PowerCycle

04/08 For the daring adventurer, Huancabamba, deep in the eastern mountains, is well worth the rough 10-hour journey from Piura. That’s what the Lonely Planet has to say about this little excursion. 10 hours is for the intrepid bus traveler though. It took me 10 hours just to get here from Canchaque and it was only 28 miles away (Piura is about 126 miles). And I still have maybe 20 miles of riding left. Huancabamba is turning out to be as arduous to get to as Mompos was in Colombia.

Getting going in the right direction turned out to be harder than I thought. After riding for a mile I ended up in a town which didn’t seem right according to my map. I broke down and asked for directions and sure enough I’d missed the turn. That added 2 miles to my day. Back at the turnoff to Huancabamba I started heading up. Would have been a great place to put a sign.

To give you an idea of how much this road winds around the mountains– I rode almost 30 miles today and Canchaque is only 5 miles away as the crow flies. The constant switchbacks helped keep the grades reasonable but there were many sections that were pushing 8-9%. The road was wet the entire way but it was mostly hard packed and not too bumpy. Maybe 8 miles after Canchaque there was a store selling water/soda. That was it the rest of the way. Filtering water might have been possible but I left with 6 liters and 3 bottles and will still have enough for the morning. I guess the lady was right yesterday about there not being any villages.

My guess is that the road starts the descent into Huancabamba in a few miles but after riding for over 6 hours (10 hours total including rest stops) and climbing 5,600 feet I was done. Sunset was an hour away and I didn’t want to risk being on the road. The temperature also dropped to 50 F and it started raining.

Being done doesn’t always mean being able to find a place to sleep but I lucked out. I passed a small garbage dump that was off the road a ways. Past the dump was a trail and I found a spot big enough to pitch my tent. Of course it was still raining and I realize now that this tent is not so great in these conditions. First off, the fly can not be set up first and the tent hung up from underneath (I have the Seedhouse SL1). Instead I have to pitch the tent first and hope the fly laying on top keeps the rain out. It didn’t. I’m going to see if I can find some clips because I’m not going through that again. The design of the fly could use some improving. If it’s raining the only way to keep water from coming in through the door is to keep the fly closed. An overhang would be a welcome addition.

The clouds kept rolling in but I had lot’s of amazing views, especially in the morning. Traffic was mostly buses and 99% of them slowed down and made sure they weren’t going to hit me. The road is very narrow so there’s not a lot of room and there’s almost always a sheer cliff on one side.

Saw a massive spider walking across the road. I’ve never seen a spider so big. It was way bigger than my hand and it got mad and lunged at me when I used a stick to move a leaf out of the way.

GPX track