Hammockeering Around: May 2015

I've been touring a couple amazing natural areas. First was Huascaran park. Some say the park contains the world's most beautiful mountains. From my own experience I'd say they are a contender. Though still well withing the tropics these mountains were snow capped, the tallest of them rose to nearly 7000 meters. Two roads crossed the range. I followed the first up and over and came back on the second. It was a 7000 foot climb to 15,343 feet, I gained the pass in a freezing fog, then descended 7000 feet to warmth and a river, biked along the river 7 miles then turned right back into the mountains to do it again. That is some serious climbing but it was so beautiful and well worth it.

The first valley had two picturesque lakes that sparkled unmistakably glacier blue. The road climbing up to the lakes followed a valley cut long ago by a much larger glacier than exists in the park today. It left behind a magnificent valley. The walls of which were as shear and tall as what I saw in Yosemite. The big difference here was that I was nearly the only tourist in the park. Only a handful of vehicles passed me, most of them vans taking passengers to villages on the far side of the mountains. I had the camp ground all to myself and I hung my hammock at the edge of the cold lake. On my second pass over the mountains I encountered a snow squall. The road cut through a tunnel at a little over 14000 feet and both sides were turning white. The tunnel was nearly mile long and unlit. It was a dark ride with many small waterfalls to duck through as I went. I descended quickly until I found sunshine and warmth. Stopping high above the valley I saw before me a road of switchbacks that dropped 2000 feet, 30 hairpin turns in all. It was amazing.

I arrived at the next park several days later. Huayllay national sanctuary. A place famous for its eccentric rock formations. Thousands of stone pillars rose up from the earth. Many of them looked precariously balanced on a thin base or were stacked and balancing on each other as if they were the play things of giants. I spent a day there watching the light play across the alien landscape. I hiked through the stone towers and took pictures as each turn brought another scene that may have no counterparts the world over.

After I left Huayllay I had about two more weeks of biking to get to Cusco. It was a pleasant road following rivers for the first few days then started crossing ridgelines. I had several climbs to do that were taking me a day or more to reach the pass. The change in climate and environment is wonderful to climb up through. One morning a few days from Cusco I packed up my gear and climbed an hour more to the pass at nearly 14000 feet. It was beautiful up there and I was happy for the downhill. I have long said that I would climb all day for a good down hill. I never expected it to be such a common thing. It was a great ride down. Big fast turns and good road surface. I wrecked though which made it considerably worse. On a short steep slope into a slight left turn I crossed a tiny stream. Maybe two feet wide and just deep enough to wet the concrete. When I hit the water my front wheel slid out. It caught traction before I went down. I had two chances to save it as I swerved my bike under me but I couldn't pull it off. I pitched over to my right and landed hard on my hip and shoulder, bouncing my helmet lightly on the asphalt and sliding to a stop in the dirt on the side of the road about 6 feet from my bike. Fortunately I fell to the inside of the road and not the cliff side. No cars were around either. Not to see me or run me over. I sat for a moment assessing the situation while my rear wheel continued to spin on my overturned bike. My shoulder hurt the most, I think I sprained it. My down coat was torn and hemmoraging feathers from the forearm and shoulder. My pants had come unbuttoned and slid down off of my hip exposing my skin for a large patch of road rash. My left thumb was bleeding and so was my right elbow but I couldn't maneuver my arm to see it. My legs felt fine so I picked up my bike and moved off the road to have a look at it. When I spun the front wheel it was catching on my brake and on further inspection I saw that the rim side wall had ruptured. A chunk of metal was sticking out catching the brake and a crack ran in a curve parallel to the edge of the rim. I tried using my pliers to pinch the metal out if the way of brake but my right arm was quickly losing its usefulness so I opted to ignore it for the moment. With nothing left to do there on the side of the road I gathered myself up and carried on down the hill, careful to only use my rear brake. The front tire was fine and I wasn't even too concerned about the integrity of my front wheel though it had taken on quite a wobble. My right hand resting on the handlebars was a bareable position for my ahoulder. I covered a few more miles into a sizable town where I splurged on a three star hotel for $10. Two days later I caught a bus to Cusco. My parents were coming to visit and I needed to get there to meet them. This happened over a week ago now and while not yet healed I'm feeling much better.