The Wonderful R4010 – Northern Thailand
Chiang Mai Province | Rainy Season | 659 KM Loop | 1 Day Ride
The R4010 and More! 𝑁𝑜𝑟𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑛 𝑇ℎ𝑎𝑖𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑑 ℎ𝑎𝑠 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑜𝑠𝑡 𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑎𝑐𝑢𝑙𝑎𝑟 𝑟𝑜𝑎𝑑𝑠 𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑟, 𝑔𝑖𝑣𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑢𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑜𝑝𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑢𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑡𝑜 𝑟𝑖𝑑𝑒 𝑜𝑛 𝑚𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑖𝑛 𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑡𝑒𝑠 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑓𝑎𝑏𝑢𝑙𝑜𝑢𝑠 𝑚𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑖𝑛 𝑣𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑠. 𝑀𝑎𝑛𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑠𝑒 𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑡𝑒𝑠 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑤𝑒𝑙𝑙-𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤𝑛 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑤𝑒𝑙𝑙-𝑑𝑜𝑐𝑢𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑑, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑟-𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤𝑛 𝑏𝑒𝑎𝑢𝑡𝑖𝑒𝑠 𝑙𝑢𝑟𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑛𝑜𝑟𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑛 𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑟𝑖𝑜𝑟𝑦. 𝑇ℎ𝑒 R4010 𝑖𝑠 𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑒𝑝𝑒𝑠𝑡 𝐵 𝑟𝑜𝑎𝑑𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑔𝑖𝑜𝑛.
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Contents
The Route
It sounds rather crazy, but I wanted to ride all this way just to ride a tiny section of route that I had ridden on a few months back. So, setting off later than planned, I headed out to experience the route again.
The R1024
𝑇ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑠𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑡𝑒 𝑖𝑠 𝑠𝑚𝑜𝑜𝑡ℎ 𝑠𝑤𝑒𝑒𝑝𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑐𝑢𝑟𝑣𝑒𝑠, 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑓𝑎𝑏𝑢𝑙𝑜𝑢𝑠 𝑝𝑎𝑛𝑜𝑟𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑐 𝑣𝑖𝑒𝑤𝑠.
𝐴 𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑒𝑡 𝑟𝑜𝑎𝑑 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑚𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑖𝑛 𝑝𝑒𝑎𝑘𝑠 𝑟𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑣𝑒𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒. 𝑇ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑟𝑜𝑎𝑑 𝑖𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑓𝑒𝑐𝑡 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑡𝑜 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑟𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑝, (𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑓𝑒𝑐𝑡 𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑑-𝑑𝑜𝑤𝑛, 𝑑𝑒𝑝𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑜𝑛 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑟𝑖𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑑𝑖𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛).It was so much prettier than my photos show and set a nice mood for the start of my ride.
The 4010
𝐴 𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑒𝑝 𝑚𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑖𝑛 𝑟𝑜𝑎𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑓𝑎𝑏𝑢𝑙𝑜𝑢𝑠 𝑣𝑖𝑒𝑤𝑠. 𝑇ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑟𝑜𝑎𝑑 𝑖𝑠 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑜𝑓𝑡𝑒𝑛 𝑢𝑠𝑒𝑑, 𝑠𝑜 𝑒𝑥𝑒𝑟𝑐𝑖𝑠𝑒 𝑐𝑎𝑢𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑖𝑓 𝑟𝑖𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑖𝑡. 𝐿𝑒𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑛 𝑚𝑎𝑘𝑒 𝑠𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠 𝑠𝑙𝑖𝑝𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑦, 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑖𝑡 𝑖𝑠 𝑠𝑡𝑢𝑛𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔.
𝐼 𝑛𝑜𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑒𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑣𝑖𝑒𝑤𝑠 𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑜𝑏𝑠𝑐𝑢𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑑𝑢𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑢𝑠ℎ 𝑔𝑟𝑒𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑦 𝑠𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑢𝑝 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑎𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑 𝑑𝑢𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑢𝑟𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑠𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑜𝑛 (𝑅𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑦 𝑆𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑜𝑛). 𝐿𝑎𝑠𝑡 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝐼 𝑟𝑜𝑑𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑡𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑏𝑎𝑐𝑘 𝑖𝑛 𝑀𝑎𝑟𝑐ℎ 𝑙𝑎𝑠𝑡 𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑎 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑑𝑟𝑦 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑣𝑖𝑒𝑤𝑠 𝑐𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑟. 𝑇𝑟𝑖𝑝 𝑟𝑒𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡 HERE . 𝐴𝑑𝑑𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦, 𝑖𝑡 𝑖𝑠 𝑏𝑒𝑠𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑟𝑖𝑑𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑟𝑜𝑎𝑑 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝐸𝑎𝑠𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑊𝑒𝑠𝑡 (𝑤ℎ𝑖𝑐ℎ 𝐼 𝑑𝑖𝑑 𝑜𝑛 𝑚𝑦 𝑓𝑖𝑟𝑠𝑡 𝑟𝑖𝑑𝑒, 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑜𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑟𝑖𝑑𝑒 𝐼 𝑤𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑊𝑒𝑠𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝐸𝑎𝑠𝑡). 𝐸𝑎𝑠𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑊𝑒𝑠𝑡 𝑜𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑠𝑡 𝑣𝑖𝑒𝑤𝑠.
(I loved this road so much the first time I rode it and was frustrated about having no more GoPro battery life to record all of the route. It was a real unexpected delight!
It rained on and off, but I did not mind
The 1216
𝐴 𝑏𝑒𝑎𝑢𝑡𝑖𝑓𝑢𝑙 𝑚𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑖𝑛 𝑟𝑜𝑎𝑑, 𝑤ℎ𝑖𝑐ℎ ℎ𝑎𝑠 𝑓𝑜𝑜𝑑 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑝𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑎𝑐𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑚𝑜𝑑𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 (𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑙𝑢𝑑𝑒𝑠 𝐾ℎ𝑢𝑛 𝑆𝑎𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑛 𝑁𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑃𝑎𝑟𝑘 𝑤ℎ𝑖𝑐ℎ 𝐼 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒𝑙𝑦 𝑡𝑎𝑘𝑒 𝑎𝑛 𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑛𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑐𝑎𝑚𝑝𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑝 𝑎𝑡, 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐶𝑜𝑜𝑙 𝑆𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑜𝑛).
𝐹𝑎𝑏𝑢𝑙𝑜𝑢𝑠 𝑣𝑖𝑒𝑤𝑝𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑡 𝑜𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑅1216! –
Return to Chiang Mai (Soaked!)
I rode back to Chiang Mai, getting thoroughly soaked on the way home. Due to taking longer on the ride than anticipated, I ended up riding after the sun had set. No matter, it was worth it in the end!
– End of ride
Video of the Ride
Additional Info
Queen Sirikit Dam
Just East of the 4010 is the route that takes you down to Paknai Fisherman’s Village at Queen Sirikit Dam. Here you can take a ferry across the dam on your vehicle (I believe the cost for a motorcycle is around 150 baht). Here is a video showing the crossing:
I hope you enjoyed this R4010 trip report.
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