La Union is a small market town in a high valley of the Huanuco Region, in the central Peruvian Andes, and the Huaricashash to Isco segment lies about eleven kilometres from it, in a landscape of steep terraced hillsides, eucalyptus groves and distant snow peaks. It is the same Inca road network as the neighbouring segments, but this stretch sits close to the greatest Inca site in the region.
Huanuco Pampa, an Inca city on a high plateau at about 3,700 metres, was built in the late fifteenth century as an administrative centre on the royal road from Cusco to Quito. It was laid out around a vast central plaza, with a platform at its heart, the ushnu, where the Inca ruler or his representative would watch ceremonies. Around it stood hundreds of storehouses, workshops and barracks, with room to house thousands of people at a time, and the surviving stone walls, the trapezoid doorways and the sheer scale tell you how much labour the empire could command. Local communities sent workers to serve in the city under the labour system called the mita, and the storehouses held maize, textiles and weapons. The site is wide, windswept and almost empty today, and it is a magnificent place to walk on a clear day.
The road from La Union runs through the high puna, a landscape of yellow ichu grass, small lakes and herds of llamas and alpacas, with no trees and a huge sky. The dirt roads are rough and sometimes closed by rain or landslides, with streams to ford and stretches of loose rock, and the altitude brings freezing nights, so it is not a trip for the faint-hearted. Mist, hail and sudden storms occur even in the dry season, and thunder rolls around the hills in the afternoon. The best months are June to August, and in the rainy season, from December to March, routes can be impassable.
La Union has a few shops, a market, basic lodging and places that serve hot soup and fried trout. Fuel is limited, so buy it in Huanuco or in La Union itself and carry some extra. Take warm clothing, a hat for the sun, plenty of water and a good map, and ask local people about the state of the road before you set off.