Segment Huánuco Pampa - Huaricashash and Huascarán National Park
Plan this ride
Recorded distance
654 km
Riding-time estimate
11 h 17
Journey
Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
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: planning record, not independently verified geometry.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distances and riding times are planning figures. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
A 654 km round trip from La Unión - roughly 11 h 17 in the saddle. It goes by way of Segment Ayash - Taulli, Huascarán National Park and back through Segment Ayash - Taulli. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 4,300 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 Ayash - Taulli.
2. 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 comes up about 169 km into the recorded legs. Next is Huascarán National Park.
3. Huascarán National Park
The Cordillera Blanca is the highest tropical mountain range on earth, and Huascarán National Park protects most of it: dozens of peaks over six thousand metres, hundreds of glaciers and glacial lakes, and high valleys of grass and rock. Huascarán itself, at 6,768 metres, is the highest mountain in Peru, a twin-summited giant of ice and snow that dominates the Callejón de Huaylas, the long valley of the Santa river below. The park was listed by UNESCO in 1985, and it is one of the great mountain landscapes of the world.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Segment Huánuco Pampa - Huaricashash. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Segment Huánuco Pampa - Huaricashash to Segment Ayash - Taulli
Segment Huánuco Pampa - Huaricashash → Segment Ayash - Taulli is 169 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Segment Ayash - Taulli to Huascarán National Park
Segment Ayash - Taulli → Huascarán National Park is 158 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Huascarán National Park to back through Segment Ayash - Taulli
Huascarán National Park → back through Segment Ayash - Taulli is 158 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Segment Ayash - Taulli to Segment Huánuco Pampa - Huaricashash
back through Segment Ayash - Taulli → Segment Huánuco Pampa - Huaricashash is 169 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.