21-Jan-2004 -- This confluence is located at northeast of Rio Grande do Sul state, which is called Highest Fields region (altitude is over 1000 meters above sea level). From landscape we can see fields (used for cattle-breeding) and woods of native trees (most pine-trees “araucaria angustifolia”). Sometimes it is possible to see some plantation of potatoes, maize, garlic, and trees for cellulose.
Few kilometers from this confluence we have the national park Aparados da Serra (www2.ibama.gov.br/unidades/parques/reuc/1005.htm) where we can see a lot of canyons (some of them can be deeper than 1000 meters). Because of the canyons, fog is often present. On summer it rains a lot and on winter it can be snowing.
Hunting the confluence using only the GPS and maps is a bit difficult, because the maps are too old (from 1977) and the roads change quite often, since they are used most by cellulose companies. Instead we used also a 20 meters of resolution satellite image to deal with new roads (www.cbers.inpe.br/en/index_en.htm). Once the roads are used most for wood trucks, it is hard to drive using a car.
After we found out the route on a very bad road, about 21 km from closest town Cambará do Sul (www.cambaradosul.com), we stopped the car and reaching the confluence became quite easy. I (Leandro) walked about 2 km through fields, a small swamp, and woods, up way.
Staff: Leandro Toss Hoffmann (navigation and final hunting); Gustavo Cezar (driver); and Fernando Dapper (time planner).
Thanks to Irene Kindel, to Djerime and Evandro from Atitude Ecologia & Turismo (www.atitude.tur.br), to Etore Marcari Jr from Brazilian Institute of Space Research (www.inpe.br).