Paddling in Parque Nacional dos Campos Gerais

The water inside Parque Nacional dos Campos Gerais is defined less by long navigable corridors than by the geology beneath it — sandstone plateaus, canyons, faults, and caves that shape how rivers begin and where they go.

The park sits in the centro-leste of Paraná, near Ponta Grossa, spread across the municipalities of Ponta Grossa, Castro, and Carambeí. At 21,299 hectares, it protects the headwaters of two significant river systems: the Tibagi and the Ribeira de Iguape.

Those source waters are the paddling anchor here.

The Rio Quebra-Pernas is one of the named rivers moving through the park's interior, reached via a trail from Itaiacoca — a moderate route of about 8 km through the transition zone where Cerrado grassland meets Mata Atlântica with araucária.

The Rio Grande figures in the park's trail network as well, with a circular route that follows its course.

The Cachoeira da Mariquinha and the area around Buraco do Padre are connected by a roughly 10 km traverse through the park's southern section, passing through both open campo and dense riparian forest.

The terrain is rugged — cliffs, canyons, and geological faults mean the rivers here drop and pool rather than run long flatwater stretches. The water that collects in formations like the Furnas runs emerald-green against sandstone walls.

This is not a park where you arrive with a loaded touring boat; the water is intimate, tied to the landscape, and accessed mostly on foot before you reach it.

As a Proteção Integral unit administered by ICMBio, the park operates under strict conservation rules. Only about 0.

1% of the original campos gerais vegetation survives, and much of the park's land remains in a complicated state of private use pending full regularization — meaning access points and conditions on the ground can differ from what maps suggest.

Contact ICMBio directly before any trip to confirm current access, permitted uses on specific waters, and any requirements for overnight travel within the park boundary.

The rivers here are young in the hydrological sense — close to their sources, reactive to rainfall, and embedded in one of the most ecologically pressured landscapes in southern Brazil.

Paddling them asks for patience with logistics and respect for what little remains.