Day 9. Rest.

Yanama a nice little mountain town with plenty of views. A great place to hold up and let our legs recover. Tomorrow we have a 45 km trail ride that will take us from the east side of the high Andes to the west side. We’ll go over a pass known as Punto union. On a very famous trekking trail called Santa Cruz!

from the Bell Tower.
the bell tower
In Yanama we observed a major shift to Spanish style tile roofs. Pretty but I prefer thatched.

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Day 8. Chacas to Yanama. May 28.

Best lunch in Peru. Sapcha.

today was about 30 miles bike riding on good gravel roads. And maybe about 4,000 ft of climbing. After all these days that’s feeling like a light day. Arriving in the small mountain town of Yanama with plenty of light and time to get a hotel. And check out the views!!!

the final descent into town
views from the hotel. Can you see those snowy peaks, that’s where we go next. By trail of course.

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Day 7. May 27.

After leaving the last town yesterday afternoon, we motored (biked!) up the switchbacks to Laguna Purhuay. This is the start of our trail and the start National Park Huascaran. Five mile of very steep and rough trail got us up high and to a great campsite. Now just 16 mile more.

foggy morning we break camp and search for the next great trail!

surprise surprise the trail did not live up our anonymous internet poster’s exuberance. This turned out to be the hardest section of the trip so far. What we thought was going to be smooth sailing and Good biking turned into completely abandoned trail of grapefruit size rocks, ankle deep swamp, and unbelievably straight and eroded trail to the pass of nearly 16,000ft. If even for a minute I thought I was getting myself into shape, this trail told me otherwise.

all abandoned homes n the sector of the park.

when we finally did Crest the summit. Were we rewarded with wonderful smooth single track biking trail…? No! We did strenuous hike a bike down almost the whole thing the last quarter or 5 miles held a glimmer. We finally found some well loved and maintained Park trails. Lot of work for a short stretch of Good biking. And the icing on the cake for some reason three very impressive Gates blocked our exit from the National Park. The final hurdle and the final gate! We finished up pretty much in the dark. Through the skin of our teeth we made it to Chacas and a nice hotel that evening.

finally, great biking but interrupted by some seriously hard to overcome prison Gates! Even Tyler couldn’t crack this one open.
aha, so it was a park after all
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Day 6, part ii.

Tyler Smallwood put together this crazy ensemble of a track we’re doing our best to follow. It was loosely based on a few trip reports he found on line. Then a bunch of map scanning and satellite imagery scanning. So far it’s been pretty top-notch. Of course the trails have been hard going 70 to 80% of them push the bikes. But when we get a nice downhill trail ride it’s pretty rewarding. And if you’re going to travel close to the real mountains like we are, you have to expect some rugged trail conditions. One stretch in The Cordillera Huayhuash in fact was so rugged they wouldn’t take the mules over it. Tyler and I managed to be the mules for our bicycles on that pass.

Acopalca final town before next wilderness trail experience. Oh, stair climb too. Tyler hoofing it.

road riding in Peru is fun. A lot of the roads are in good gravel condition. They don’t have an overwhelming amount of traffic. And the traffic we do see is actually quite respectful. And Peru is not known for a relaxed driving culture. Nonetheless this afternoon we’re ditching towns and tarmac. We’re heading off on a 22 mi trail route that Tyler discovered via a vague trail report. Should be interesting stay tuned…

Few, just made it in the nick of light
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Day 6. May 26. Roads roads roads.

From Chavin we get a nice early start and start pedaling on good gravel & asphalt roads North and slightly West. They say in Peru this is the dry season. But I have some photo evidence to suggest otherwise. We found refuge on the side of the road under a small roof overhang. And shot the gap between rainstorms eventually finding our best cup of coffee so far in Peru.

little town with surprisingly powerful rain. San Marcos photo 1 of 2.
photo 2 of 2

the woman and some girls in the highlands of Peru wear typical traditional outfits. While the men only modern looking clothes. Except when they’re in a school parade.

coffee in hwy side town called Arcos.

if we don’t look wet ragged and in desperate need of real strong coffee in this photo… You’re not looking close enough. Still have like 20K more to pedal before we get a hotel tonight. Oh wait, we might be camping tonight and back to the trail ASAP. Yeah we really needed that coffee. Wish us luck!!

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Repost. Video.

On our second day of biking I took this short video. I tried to post it previously but it wouldn’t upload. It’s from May 23rd and I’ll see if I can get it to upload now.

mule train passing us on our first day of the famous Huayhuash mountain trekking trail
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5th day, may 25

following an amazing three nights and four days traveling by mountain bike and camping every night (completely self-supported). Now we finally made it to civilization and more reliable roads to bike for the next few days. From Huallanca we head north and west on a good paved road that climb several thousand feet. Before descending the backside of a pass. We turn off the good highway and continue to lose elevation and wind through a gorgeous canyon of limestone walls with a tumbling River to follow. Few photos existed from today since it started pouring rain at about 1:00 p.m. and it was a steady downpour with mixed hail and sleet! Our Frozen to the Bone fingers and souls would not stop long enough to take pictures. Pedal pedal keep moving is best and we did. So pics for today are a bit bare Bones. One of Tyler at a huge fossil exhibit on the side of the road before it started raining. And one at the hotel in the town called Chavin. Hot shower is the best way to stave off hypothermia!!! Chavin as it turns out is a wonderful little town rich with archeology history of the pre colonial inhabitants.

dang, those are big footprints
some Street dogs can be quite cute, but Tyler don’t forget to wash your hands.
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4th day. May 24.

today we’re moving away from the huayhuash mountain range. We woke up to morning fog and clouds. We rode some nice single track riding for several hours and passed some beautiful stone huts (real homes still in use today) as we approached the highway that led us to our final destination Huallanca city. Hotel shower dinner. Much needed since we got pretty wet with a light rain as we came into town.

How old? Simple, beautiful. Stone walls, thatched roof, solaaar panel…? Yes
Light rain as we motor down the dirt road highway towards town. Still gorgeous in any weather.
Gorgeous little town Huallanca Peru, population 7000, elevation 12,000ft
local school kids participating in a small parade right outside our hotel window
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3rd day. May 23.

from our camp in the heart of the Huayhuash. We keep motoring north. More climbing and more biking through spectacular scenery.

tres Lagunas
Quishuarcancha the community with the best view

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Overseas contact info

remember my friends. My phone will not get any texts or calls while I’m in Peru. I’m home June 17. Email: dwood@lostgringo.com or use my phone # and search for me on Whatsapp. It’s free, download it. (509) 665-0826. Love to hear from any all of you!!

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