Hooray you sexy readers! How are you? Ready for yet another insane story? Hop on and enjoy.
Oh nonono! You haven't thought I run out of craziness to tell in this life, right?
- But Arthur, you've been posting photos and quotes and games... where are the big, insane and funny stories? Bring 'tha' long stories, you bastard! - You say.
Calm down, mates. It takes time trying to decipher my own hieroglyph handwritting and remembering every single details of all those miserable, and awesome, situations.
It takes time, but let's not complain. Everytime I go through my travel diaries I think "what the hell was I thinking about to put myself into that? I should stop and just travel like a normal person". However, I can't. I keep on finding new ways to overcome my misery. For my misfortune, for your enjoyment. See, how much I love you. I'm heavily pretending that you like what I write, but that we omit hihi.
So, enough of explaining for my 'procrastinating self', let's go to today's Travel Story.
This time I was not alone, my accomplice for some of the adventures decided to come with me - André, you may remember him from the Uruguay bike tour. Our plan, as always, was plain and simple (and miserable, we would discover that later).
We wanted to hike along some beautiful railroads in my state, Rio Grande do Sul, where the scenary includes native forests, mountains, rivers and small waterfalls. There are also the long and dark tunnels and the scary bridge crossings. Sounded perfect an easy. As you know from my stories, it wasn't. You will know everything into details, enjoy the reading.
Obs.: I'd love if you could value the reading more than the photos and I'd like to appologize for the bad photograph quality. Back in those days the only device we had were the cellphones, justifying the low quality.
Click image to enlarge!
In 2016 I was living in the capital Porto Alegre. It was my last year of university and my flat used to be visited by friends often, André was one of the regular visitors. We would reunite there before going out or simply to drink some beer and listen to music. I remember that day, somewhere in the summer, when we had that crazy idea. We were drinking some beer, of course.
- You know, dude... this year I'm fed up with the Carnival vibe... - I said, while opening a cold one.
- Hmmm... - André exhaled, while he was sipping his beer.
- It's always the same thing, big four days holiday, drunk people... I've got that new equipment that I want to use. Guess I'll go camping. - I said.
- Sounds like a good idea, what's the plan? - He asked.
- Look here... - I said, while showing him a picture of a gigantic train bridge on the computer.
- Wow! Where is that? Looks amazing! - He said, while scrolling through the pictures.
- So, this place is called V13 viaduct and I've been reading that there's an insane trail along the railway. It goes through tunnels, bridges and all. It's between two cities, so I'll start walking at one end and finish at the other. Simple. - I explained.
- And.... that means how long? - He asked.
- Around 50 km, 2-3 days walking slow, to enjoy. What do you think? - I said.
- I'm freaking in, sounds amazing and better than the crap Carnival - He said.
As simple as that, our trip was planned. André got excited and the following week he did some research, from time to time he would message me with new info about the trail. He checked for people who completed it, hotels, buses, where to camp and all. Meanwhile, I was more curious to know about the railroad and its history, mainly 'cause my Grandpa was an station's keeper back in the 50's, so naturally that is a subject that intrigues me.
Just to locate the readers and to spread a little bit of history, I'd like to add a bit of the research I've made. If you want you can skip directly to the story.
The official name of the railroad on this story is EF-491, a connection railroad vastly known as Ferrovia do Trigo (Wheat Railway).
The "Obra do Século" (The Construction of the Century) was the name of the ambitious railroad project that would link Porto Alegre to Passo Fundo with the objective of facilitating the production flow from north-northwest to the coast. The construction would reduce the distance between Passo Fundo and Porto Alegre, from 680 km of roads to 291 km of railways. Inaugurated on December 7th, 1979, in commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the emancipation of Guaporé, it was popularly known as the Wheat Railway.
The railroad interconnects the Main Southern Railway (Tronco Principal Sul) in Roca Sales with the Marcelino Ramos-Santa Maria railway in Passo Fundo. The initial stretch passes through the Rio Taquari valley, going through the municipalities of Roca Sales and Muçum. From Muçum, it climbs towards Guaporé, along the slopes of the Guaporé River, passing through Vespasiano Corrêa and Dois Lajeados. This section is full of tunnels and viaducts, the largest being the Army Viaduct (also known as Viaduct 13). From Guaporé to Passo Fundo, the terrain is smoother, passing along the hydrographic basin of the Guaporé and Carreiro Rivers and the Rio Grande plateau, in the municipalities of Serafina Corrêa, Casca, Santo Antônio do Palma, Gentil and Marau.
The full history of this railway goes all the way back to 1910's and is presented here in a very resumed way, just to locate the readers on the map and give you an idea of what I'm talking about. It is for sure a great engineering achievement, giving the V13 the title of 3rd highest train viaduct in the world. The full historical research is beautifully presented by Cristiane Secchi and can be found in her the monography linked below.
Source: SECCHI, Cristiane. 2008. Univates. Ferrovia do Trigo: Uma história sobre trilhos.
Given all the fact, our plan consisted of walking part of the railway, from Guaporé to Muçum, considered the most beautiful part. The complete crossing has approximately 50 km, going through a total of 26 viaducts and 34 tunnels. Insane!
All I was not expecting is that, back in those days, I was living a complete chaos and I was at the apex of my sedentarism. My routine consisted of working, going to engineering school, studying, drinking, partying and not exercising at all. Isn't it the perfect combination for a person planning to walk 50 km with nearly 20 kg on his back? I'll not anticipate you the story, but you may be imagining it by now.
However, I was not worried at the time about my physical miserey, all I wanted was some craziness and my friend was all in too. So, on the early days of February, Carnival Holidays, we loaded our packs and let's go.
That day I wrote on my diary.
We left Porto Alegre on a bus at 1900 hour, it took us 3 hours along sinuous roads. I write now from the cheapest hotel we could find, it's clean and somehow organized for the price. Earlier we went out to enjoy a little bit of the night in Guaporé, drink some beers and eat gigantic size burgers - that energy will be needed. Beautiful city, gorgeous women. I'd live here. For now that's it, we plan to wake up at 0500 hour to begin the journey. Good Night.
February 5th, 2016. Sun hitting our window and André kicking the top bunk bed, where I was still sleeping. It was quite a huge kick as I flew into the air.
- Wake up 'motha fuckaaa', 0600 in the morning! One our late! - He shouted.
- Duuuude! We said 0500! - I said asleep.
- Exactly! We are lazy, let's go. - He said.
The whole hotel was sleeping, silence through the big hallway and not a single person to say good-bye. Since our stay had already been paid, we left a small note on the counter and simply left. The perks of living in an interior, peaceful city.
- Dude, we gotta find some breakfast asap. - I proposed. We were walking along the streets, everything seemed closed and the sun was yet to give its first rays. On the corner a small local bar with some taxi drivers on its front.
- That! that is the perfect place. Old, stinky, and with guys smoking at 0600 in the morning. Gotta be good. - André pointed. We entered the place below strange lookings. The guys were distrustful to see two guys carrying gigantic backpacks.
- Bom dia, senhores. A fried Pastel and a hot coffee, please. - I said. The bar man brought the coffee.
- Where are you two from, with those backpacks... - He asked.
- We are from Porto Alegre.. - André said.
- And you plan to walk on the railway? - The bar man asked. By this time a group of curious men were drinking coffee by our side.
- Yeah sir. Is it far from here? - I asked.
- Nah, just around the corner. You guys must be crazy, to walk that much. A lot of people come here doing the same. - He said. We had no option besides laughing, the man was precisely right. We were crazy to do that. After finishing our oily Pastels with coffee, we dressed the heavy packpacks and started our journey.
- All right, sir. Thank you for the coffee, but we gotta go. - We said.
- Ok.. good luck guys! - He said. I heard when they commented.
- They must be crazy.... - Comment heard.
At 0700 hour we stepped on the kilometer zero of our adventure. Moral was high and the sun was starting to raise. Backpacks feeling light and belly full of Pastel. We registered the moment.
Kilometer zero of the Ferrovia do Trigo
Dense fog during the morning.
Walking on a railway is simple, you just follow the rails until you find something cool, there's no way you'll get lost. However, it doesn't mean that it's easy. First you have the rocks where the sleepers sit, the worst place to walk on, your step is never firm enough, thus twisting an ankle is easy. Then there are the sleepers, those wood blocks where the rails are attached, walking there is more or less like this: You are either walking like an old man, because stepping at every sleeper, like you do on stairs, makes your walking too short; or you are stretching yourself too much, because missing one block makes your walking too long. In sumary, it's never good enough. But you gotta keep on going.
o8o2 hour, Km 57. After one hour walking we were still feeling energetic and curious, sun was presenting us with a little bit of heat and humidity was high. To both sides gigantic rock walls, artificially cut on the mountains to make passage for the railroad. We could feel a mysterious cold air, in front of us that strange looking structure.
- Dude! Look, our first tunnel! - I said.
- What the fuck? It's not like I imagined it, feel this cold air comming from it! - André said.
The entrance was creepy and the darkness ressembled entering some sort of hauted place, we could not see the other side. How long was it? To our right an old rusty sign.
Tunnel N° 24. Ext. 529 m
- It is 529 meters long, man. It means 15 minutes in there. Fuck. - I said.
- Let's grab our flashlights and go. Are you afraid? - André said.
First Tunnel !!
Complete Darkness !!
We grabbed our flashlights, ate some power bars and entered. It was cold in there, a mass of chilly air going through, the walls and ceiling were rough stones. Our first instinct was to shout.
- "Wohooooooo... oooooo ... ooooo" - It echoed.
- So dude, do you see this safe spots? It's where we shoould enter in case the train comes. - André said.
We continued walking and shouting and singing, there was nothing to do in complete darkness. The worn out rails presented some traps, sharp metal blades by the side of the rail. You better not cut yourself in there. After a while we could see some light on the distance. It was silent.
- Hold on a second... silence! Do you hear it? - I said.
The rails seemed to be emitting some metal vibration.
- "Zihhnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn" - Constant metal vibration.
- Yup, I hear it... let's go quick.. I think it's a train comming. - I said.
- "BweeeEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHP..... bweeeEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHP...." - Train horn.
- Fuck, fuck. It is the train. It is a train. RUN for fuck sake. - André said.
- Fuuuuuuuuck, watch out, don't stumble! - I shouted.
The exit was near and the train seemed to be far. We runned like some wild animal was following us.
- "BweeeEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHP..... bweeeEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHP...." - Train horn.
- We are out, fuck, fuck. YES! We are out. - André said gasping. We put our backpacks by the side of the track to film the train comming. It was only 1 minute away.
There it came, the gigantic steel worm with its loud horn and hundreds of wagons. How lucky we were to leave that damn tunnel one minute before that monster appeared. I just can't imagine how it feels being inside that creepy tunnel, stranded against the wall, with a gigantic diesel train passing right in from of your nose. Scary.
After that 'near death' moment we took some time to collect water and eat something. There was much more waiting for us.
Thus we continued. On my small travel diary I was taking notes of every tunnel number. The biggest one took us almost an hour to cross, luckly no trains this time, only the darkness.
Walking such a distance on a railroad can be boring at times, it's just a bit of the same. Tunnels after a while are not news or scary, the concrete bridges are common. To kill our boredom we would sing.
- "Auuuuuuuiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii aui aui maueeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee" - I shouted.
- What the fuck? - André said.
- Dude, we've been walking for hours, I want to see something different. - I said.
- Yeah.... I want to see a Coati. I've heard about Cuatis here. - André said.
Coati is a small native animal. André got quite obsessed with the idea of spotting a Coati, guess it was our minds failing miserably after walking so much below the sun. At every little sound on the woods André would break the silence.
- Coati? Is that you? - André asked. I had no option besides laughing.
1049 hour. After a turn following the river on te valley, there it was. I wrote on my travel diary.
Wooden Viaduct. We are fucked!
Mula Preta viaduct, the scariest experience ever !!
We knew there were wooden viaducts, three of them. They are gigantic steel structures and the sleepers are made of wood with empty spaces in between them. There are no guardrails, no floor and no safety at all. The only way to cross is by placing every step on each sleeper, carefully, without looking in between them, or the dizziness would kick in. Total height of nearly 100 m with a river on the botton. Falling there meant 'caput'.
- Oh fuck... look at this beast! How are we going to cross? - André said.
- We are going to cross... by not falling, my friend. Strap everything to your bag, don't look down and go slow. - I said.
I'm generally not afraid of heights, but I'll tell you dear reader. When your life depends on your confidence, all your bravery goes away. André went first, every step meticulously placed. The wind was moderate, enough to shake us a little bit. At some moment I stumbled upon a bolt. Mini heart attack.
- Fuuuuuuuuuuuck, I stumbled on a bolt. My heart hurts.... - I said.
The problem about the crossing is that it's inevitable to look down, because you need to place your steps on the right position, or you'd sink your leg on the hole. In order to do it properly, you have to look down, even for a short time, but you have. So, everytime you look down while walking you can see the trees down below passing between the holes, that gives you the sensation that the threes are moving with the sleepers, causing the worst dizz you could ever have - right on top of a 100 meters high viaduct. Shaking our legs like bamboos we kept on going until the end.
- Uffffffff, It feels so great to be on firm soil again! - André said.
- Hell yeahhhhh, but I gotta check my pants! - I said.
Small pitstop to check the pants.
Later we discovered that the viaduct is called Mula Preta which has 98 meters of height and is 360 meters long. Three hundred and sixty meters of pure adrenaline.
At noon we were already tired of walking five hours straight so we've stopped by the river to rest and cook our meals. It was really hot and sunny.
We must have stayed there for two hours before continuing with our adventure. The backpacks were no longer feeling light and moral was starting to fade away. On our way we passed by the old Dois Lageados station, abandoneed for many years, and right after the camping called Casa Recanto da Ferrovia a beautiful place with structure for those who like some comfort in nature. We stopped to chat.
- Hello there! How is it going? Are we far from V13? - I asked.
- 15 kilometers more or less. - The man answered.
- Are you guys comming from Guaporé? - He asked.
- Yeah... kinda tired.. - I said.
- You guys are crazy! - He said.
We spent some time there chatting and drinking coke, even though the place was beautiful, we didn't want to spend money to sleep there, on V13 the camping would be much cheaper. Again we dressed our, now super heavy, backpacks and continued. We wanted to reach V13 that day.
Right after the camping site we crossed the Pesseguinho viaduct, the number two of three wooden viaducts, however, after the first one we felt quite confident, thus within minutes we crossed it.
Pesseguinho viaduct.
Every step seemed like a march to war, we were incredibly tired and our backs were sore. What a big mistake it was to ride that much in one day. We should have stayed by the river, resting and doing nothing. But sometimes excitment is so huge that you just don't think, you keep on going.
A couple more hours later, after a turn and between the mountains we saw it for the first time: The great V13 viaduct. So huge and imponent.
- YEEEES, yeeeeeeeeeheheheheheeeees! look! We made it! - André said.
- Woooooooooohooooooooo it's insane! Shower, shower! Come to me you sexy beast! - I said.
The face of misery.
We continued on a hard rhythm. Getting there felt so perfect, green fields, mountains, liters of coke, river and a hot shower; the full package almost for free. Our bodies were so tired that we simply laid on the grass, took our shoes off and stayed there for some minutes, imobile. Moving seemd like an adventure of its own. But we had to set our tents and take a shower.
V13 Height.
I don't remember much of what we were talking about at that moment, my mind was so tired that I could barely do basic stuff. I remember feeling bloated and sore and my face was kinda 'fat', but I didn't care. I took my shower and later that day we made our dinner.
That day we had walked 35 kilometers, meaning we would need to walk 15 the other day.
- My friend, it was a pleasure... but I gotta sleep. I'm feeling heavy and my face is kinda swollen. - I said.
- Right, night, brother. Tomorrow we see how we feel... - André said.
The weather was beautiful, starry sky and chilly, perfect for sleeping by the running river. The other day though...
I woke up early with heavy pains everywhere, I could barely stand up, my feet were gigantic and covered with bites. It was so terrible that putting my shoes on felt like a battle, walking? No way! André had blister all over his feet and couldn't put his shoes either.
- What do you want to do? We are miserable! - I said.
- What choice do we have? All we can do is to finish the remaining 15 kilometers walking on the road instead of the railroad. Let's go! It's only 15. - André said.
Since the V13 is 15 kilometers from Muçum and it's also a touristic attraction, there is a road connecting the city to the camping site. It's a dirt road, but still... there are cars and we could try to hitchhike. I'll tel you, even on the road it was incredibly difficult to walk, my feet was hurting so much and André with his blisters. No cars seemed to be willing to stop.
- Staaaaaaaahp! We have to stay on this nice shadow, I'm not walking anymore. - I said.
- Deal! - André said.
We stood there wearing flip flops and waiting for a good soul to take us to Muçum. After a while a car stopped.
- Going to Muçum guys? Hop in. - The man said.
- Thanks so much man! We couldn't walk anymore after a 35 km trail yesterday. We need to go back to Porto Alegre. - We said.
- No problem, I'll take you to Lageado, one hour from here. There you'll find a bus back to Porto Alegre more quickly. - He said.
Awesome, the world is indeed made of good people. Our trip was super cool and full of conversation about various subjects until he dropped us at the bus stations, where we took a bus back home.
It felt amazing getting back to my flat in Porto Alegre, the hot shower was like heaven. Doing some further inspection I've discovered dozens of bites all over my legs, they were Borrachudo bites, some sort of mosquito. For my misfortune, I'm allergic to insects, that explains why I was feeling so bloated, luckly I haven't entered into some sort of anaphylactic shock.
I remember staying sore for more than a week, bringing me awareness about my bad physical condition. I absolutely needed to do something about that. I've started exercising and eating healthy after the that trail, which later would give me a much better physical condition and strength. The adventures haven't stopped since then.
I hope you've enjoyed this long story as much as I enjoyed writing it, it was definitely memorable and impactful on my life. If you ever decide to come to Brazil to try it out, I'll gladly do it all over again. It's amazing.
See you on the next crazy story.
More Pics of That Journey
Guaporé River.
Tarzanr.
A day by the river.
Have you enjoyed this long story? Would you read more long stories? Left me known on the comments, your feedback means a lot.
I hope you've enjoyed this post. If you liked it, consider giving your upvote for a hot coffee.
~Love ya all,
Disclaimer: The author of this post is a convict broken backpacker, who has travelled more than 10.000 km hitchhiking. Following him may cause severe problems of wanderlust and inquietud. You've been warned.
I'm Arthur. I blog about Adventure Stories, Brazil, Travel, Camping & Life Experiences.
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