Pico da Bandeira

An Easter mountain-hiking trip?! What could be better?!

The bus pulled into a small city at the base of Pico da Bandeira on the Minas Gerais side at day break. We were all transferred into jeeps which roared up the hillside into the national park to the base campsite. We set up camp and started exploring- visiting the river flowing down from the mountain and swimming in the Cachoeria Bonita (beautiful waterfall). It was a little frigid but very nice. Nearing sundown, clouds started rolling in and we rushed to our tents to avoid getting too wet. Our tent stayed dry, fortunately for us! The rain prevented us from starting our ascent at 10pm, but this was ok by me because going up during daylight is not only more beautiful, it's less perilous too. :)