Segment Río de La Sal - Pampa del Inca and Segment Pampa del Inca-Finca de Chañaral · 162 km · aral-2
Plan this ride
Recorded distance
162 km
Riding-time estimate
5 h 06
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: 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.
It goes by way of Segment Río de La Sal - Pampa del Inca, Segment Pampa del Inca-Finca de Chañaral and back through Segment Río de La Sal - Pampa del Inca. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 2,900 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. The line favours views over speed.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Segment Río de La Sal - Pampa del Inca
Out here the Atacama stops being a postcard and becomes a working landscape: pale gravel plains, dry washes, and a horizon that stays the same colour for an hour at a time. The Río de la Sal gets its name honestly. Whatever water the Andes send down this way picks up minerals on the trip, and what survives to the surface leaves white crusts along the banks. Pampa del Inca, the broad flat beside it, is the kind of name you only get where travellers have been crossing the same ground for centuries.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Segment Río de La Sal - Pampa del Inca is where the day begins. Next is Segment Río de La Sal - Pampa del Inca.
2. Segment Río de La Sal - Pampa del Inca
Out here the Incas walked a road through country that most of us would call empty, and they did it without wheels, horses or a single petrol station. The stretch between the Río de la Sal and the Pampa del Inca is one of the Chilean pieces of the Qhapaq Ñan, the great Andean road network that tied Cusco to the far corners of the empire and was listed by UNESCO across six countries in 2014. In the Atacama region it shows up as a faint, dead-straight trace across gravel plains, sometimes edged with stones, sometimes marked by the low ruins of a tambo where runners and caravans once rested.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Segment Río de La Sal - Pampa del Inca comes up about 20 km into the recorded legs. Next is Segment Pampa del Inca-Finca de Chañaral.
3. Segment Pampa del Inca-Finca de Chañaral
The Atacama desert is the driest place on earth outside the poles, and the Inca crossed it on foot. The Qhapaq Ñan, the great Inca road system, included a southern branch that ran from Cusco down into what is now northern Chile, and this segment between Pampa del Inca and the farm of Chañaral lies in the region of Atacama, close to the town of Diego de Almagro. It is part of the UNESCO listing of the Qhapaq Ñan in 2014.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Segment Río de La Sal - Pampa del Inca. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Segment Río de La Sal - Pampa del Inca to Segment Río de La Sal - Pampa del Inca
Segment Río de La Sal - Pampa del Inca → Segment Río de La Sal - Pampa del Inca is 20 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Segment Río de La Sal - Pampa del Inca to Segment Pampa del Inca-Finca de Chañaral
Segment Río de La Sal - Pampa del Inca → Segment Pampa del Inca-Finca de Chañaral is 45 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Segment Pampa del Inca-Finca de Chañaral to back through Segment Río de La Sal - Pampa del Inca
Segment Pampa del Inca-Finca de Chañaral → back through Segment Río de La Sal - Pampa del Inca is 52 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Segment Río de La Sal - Pampa del Inca to Segment Río de La Sal - Pampa del Inca
back through Segment Río de La Sal - Pampa del Inca → Segment Río de La Sal - Pampa del Inca is 20 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.