CR Adventures: Madeira - Poiso - Pico do Ariero - Pico Ruivo
Trail photos
Author
Trail stats
- Distance
- 13.26 mi
- Elevation gain
- 4,406 ft
- Technical difficulty
- Difficult
- Elevation loss
- 3,012 ft
- Max elevation
- 6,074 ft
- TrailRank
- 41
- Min elevation
- 4,507 ft
- Trail type
- One Way
- Moving time
- 5 hours 45 minutes
- Time
- 9 hours 7 minutes
- Coordinates
- 3409
- Uploaded
- May 29, 2019
- Recorded
- May 2019
near Ribeiro Frio, Madeira (Portugal)
Viewed 632 times, downloaded 17 times
Trail photos
Itinerary description
The journey started with an early morning bus ride from Funchal to Poiso some 7km from the Pico do Areiro.
From here 7km + 7km return trail connects two of the highest peaks in Madeira. This is a formidable trail that includes tunnels, some steep slopes and fabulous landscapes of the central mountain massif.
This trail has the particularity of connecting two of the highest peaks of the Island of Madeira, the Ruivo Peak (1862 m) and the Pico do Areeiro (1817 m), and, for this, it crosses part of the area of the Central Mountain Massif, integral area of the Natura 2000 Network.
From the Pico do Areeiro, a few metres ahead we find the viewpoint of Ninho (Nest) of Manta (common buzzard of Madeira). From this platform, where this raptor bird supposedly nested, you can see the valley of Fajã da Nogueira, where some Pichonetas shearwaters (Puffinus puffinnus), San Roque do Faial and a large part of the central mountain range nest.
This is the only known place in the world where the Madeira petrel (Pterodroma madeira) nest, an endemic species of the island and considered the most threatened seabird in Europe.
To reach Pico Ruivo, we rounded the Pico das Torres on an abrupt climb, by means of a stairway carved into the rock, followed by a descent. The most difficult part of this trail is the final climb to the refuge (Casa de Abrigo) of Pico Ruivo, although thinking about reaching the highest point of the island is a driving factor.
Along the path there are several caves excavated in the volcanic tuffs, where the cattle took refuge and which served as refuge for the shepherds. Also, we can observe several birds, among which are the species restricted to Macaronesia, the Canary (Serinus canaria), the Madeira (Anthus berthelottii madeirensis) and the Unicolor Swift (Apus unicolor), as well as other subspecies restricted to the archipelago of Madeira, gaudy sparrow (Petronia petronia madeirensis), common chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs madeirensis) and the striped wren of Madeira (Regulus ignicapillus madeirensis).
For those who like to observe the plants, this area is known to have altitude heathland and is characterized by the presence of several endemic species of Madeira, among which the yellow flower violet (Viola paradoxa), Madeira heather (Erica madeirensis) ), orchid of the rocks (Orchis scopolorum) and the clover of Madeira (Anthyllis lemanniana). All along the route you can witness the destruction that unfolded during the great fire some time hence and the miracle of nature growing its garden of Eden again.
On the return leg we caught a taxi from Pico do Ariero to Poiso for the bus back to Funchal.
A beautiful but hard hike through the mountains and would we do it again - YES
From here 7km + 7km return trail connects two of the highest peaks in Madeira. This is a formidable trail that includes tunnels, some steep slopes and fabulous landscapes of the central mountain massif.
This trail has the particularity of connecting two of the highest peaks of the Island of Madeira, the Ruivo Peak (1862 m) and the Pico do Areeiro (1817 m), and, for this, it crosses part of the area of the Central Mountain Massif, integral area of the Natura 2000 Network.
From the Pico do Areeiro, a few metres ahead we find the viewpoint of Ninho (Nest) of Manta (common buzzard of Madeira). From this platform, where this raptor bird supposedly nested, you can see the valley of Fajã da Nogueira, where some Pichonetas shearwaters (Puffinus puffinnus), San Roque do Faial and a large part of the central mountain range nest.
This is the only known place in the world where the Madeira petrel (Pterodroma madeira) nest, an endemic species of the island and considered the most threatened seabird in Europe.
To reach Pico Ruivo, we rounded the Pico das Torres on an abrupt climb, by means of a stairway carved into the rock, followed by a descent. The most difficult part of this trail is the final climb to the refuge (Casa de Abrigo) of Pico Ruivo, although thinking about reaching the highest point of the island is a driving factor.
Along the path there are several caves excavated in the volcanic tuffs, where the cattle took refuge and which served as refuge for the shepherds. Also, we can observe several birds, among which are the species restricted to Macaronesia, the Canary (Serinus canaria), the Madeira (Anthus berthelottii madeirensis) and the Unicolor Swift (Apus unicolor), as well as other subspecies restricted to the archipelago of Madeira, gaudy sparrow (Petronia petronia madeirensis), common chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs madeirensis) and the striped wren of Madeira (Regulus ignicapillus madeirensis).
For those who like to observe the plants, this area is known to have altitude heathland and is characterized by the presence of several endemic species of Madeira, among which the yellow flower violet (Viola paradoxa), Madeira heather (Erica madeirensis) ), orchid of the rocks (Orchis scopolorum) and the clover of Madeira (Anthyllis lemanniana). All along the route you can witness the destruction that unfolded during the great fire some time hence and the miracle of nature growing its garden of Eden again.
On the return leg we caught a taxi from Pico do Ariero to Poiso for the bus back to Funchal.
A beautiful but hard hike through the mountains and would we do it again - YES
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