Mara returns to the Mountains

[Bill Ryan]

Posted by Bill Ryan (here)
No llamas today. But we had a bit of an adventure.

After a record 147 days of drought, it rained heavily last night. (Yay!) The morning dawned dry but overcast, and we headed for the mountains anyway. We were 10 minutes past the high waterfall — which had been a tiny trickle for weeks, but today was an exciting but passable raging torrent — when the cloudy skies opened and we were hit by a violent hailstorm, something pretty rare and which Mara had never encountered in all her life.

With my head down, and thinking it surely couldn't last long, I continued up the valley (the 'Puma valley', as I've named it) — and then suddenly realized Mara was no longer behind me. I stopped and called her, but she was nowhere to be seen.

For the next hour, with the hail now turning to heavy icy rain, I hiked all over the valley, which is safe but has a lot of complex features, shouting her name continually. She was just nowhere. This had never happened before.

I knew that my friends, with their two trail-running children Noam and Pema, were somewhere high on the mountain, having set out a couple of hours earlier. Thankfully, I met them coming down, as soaking wet and freezing cold as I now was. They were immediately very concerned and so we split up to search up, down, and along every side valley where Mara might possibly have gone.

It was Pema (the 11-year old superstar athlete) who found her, shivering in the long grass a full mile from where I'd last seen her, half way down towards the road. She'd somehow made her own way back across the raging waterfall, blind, wet, cold, frightened and lost, knowing somewhere in her doggy brain that if she kept on going down she should be safe and that somehow this would take her home.

Pema, on her own and with no lead or string available, held on to her collar firmly and led her gently back to our vehicles.

All ended well. The entire thing was my fault, of course, as in the sudden heavy hailstorm I should never have kept my eyes off her. This is the only photo I have (a very wet one!), showing my friends with Mara warming themselves by the fire in the small restaurant back at the trailhead. Little Pema, the hero of the story, is at the very back, second from the right.

Posted by Bill Ryan (here)

Posted by RunningDeer (here)

Mara, the super dog.

A wonderful image!

We went back there today, but to the opposite side of the main valley where we had an easy hike just for an hour. Mara was quite unaffected by her adventure, and was totally happy the entire time.

From there, I took this photo, so I could show what Mara the super dog had done, all on her own, wet, cold, lost and 100% blind. (The dotted line ends at the point where she was found by Pema.)

Her path down out of the high 'Puma Valley' was the only safe route (despite the swollen waterfall), the same way we always reach the valley and then return home again. Somehow she'd remembered the whole safe way back down towards the road and had navigated it all alone despite not being able to see a thing.


(high resolution image: https://avalonlibrary.net/Bill/Mara's_route_home.jpg)

~~~

I happened again yesterday — and this time Mara amazed me even more.

We'd gone even further up the Puma Valley. The weather was cloudy but dry with no wind, perfect for a hike. Everything was all fine and normal. The waterfall had a lot of water in it, but was safe enough to cross. It was just like in this video which I posted a month ago, dramatic and loud but no real problem for Mara to navigate.

Then suddenly, just like last time. I realized Mara was no longer behind me. And unlike the last time I lost her, I immediately knew she must have once again gone back down the mountain all on her own.

So I high-tailed it all the way back down as fast as I could, calling her name. I couldn't see her anywhere, but I was sure she was somewhere way ahead of me as I descended.

I found her even further down the mountain than last time, a mere 200m from the trailhead. In the photo above, this time she was right down at the lower right corner.

She was completely happy, not in the slightest bit stressed. She was like, "Oh, there you are. Where have you been? I've been waiting for you a while."

Her journey was much longer than the previous time when it was all cold, wet and windy, and Pema had found her shivering in the long grass. She'd gone a whole mile and a half down a complicated route, with a bunch of tricky this-way-or-that-way decisions to make. That included crossing the swollen waterfall again on her own, and had done it all more quickly than I could easily believe.

A blind human could not have done that — unless they'd taken all day going slowly and carefully inch by inch on their hands and knees. I should make a video of that whole descent route and post it here speeded up about 10x times. It'd still be a couple of minutes long.

[avid]

Don’t let her out of your sight!!!

[wondering]

Amazing. I wonder why she decided to go back down?? What's your thought? "well, I'm done for today, no need to tell the big guy, he'll figure it out". She clearly loves to just follow her own way, secure in her own decisions. Go Mara!!!

[Bill Ryan]

Posted by wondering (here)
Amazing. I wonder why she decided to go back down?? What's your thought? "well, I'm done for today, no need to tell the big guy, he'll figure it out". She clearly loves to just follow her own way, secure in her own decisions. Go Mara!!!

For anyone following Mara's adventures (and her extraordinary intelligence!), this video may be rather interesting. Yesterday (with Mara close by me, sometimes ahead and sometimes behind) I took a video of her whole solo journey, 100% blind and 100% on her own, down towards the trailhead from the heart of the Llama Valley. I walked quite quickly non-stop all the way, and it took us 21 minutes.

So I sped up the video 3x. Watch and be amazed If a blind human had tried to do this, it would have taken them all day carefully on their hands and knees, even if they'd been able to do it safely at all.

The sped-up video is still 7 minutes long, but you can easily skip through it. The timestamps are:

0:00 — 2:00 : In the heart of the Llama Valley. At 2:00 we cross the river that leads to the waterfall.
2:09 — 2:40 : Descending an inclined rocky path, with a steep drop-off first to the right and then to the left.
2:40 — 2:48 : Crossing the waterfall.
2:48 — 5:07 : Easily down a broad path, the one part of the trail that's impossible to get lost on.
5:07 — 5:08 : But here's the astonishing part. Here we have to take a sudden sharp left turn to reach the trailhead. It's easy to miss (even for a sighted human!) and it's marked by a pile of rocks. Anyone who accidentally goes straight on would descend far further and eventually reach the road in a difficult place which would be VERY dangerous even for a dog with good sight.
5:08 — 6:20 : Down a long grassy slope with no dangers. In places there's a rough trail.
6:20 — 6:21 : Another junction, down a steep muddy, rocky trail through a bunch of trees and bushes.
6:21 — 7:08 : We emerge on safe level ground, about 200m from the trailhead itself. This was where Mara was patiently waiting for me to arrive after she'd made this whole remarkable journey all on her own.

Mara's incredible solo journey
https://avalonlibrary.net/Bill/Mara'...lo_journey.mp4
(1.25 Gb, so it may take a short wile to buffer and load))

[Orph]

To anyone viewing the above video with a little extra time on their hands, slow down the speed to .25, sit back and enjoy the scenery. It's worth it.

[BMJ]

I think Maras nickname would be Daredevil, and just like the comic book hero she employees all her sense to do extraordinary things.

[Rawhide68]

Having lost my cat Caramelle 15 years old recently ,I truely understand how much pets impact our feelings.

Thanks for sharing Ryan!
God speed!



PS Sory for not finding the correct Mara dog animation for you.
DS

[angelfire]

What a tribute beautiful Mara is to the animal kingdom.

[Bill Ryan]

A minor (I hope!! ) update about Mara. (A double update, in fact.)

Some readers may recall her adventure on 10 April which I recounted above. That day we became separated high in the Llama Valley, and she made her very magical way, blind and all on her own, down past the waterfall and a few dangerous rocky drops to very near the trailhead, where I found her patiently and happily waiting for me. She seemed entirely unfazed by her experience.

A couple of weeks after that, I had a dream. In my dream I saw Mara slip over the edge of a rocky cliff to her left, where she took a fall of what looked to be about 30-40 feet. She was unhurt except for a flesh wound on her right rear side. She was a little shaken, but scrambled away from the accident with no injury to her legs or head.

I thought little of it, except that of course I wondered if it might be a prophetic warning of some kind. In our subsequent hikes I watched her specially carefully. But all was well.

Then — OMG! — I saw that she did indeed have a flesh wound on her rear right side.

I'd never noticed it, as her coat is VERY thick and she often gets wet and muddy from wading in the water and rolling in the grass. Taking a close look, it seemed to have healed well. But there was a large scar about a couple inches in diameter.

Guessing, it seemed that it could well have happened when she made her own solo way down the trail past the waterfall and the steep rocks there. The timing would fit.

I'd simply never been aware of it. I don't have a photo of the injury, as my camera is out of action. But here's an image showing where the wound is. You can see it on her rear right side.



So that was just a rather curious thing. Evidently, no harm was done — however it happened.



Then, 4 days ago, we had something new. Mara, happily trotting along with me on the trail, developed a slight limp on her front paw. Again, I'd noticed nothing that might have caused this. But she could have easily slightly sprained her wrist on a slippery rock when I wasn't looking.

We'd not gone too far, and we turned round immediately. Going nice and slow, we were back at the trailhead within 20 minutes. But her limp was quite heavy by the time we got there.

Since then, Mara has been limping slowly around the house rather unhappily — though it seems a lot better now. I gave her some CBD oil (which is a kind of mild natural painkiller), and closed all the doors so she's inside and has to rest.

She's now 12 years old, no longer a pup, with thousands of mountain miles behind her. She's endured all kinds of things in her long life: replacement platinum tendons in both hind legs, then losing one eye, and then another. She always recovered from everything. And she's still super-excited whenever I start packing my backpack and putting my boots on.

I'm quietly hoping that this will heal fast, and we'll be active again soon. We'll try for a short local hike on Monday. And if all's well, we might go to the mountains again on Tuesday.

[avid]

Please don’t let her out of your sight 🙏🤞🐕‍🦺

[grapevine]

Do you think she could have something in it Bill? In the UK atm the blight for dogs is grass seeds which can burrow into their bodies either between their toes or in their ears etc., and owners are advised to check them thoroughly after every journey out, particularly in grasslands. It really is a scourge. Mara's coat is so thick you'd be forgiven for missing it. Will she let you touch it?

[Bill Ryan]

Posted by grapevine (here)
Do you think she could have something in it Bill? In the UK atm the blight for dogs is grass seeds which can burrow into their bodies either between their toes or in their ears etc., and owners are advised to check them thoroughly after every journey out, particularly in grasslands. It really is a scourge. Mara's coat is so thick you'd be forgiven for missing it. Will she let you touch it?

I've never heard of that! (Here's an article I just read)

• https://www.aldgatevet.co.uk/latest-...seeds-and-dogs

The Dangers of Grass Seeds in Dogs



I've never seen grass seeds like that here (on her nose or anywhere else!), but she does love to roll around in the thick alpine tundra grass.

I just took another look at her wound, and it's healed really well, it's not inflamed at all, and she's quite happy to let me touch it. Also, her limp is pretty much gone now. I do think we'll be good for a high hike again on Tuesday.

[Bill Ryan]

Posted by Bill Ryan (here)
I just took another look at her wound, and it's healed really well, it's not inflamed at all, and she's quite happy to let me touch it. Also, her limp is pretty much gone now. I do think we'll be good for a high hike again on Tuesday.

Sure enough. after a few days of rest she was 100% fine again. This one-minute video taken a few days ago is nothing special, but it shows her as happy as a puppy in the long alpine tundra grass which she always enjoys wading through even if she can't see a thing.

https://avalonlibrary.net/Bill/Mara_..._June_2025.mp4


But very soon after that, the weather, which had been grey day after day, turned super-cold and very wet. This is becoming the year without a summer for us, in stark contrast to last year's 6-month sun-every-day drought.

We went out again yesterday anyway. This is meant to be summer now, but it was icy cold with a strong wind, freezing rain and hail. (Too cold to take any photos!) I wore two fleeces under my storm jacket, and double gloves with two pairs of wool socks. And I was still cold.

There was too much water in the waterfall to cross it safely, and though I couldn't see a thing at the time I guessed (correctly!) that there was snow high on the mountain, later reported as a full 4 inches.

I didn't take this photo! It was in the local media this morning. But these are the mountains surrounding the Llama Valley, where we hike all the time. I have to admit, I'm partly wishing we'd braved the elements and gone up there anyway just to experience it all.



And here's a nicely made Instagram video of the same place. (At the very end, you can see 'our' waterfall. )

This is absolutely nothing for most readers here (even those in Scotland!), but it's quite a fun rarity here, living right on the equator.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DLquQd4tnnq

~~~

The good news in all this is that Mara, as she always does, recovered fully from her new injury. I give her all kinds of supplements, and my guess is that they work pretty well. As you can see in the little video above, she doesn't behave at all like a 12-and-a-half year old senior dog, in human years now (even! ) older than I am.

[Bill Ryan]

We went back up there today, managed to cross the waterfall , and found this panorama before us. It was still icy cold, but there was not much wind and it was dry. I was very tempted to head higher to reach the snow itself, but after a closer look I decided it was very likely to be a little too steep, slippery and rocky. (But still, this is a very rare sight here.)

1) Our waterfall crossing: (the video was curtailed, as I felt I had to drop the camera quite quickly to give Mara a hand and make 100% sure she was safe. )

https://avalonlibrary.net/Bill/Mara_..._July_2025.mp4


2) The Llama Valley: (yes, this is summer here now )

[Ravenlocke]

Wow snowy mountains in July! Brrr! Thats’s cold!

Hi Bill, so is the weather also cold and wet down below when you go to town? Just wondering…

[RunningDeer]

Mara is always present and never distracted.
There's a lesson in her stillness.

[Bill Ryan]

Posted by Ravenlocke (here)
Wow snowy mountains in July! Brrr! That’s cold!

Hi Bill, so is the weather also cold and wet down below when you go to town? Just wondering…

We have two 6-month seasons in Ecuador, as it straddles the equator: rainy (January—June) and summer (July—December). Summer should have started a few weeks ago, but the rain has been continuing relentlessly — down in the valleys and here at home too. I'd trade that for sunny blue skies, no rain, and daily power blackouts (because of low hydro levels, like last year) any time.

[Bill Ryan]

No video of Mara this time, but here's my great friend Pema (12 years old) running on the remains of the snow high on Quitahuayco today, where it was still very cold but this time there was just a little blue sky.

(For anyone unfamiliar with Pema, she was running as part of her regular daily training. Do see this fun thread, titled Introducing Pema, the Wonder Woman supergirl :).)

There may just possibly be another snowfall tomorrow, in which case we'll definitely head up there on Wednesday to see what it might be like again.

https://avalonlibrary.net/Bill/Pema_..._July_2025.mp4

[Bill Ryan]

Posted by Bill Ryan (here)
This is becoming the year without a summer for us, in stark contrast to last year's 6-month sun-every-day drought.

And our year without a summer continues:



That was yesterday. To my surprise, when I arrived at the trailhead I saw my friend Gilberto's vehicle there, where he and his super-athlete children Noam and Pema had clearly ventured out again for another training session.

I judged it was way too wild and icy-cold to go high, so we opted for our regular bad-weather Plan B, a slightly lower-level hike round a bunch of small lakes nearby. I was expecting to see them there as well — but they weren't there at all, and I realised they must have gone up to Quitahuayco, some 2,000 feet higher (where they'd had fun running in the snow a few days earlier in Noam's little video of Pema that I posted just above).

I was genuinely concerned. The weather was appalling. I felt they'd surely made a bad decision. When we returned to the trailhead, their vehicle was still there. I want to find Fabian, my mountain-guide friend who runs the little restaurant at the trailhead, told him where they must have gone, and alerted him that if they weren't back in a couple of hours there might be a problem.

(Fabian is very competent, and would know what to do. I was serious. You don't mess with these mountains. I posted here in 2018 about Wilson Serrano, a highly experienced and able local mountaineer who went out one day in weather that wasn't nearly as bad as this — and disappeared without trace. 664 people, including indigenous trackers, army and police searched for him for 30 days before they gave up. His body has never been found.)

Later in the afternoon, I went up to their house to check all was okay. They greeted me with huge smiles. "You're still alive!" I said.

"They're incredible", Gilberto told me. When they arrived at the trailhead and saw how bad it was, his immediate reaction was to turn round and head straight home again. "But they insisted they wanted to go up there. So that's what we did."

Gilberto suffered the most, as while Noam and Pema were running around in the icy rain and sleet, he sat and froze, having given his own gloves to little 12-year-old Pema, whose hands had been very cold. He said his fingers never warmed up for two hours after that.

They're both entered for a national race up Quitahuayco scheduled for next weekend. If the event goes ahead, I'll be there as well with my camera. But they all agreed that if the wintry non-summer continues like this, the race would certainly be canceled for safety reasons. (And quite right too! )

[Michel Leclerc]

From what I know about the field: nothing from experience but this from listening to two friends:

Friend One telling how her son, an experienced high-altitude climbing guide who made a hundreds of meters fall with his patrons on a rope, of whom one fell to his death, one broke his back and basin, one just had bruises and he himself fragmented his foot bones because he had allowed his quite assertive clients to override his warning that the weather was not to be trusted;

Friend Two, the attorney representing the relatives of the clients, who won the case against the Climbers‘ Club employing Friend One’s son.

Lesson One: never continue when your guide says Return,
Lesson Two: always return when you want to return even if your guide says Continue – with your guide.

Does that sound like a wise rule, mountaineering members? Bill?