Cañón del Pato

Cañón del Pato is a steep, narrow river canyon in Peru’s Ancash region where the Santa River passes through a tight gap in the Andean range. The canyon is notable for a road that threads the cliffs with multiple short tunnels.

Travelers on the mountain highway experience a sequence of cliff-cut tunnels and close rock walls with the river flowing immediately below the road in places. The passage is dramatic for drivers and passengers because the roadway runs directly alongside the river and through engineered tunnel cuts.

The canyon has long been a natural constriction on routes through the Andes; modern road and tunnel works were cut into the cliffs to allow vehicular passage along the river corridor. The area also supports hydroelectric infrastructure and transport links serving the Callejf3n de Huaylas corridor.

Cañón del Pato lies in the Department of Ancash in north-central Peru along the Santa River, on the mountain route that connects Andean valley towns with lower coastal regions.

• Tunnels along the highway: A narrow section of the Santa River valley where the road runs through a series of roughly three dozen tunnels cut into the cliff face, creating a dramatic engineered passage.
• Narrow river gorge: Forms the point where the river squeezes between steep cliff walls as it leaves the high Andean valley toward lower elevations and the coast.