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Segment Tambo Chico - Taparaku and Chavin

Plan this ride

Recorded distance
361 km
Riding-time estimate
7 h 04
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.

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Why this ride

From Pachas it runs 361 km to Pachas; allow about 7 h 04 of riding. It goes by way of Segment Huánuco Pampa - Huaricashash, Segment Ayash - Taulli, Chavin and back through Segment Ayash - Taulli. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 4,400 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

  1. 1. Segment Tambo Chico - Taparaku

    The Qhapaq Ñan, the royal road of the Incas, linked an empire that stretched from what is now Colombia to Chile and Argentina, and in the highlands of Huánuco in central Peru one of its best-preserved stretches runs across the high puna between Tambo Chico and Taparaku.

    Read the complete Segment Tambo Chico - Taparaku write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

    May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

    Planning note

    Segment Tambo Chico - Taparaku is where the day begins. Next is Segment Huánuco Pampa - Huaricashash.

  2. 2. Segment Huánuco Pampa - Huaricashash

    Three and a half thousand metres up, on the cold grass plateau of the Peruvian Andes, the Incas built a city that was never meant to be a home. Huánuco Pampa was an administrative centre, a stop on the great road between Cusco and Quito, with a vast central plaza, an ushnu platform from which officials presided over ceremonies, rows of long halls for visitors and hundreds of storehouses lined up on the hillsides. The people who staffed it were moved in from elsewhere, and the labour they owed was paid in cloth, maize and llama wool that fed the road and the army.

    Read the complete Segment Huánuco Pampa - Huaricashash write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

    May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

    Planning note

    Segment Huánuco Pampa - Huaricashash comes up about 35 km into the recorded legs. Next is Segment Ayash - Taulli.

  3. 3. 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.

    Read the complete Segment Ayash - Taulli write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

    May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

    Planning note

    about 128 km into the recorded legs you reach Segment Ayash - Taulli. Next is Chavin.

  4. 4. 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.

    Read the complete Chavin write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

    May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

    Planning note

    Chavin, about halfway. Next is back through Segment Ayash - Taulli.

  5. 5. back through Segment Ayash - Taulli

    Return visit. Read the place description above.

    Read the complete Segment Ayash - Taulli write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

    May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

    Planning note

    back through Segment Ayash - Taulli sits at 151 km, about halfway. Next is back through Segment Huánuco Pampa - Huaricashash.

  6. 6. back through Segment Huánuco Pampa - Huaricashash

    Return visit. Read the place description above.

    Read the complete Segment Huánuco Pampa - Huaricashash write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

    May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

    Planning note

    back through Segment Huánuco Pampa - Huaricashash comes up about 326 km into the recorded legs. Next is Segment Tambo Chico - Taparaku.

  7. 7. Segment Tambo Chico - Taparaku

    Return visit. Read the place description above.

    Read the complete Segment Tambo Chico - Taparaku write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

    May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

    Planning note

    Segment Tambo Chico - Taparaku closes the day.

Leg by leg

Segment Tambo Chico - Taparaku to Segment Huánuco Pampa - Huaricashash

Segment Tambo Chico - Taparaku → Segment Huánuco Pampa - Huaricashash is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

Segment Huánuco Pampa - Huaricashash to Segment Ayash - Taulli

Segment Huánuco Pampa - Huaricashash → Segment Ayash - Taulli is 93 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

Segment Ayash - Taulli to Chavin

Segment Ayash - Taulli → Chavin is 54 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 Huánuco Pampa - Huaricashash

back through Segment Ayash - Taulli → back through Segment Huánuco Pampa - Huaricashash is 95 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

back through Segment Huánuco Pampa - Huaricashash to Segment Tambo Chico - Taparaku

back through Segment Huánuco Pampa - Huaricashash → Segment Tambo Chico - Taparaku is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

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