Salta day out · Segment Las Peras-Sauzalito

301 km from Salta

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Why this ride

301 km from Salta to Salta, about 5 h 11 of riding. The stops in between: Segment Santa Rosa de Tastil, Subsection Abra de ChaupiyacoLas Capillas, Segment Las Peras-Sauzalito and back through Subsection Abra de ChaupiyacoLas Capillas. The highest point is about 4,150 m. It suits an unhurried touring pace.

Roadbook

1. Salta start

   Salta calls itself La Linda, the beautiful, and the old centre makes a decent case for it. The city lies in a green valley in the far north-west of Argentina, about twelve hundred metres above the sea, with the Andes to the west and the humid forest edge to the east. The Spanish founded it in 1582, and the colonial core still shows it, with the cathedral's pink facade, the arcaded cabildo on the main plaza and the cafés underneath the verandahs. In the evening the plaza fills with families, buskers and street food, and the empanadas salteñas, small and juicy with beef, are an essential meal.

   For riders, Salta is the gate to the Calchaquí valleys, a rugged landscape of red rock, dry river canyons and tall cactus. To the south the road heads through the Quebrada de las Conchas, a gorge of eroded sandstone with names like the Devil's Throat and the Amphitheatre, ending in the wine town of Cafayate, known for the white grape torrontés. To the west, the national route climbs the Cuesta del Obispo, a dirt and paved switchback pass that reaches well over three thousand metres, before dropping to the village of Cachi, with white adobe houses and a view of snow-capped Nevado de Cachi.

   These are not routes for a bad day. Distances are large, altitude is real, and temperatures swing wildly between sun and shade. Sections of gravel appear without warning, and in the summer rainy season from December to March, flash floods can cut roads and wash out bridges for hours or days. Autumn and winter are drier and clearer, though nights at altitude go below freezing. Wind and dust are common, and animals wander onto the road.

   Salta has all the fuel, workshops and food that a rider needs, so it is the place to prepare for the trip. Campo Quijano, at the start of the Quebrada del Toro, is the last sizeable town on the road toward the Andes, and the famous high railway, known as the Tren a las Nubes, passes along that gorge. After the ride, the peñas, folk music clubs with guitars and singing, are a pleasant way to wind down.

2. Segment Santa Rosa de Tastil sight

   The Quebrada del Toro is a long, narrow valley cut through the Andes of Salta, in north-west Argentina, and the old road that follows it was a trade route for centuries. Santa Rosa de Tastil sits on a terrace above the river, at around 3,200 metres, and it was a town: a settlement of stone houses, perhaps several hundred of them, built in the fourteenth century and inhabited until shortly before the Spanish conquest. People here farmed, kept llamas and traded across the mountains, and when the Incas arrived they connected the place to their road system, the Qhapaq Nan, which was inscribed by UNESCO in 2014.

   Walking through the ruins is oddly moving. The foundations of rectangular houses, packed close together and stepped up the hillside, make a pattern you can read at a glance, and the surrounding hills are a deep red and brown, dotted with tall cardon cacti. A small museum beside the site shows pottery, textiles and tools found here, and a local guide can explain how the town worked. The air is dry and thin, the sun is hard, and the wind picks up in the afternoon.

   The ride up the Quebrada del Toro on Ruta 51 from Salta is one of the finest in the north of Argentina. The road follows the river, crosses it several times, and climbs through gorges of coloured rock toward the high plateau of the Puna, with the railway that carries the Tren a las Nubes visible above you in places. The tarmac is generally good, with some patchy sections, and the curves are long and open. Above Tastil, the road climbs to the pass of Abra Blanca, over four thousand metres, and the cold and thin air are noticeable.

   Fuel is not available in the village. Fill up in Salta before the climb, and again in San Antonio de los Cobres, farther up the road, and carry a reserve. Altitude can cause headaches and tiredness, so take it slowly. Weather is dry for most of the year, with summer storms from December to March. Mornings are best for light and wind.

3. Subsection Abra de ChaupiyacoLas Capillas sight

   The Incas built a road across the Andes, and in the north of Argentina it still runs under the hooves of mules and the boots of walkers. The Qhapaq Nan, the Great Inca Road, was a network of some 30,000 kilometres linking the empire from Colombia to Chile and Argentina, and parts of it were inscribed on the World Heritage list in 2014 across six countries. The segment of Chaupiyaco to Las Capillas, in the province of Salta, runs through the high valley of the Quebrada del Toro, one of the old routes between the Altiplano and the lowlands, and the section near Santa Rosa de Tastil follows the course used long before the Inca, by herders with llamas.

   Santa Rosa de Tastil is the best-known archaeological site nearby, the remains of a town of stone houses on a terrace above the river, which flourished in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries before the Inca arrived. Hundreds of rooms, tombs and plazas can be seen, and a small museum next to the site houses the finds. The setting is magnificent, a wide, dry valley of red and ochre hills, with cardon cactus on the slopes, and the thin air at over three thousand metres has a bright, hard clarity.

   The ride up Route 51 from Salta is spectacular. The road leaves the green valley of Lerma, climbs the Quebrada del Toro beside the river with tunnels, sharp bends and steep rock walls, and then climbs further toward the high plateau, the puna, passing the railway of the Train to the Clouds. The surface is mostly paved but with sections of damage, rockfall and gravel, and the altitude brings thin air, fierce sun, and temperatures that fall sharply at night. Wind is common, and sudden storms in summer can bring floods and landslides. The dry season, from April to October, is the best time, although nights can be freezing.

   Santa Rosa de Tastil is a small place, and fuel is in Salta, in the lowlands, and in San Antonio de los Cobres, farther on, so fill up beforehand and carry extra. Altitude can bring headaches, so take it slowly, drink water and chew coca leaves if locals offer them, as they do. Empanadas and humitas are the local snacks.

4. Segment Las Peras-Sauzalito turn

   This stretch lies in the high valleys of Salta province, in the dry north-west of Argentina, and it belongs to the great Inca road system the Incas called Qhapaq Ñan. UNESCO listed the network in 2014, a web of tracks and stone-built stairways, bridges and storehouses reaching from Ecuador to central Chile, built to link a mountain empire with no wheeled carts. Messengers on foot, the chasqui, ran in relays along these routes, and llama caravans carried loads on the long climbs. Some stretches are still walkable, and sections survive near modern roads.

   Do not expect a clearly marked spot here. This is a segment of road and country rather than a single monument, and the best way to understand it is to ride the valley around it. The terrain is high, dry and open, with cactus and thorny scrub on the slopes, bare ridges striped in red and ochre, and snow-capped peaks showing in the west on clear mornings. The Nevado de Cachi, over six thousand metres, dominates the skyline of this part of the Calchaquí region. Tracks and old roads wander through quebradas, narrow dry valleys that turn into raging streams after storms.

   The riding is a mix. Main roads such as Ruta 40 in this area are partly paved and partly gravel, often slow and exposed to cross-winds, with surface that turns to washboard and loose stone. Side tracks need patience, good tyres and a sense of humour. Altitude matters, since you are riding at two to three thousand metres, where engines lose power and riders get headaches and shortness of breath. Drink water, take it slowly, and respect the weather, because afternoon storms can arrive out of a blue sky in summer.

   Fuel is the main practical problem. Cachí, about thirty-four kilometres away, is a tiny place of two thousand people and may not have fuel when you need it, so fill the tank in a larger town such as Salta or Cafayate and carry extra if you can. Shops are sparse, and food is simple: empanadas, locro stew, goat cheese and maize. Nights are cold even in summer, and winter brings frost. The best seasons are autumn and spring, with clear light and steady weather.

5. back through Subsection Abra de ChaupiyacoLas Capillas stop

   back through Subsection Abra de ChaupiyacoLas Capillas sits at 201 km, about halfway.

6. back through Segment Santa Rosa de Tastil stop

   back through Segment Santa Rosa de Tastil comes up 251 km in.

7. Salta finish

   Salta closes the day.

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