Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
446 km from La Unión to La Unión, about 13 h 20 of riding. It goes by way of Segment Huaricashash - Isco, Segment Taparaku - Tambo de Llata, Segment Ayash - Taulli and Chavin. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 4,400 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Segment Huánuco Pampa - Huaricashash
Huanuco Pampa is a place that makes you feel small. On a high plateau at around 3,700 metres, in the central Peruvian Andes, the Incas built one of their largest administrative centres, on the great highway that ran north from Cusco toward Quito. Archaeologists have counted hundreds of storehouses on the surrounding hillsides, once filled with maize, textiles and weapons, and the ruins of a huge central plaza, with a platform called the usnu from which the Inca or his representative could watch ceremonies. It is part of the Qhapaq Nan, the Andean road system recognised by UNESCO in 2014.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Segment Huánuco Pampa - Huaricashash is where the day begins. Next is Segment Huaricashash - Isco.
2. Segment Huaricashash - Isco
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.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Segment Huaricashash - Isco comes up about 59 km into the recorded legs. Next is Segment Taparaku - Tambo de Llata.
3. Segment Taparaku - Tambo de Llata
The Qhapaq Ñan, the great road network of the Inca Empire, ran for thousands of kilometres along the Andes, linking the capital Cusco with the far corners of an empire that stretched from Colombia to Chile. In the department of Huánuco, in central Peru, one of its best preserved sections crosses the high puna between the administrative centre of Huánuco Pampa and the valleys to the north, and the segment between Taparaku and the Tambo de Llata is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site inscribed in 2014.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 152 km into the recorded legs you reach Segment Taparaku - Tambo de Llata. Next is Segment Ayash - Taulli.
4. Segment Ayash - Taulli
East of the Cordillera Blanca, the Andes break into a jumble of high plateaus and deep valleys draining toward the Marañón and the Amazon, and the Inca road ran through this country on its way from Cusco to Quito. The Ayash to Taulli segment is a stretch of the Qhapaq Ñan in the highlands of Huánuco, near the town of Llata, part of the UNESCO-listed Andean road system. It runs through the puna, the high grassland above the tree line, where the wind blows cold and the views stretch for miles over ridges and valleys. In places, the original road survives, with stone paving, retaining walls, steps and drainage channels, and walking a section of it is the best way to understand how the Incas moved people and goods across this vertical landscape.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Segment Ayash - Taulli, about halfway. Next is Chavin.
5. Chavín
Three thousand years ago, priests at Chavín de Huántar led pilgrims into a labyrinth of dark stone galleries beneath a temple, where at the heart of the maze stood a carved granite pillar, the Lanzón, depicting a fanged deity. The Chavín culture, flourishing between roughly 1200 and 500 BC, spread its art and religious ideas across much of the Andes, and its temple complex in the Mosna valley is one of the most important archaeological sites in South America, inscribed by UNESCO in 1985. Look out for the cabezas clavas, carved stone heads that once projected from the temple walls, showing a transformation from human to jaguar or bird.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The route ends here after 446 km.
Leg by leg
Segment Huánuco Pampa - Huaricashash to Segment Huaricashash - Isco
Segment Huánuco Pampa - Huaricashash → Segment Huaricashash - Isco is 59 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Segment Huaricashash - Isco to Segment Taparaku - Tambo de Llata
Segment Huaricashash - Isco → Segment Taparaku - Tambo de Llata is 93 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Segment Taparaku - Tambo de Llata to Segment Ayash - Taulli
Segment Taparaku - Tambo de Llata → Segment Ayash - Taulli is 21 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Segment Ayash - Taulli to Chavin
Segment Ayash - Taulli → Chavin is 51 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Chavín to back through Segment Ayash - Taulli
Chavín → back through Segment Ayash - Taulli is 49 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Segment Ayash - Taulli to back through Segment Taparaku - Tambo de Llata
back through Segment Ayash - Taulli → back through Segment Taparaku - Tambo de Llata is 21 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Segment Taparaku - Tambo de Llata to back through Segment Huaricashash - Isco
back through Segment Taparaku - Tambo de Llata → back through Segment Huaricashash - Isco is 92 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Segment Huaricashash - Isco to Segment Huánuco Pampa - Huaricashash
back through Segment Huaricashash - Isco → Segment Huánuco Pampa - Huaricashash is 60 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.