November 29, 2015
I met up with Ian again on the coast in Huanchaco, and we decided to ride together toward Chimbote and then up the Cañon del Pato to Caraz.
Looking north at Huanchaco beach. It’s not exactly Manhattan or Hermosa Beach, but it has a nice little walking strand and a lot of seafood restaurants.
Looking south.
These hand-woven boats made of reeds are very popular here.
Leaving Huanchaco, we rode south on the Pan American Highway for about 80 miles. The surroundings are pretty much entirely sand, although in a few places people have managed to farm.
At one point these trees provided a wind block (against blowing sand mostly) so that farmers could work the land. The bright red against the green on the trees really stood out.
I don’t know what kind of trees they are, but they had these huge pods and then the extremely bright red blooms, but only some of them.
Further along the dunes became quite impressive.
At Santa, we turned east on Highway 12, which would take us through the canyon.
A small village on 12 heading into the canyon.
We met a couple from Scotland on bicycles headed out of the canyon towards the coast, then south toward Ushuaia. They said they traveled six months a year and worked six months a year. Not sure how long it will take them to get to Ushuaia.
The road turns to gravel for a good portion of the ride.
Ian up at the next bend.
There are about 33 of these one-lane tunnels (it’s a one-lane road) along the way. Most of them are near the east end where the road is paved again. None of them are very long, but some curve quite a bit in the middle, so they have signs at both ends warning drivers to honk before entering the tunnels. We met large trucks and buses on the road.
I took some video with my GoPro but as I’ve mentioned before, I can’t edit it on my laptop due to a lack of space. However, one of the videos seemed good enough without editing, so I was able to upload it to YouTube. Here’s a couple of minutes of the paved part of the Cañon del Pato (sorry, I didn’t know the GoPro would pick up my random whistling while riding):
Best if you watch it full screen, and glance off the left side of the road every now and then. I have no idea how far down it was, but it’s a long way.
A short intermission for a little KTM troubleshooting and maintenance.
Impressive multi-tiered waterfall.
At the east end of the canyon we pulled into the town of Caraz for the evening. We had gradually climbed from sea level to a little over 7500 feet elevation in the last half of the canyon route. From town you can look up to the snow covered peaks of the Cordillera Blanca mountain range.
Tomorrow I hope to do a loop up over 12,000 feet again, eventually arriving back here for one more night.
Pat,
Enjoyed your video! It took took some faith to make the run through these narrow tunnels. Ha!
When you first enter the tunnels it’s a total blackout until your eyes adjust, so it is literally blind faith. There’s a lot of sand in the middle of the road. If there had been a large rock, it could have been ugly.
Where was that guy going? Or better, where was he coming from. Long way in either direction it appeared.
It is a long way from one end of the canyon to the other, and nothing much in between.
Curious, what was your choice for boots for this journey?
I chose a pair of Forma Adventure boots. Pros: incredibly comfortable so you can walk around in them all day, hike to vistas, etc. And they are relatively waterproof.
Cons: if you’re used to real motocross boots, these “look” similar but without a lot of the steel and armor in them. They’re soft; I would think it would be easier to break bones in your feet if you hit something with these rather than, say, a pair of AXOs, etc.
I still really like them for the all-day walking comfort.
Awesome video. Seriously. I did keep thinking about Poltergeist “go to the light”, but still… I absolutely loved the video. More please.
I did a lot of video on today’s AWESOME ride. Will work on trying to get a few short clips up tomorrow. Unfortunately with no editing capability, it won’t have music or nice start/stop points, but hey, it’s really just about the scenery anyway.
It’s always nice to read this blog. I get five minutes somewhere else most days and that’s a good thing.
Ride on!
Those cliff edges between tunnels looked like the steepest highest I’ve ever seen, so u didn’t stop on the side of that road to look over ?