush forest, full of giant trees and bushes covering the view of the mountains and the sun. There were a lot of people on the route, far more than I've ever seen in Bavaria, so I had to practice dodging them while advancing ahead while they were strolling along. The number of tourists from different countries was also interesting, having the majority of them come from Germany (obviously, duh), the rest from France and England. It's not unusual for me to meet a stranded German hiker in the middle of nowhere in Japan or the Azores, but seeing well-equipped groups from the UK or France was new to me. Strangely, despite all the winter boots and hiking sticks they took, nobody except us opted in to take raincoats.
Going further along the hike, we started coming across some waterfalls, some of which were flowing across the track. While the waterfalls didn't pose any physical challenges, there was a big queue to take a photo of each stream of water, which meant further delays for us. It was getting quite late and we wanted to get back to civilization at a reasonable hour to get some transport back to Santana, so waiting every time to take some photos was a big deal.
As we kept going, the trail became much narrower, forcing us to make breaks and jump over the canal to hug the rocks in order to let other hikers walk back. Considering how popular the PR9 route is, this happened almost every minute, severely slowing us down. Still, it was nice that the canal was mostly paved on the sides, allowing us to dodge all the mud puddles around it.
It's important to mention that the length of the hike on the signs along the trail and the net walking time posted online is quite exaggerated if the road is empty, but it does match if there are others on the route. There's not much space to let others through, so every time you have to do an awkward dance where you either hug the wire fence, the canal or the rocky wall on the other side of the trail to let others through. Some more experienced hikers know to wait on wider spots to let others pass by, but others stubbornly push forward and create traffic jams every time.
Eventually, we reached some tunnels barely marked on the map and headed inside. At first, everything was going smoothly; we were ducking under the low ceiling and swiftly moving forward using the head lamp I brought from my Pyramidenspitze (1997 m) hike. Later on, however, it started to rain and we faced a flooded tunnel with ankle-deep water, forcing us to slow down, duck down even more and try to skip on the pebbles sticking out of the water. At some points it wasn't possible, or we weren't careful enough, so we got our feet wet and had to keep moving carrying water puddles in our shoes.
At last, we reached Caldeirão Verde and met some people chilling on the rocks enjoying the waterfall. The route forward to Madre da Levada do Caldeirão Verde was closed off due to flooding and landslides, so we took some photos at the waterfall and rushed back to finish the hike before dusk. A random passer-by at the beginning of the hike told us that the park closes at 17:30, which went by a long time ago at that point, so we hoped she misunderstood the signs and sped up towards the finish line. Getting our feet wet at the tunnels again, we kept going towards the start/finish, running by other hikers returning from the waterfalls. To our surprise, we even met some hikers that just started the route, making us wonder what they wanted to do there with no light and/or gear to pass the running water and flooded tunnels. When we reached the parking lots, we went to the shops near the ticket shop to get some souvenirs and treated ourselves to some hand-made poncha, wrapping the hike up.
In summary, this was a worthwhile hike with some wonderful green scenic views, but you have to be really careful to choose the right time to take the route. In summer, I assume, it's dry and easy to pass, but there are dozens of tourists at every step. In spring/autumn, there are fewer hikers (but still tons of them), but the route is mostly wet, muddy and slippery, with some flooded areas closer to the midpoint. In winter, from what I've heard, the majority of the route is inaccessible.