Mara returns to the Mountains

[Bill Ryan]

Here's something a little different: 3 short videos of the mountain road that we navigated to reach our hike yesterday. The first two show the view on the way to the trailhead, while the third is on the way back. The one-way journey takes about 20 minutes from the main road.

Enjoy. But not for the faint-hearted!!

https://avalonlibrary.net/Bill/mount...8_Jan_2026.mp4
https://avalonlibrary.net/Bill/mount...8_Jan_2026.mp4
https://avalonlibrary.net/Bill/mount...8_Jan_2026.mp4







One we got there, it was quiet and beautiful. We lost the sun after an hour, but here's a nice photo of the first water we got to, high on the mountainside overlooking the clouds, which Mara was happy to find after a hot 1000 ft climb.

(high-resolution photo shrunk to fit the page... just open in a new tab to see all the detail.)



This high valley is extremely interesting, as there's an ancient stone circle there, 100% man-made, exactly like the ones in South-West England and the North of France:



... and finally, another shot of the stone circle, complete with horses, which seem to like it there.

[Bill Ryan]

Some more trivia, to lighten the geopolitical mood.

Another ascent of Cerro Amarillo yesterday. The first photo shows Mara half way up, happily enjoying the only water on the mountain, and the second is us at the top, now in thick cloud. (Our timing was perfect. It started raining heavily just minutes later, and we descended to the trailhead as fast as we could to warm up and dry off back home.)

The images are quite high quality, reduced to fit the page width. Just open in a new window to see the detail. (If you like! )

[Bill Ryan]

Not quite a "Beautiful Nature Picture" (see this gorgeous thread of prize-winning images!), but it's really quite a nice photo by my modest standards. (Very high resolution, resized to fit the page. Open in a new window to see it at full size.)

This is sunrise over Cerro Amarillo, taken at 7:30 am. Right now the heavy rain only kicks in there mid-morning, and the earlier we can get there the more fresh, bright and beautiful it is. Cerro Amarillo (which we climb quite regularly now, see the post just above) is the high peak on the right.

Mara is in the center of the panorama. I swear she also somehow admires the view.

[Casey Claar]

I always love it when the lights show up to play in the photos like this. It is a stunning vision-and-view -and near to like you two are being visited.

[Bill Ryan]

Posted by Casey Claar (here)
I always love it when the lights show up to play in the photos like this. It is a stunning vision-and-view -and near to like you two are being visited.

Early this morning, some more light and magic.

Dawn silhouette of the mountain skyline:



Mara under the sunrise:



(and a couple hours later, lower down) ... a large group of llamas and alpacas:

[Bill Ryan]

Mara and I went up the Llama Valley waterfall again the other day, the heavy rainy-season volume having decreased just enough for it to be safe to cross. My friend Gilberto was the cameraman for the first short video.

https://avalonlibrary.net/Bill/Bill_...7_Feb_2026.mp4



On the way back, it was just Mara and myself, and this is a longer video showing Mara's determined perseverance and experimentation (considering she can't see a thing!) to find the best way down and across the torrent.

This isn't pet abuse! I know exactly what she can and can't do, and I know when she's having fun with a challenge or when she's stressed. She was all fine here, and in various different ways we have these kinds of adventures all the time.


https://avalonlibrary.net/Bill/Bill_...7_Feb_2026.mp4

[Vicus]

Beautiful pet soul!

Maybe my question is too private for you two,but: Why she dint got "children?"

[4evrneo]

Wow Bill, that just warms my heart seeing her able to navigate so well! Such a beautiful experience for you both. Our companions are so amazing! I lost my dog Killian in Aug of 2024 suddenly and I miss him terribly and think of our time together quite often. Thank you for sharing such an adventure!

Annette

[Bill Ryan]

Another ascent of Cerro Amarillo, on a gorgeous, clear, cloudless morning. We left home when it was still dark and reached the summit at 7:30 am.

(Do open the hi-res images in a new tab to see all the detail )





And here's a 30-second 360º panorama:

https://avalonlibrary.net/Bill/Cerro...8_May_2026.mp4

[Bill Ryan]

Some photos from our early morning hike yesterday.

First, this is how VERY gorgeous it was.



Then, to a second lake a few minutes later.... and just above Mara you can just see two llamas in the distance. Of course, she has no idea they're there.



A little closer, Mara is cooling off in the same lake, but she's still unaware.



But then, a minute or two later, Mara, although she's 100% blind, totally senses the llamas just ahead of her.



And a close encounter ensues. One llama is intensely curious, while the other doesn't seem to care.











And a minute or two after that, we have a different view, looking through the mist into the rising sun. It's not always as beautiful (or interesting!) as this, but I did feel these fun images might be worth sharing.

[Bill Ryan]

We were blessed with another gorgeous day today, not a cloud in the sky. (Might summer be here already? Ecuador has two seasons, rainy (January—June) and dry (July—December). The transition is usually fairly sudden, not gradual as in the Northern and Southern hemispheres. And if it is suddenly summer now, it's come several weeks early. )

So this morning, we headed out to what followers of this thread may recognize as the Llama Valley, a beautiful high remote place with a bunch of fairly large lakes. (But no llamas today!) After an hour, we were greeted with this view: (open at full size in a new tab if you'd like to see all the detail)



Mara can't see a thing, of course, but back when she had her eyes she always loved to gaze out from any high viewpoint over all these expansive panoramas stretching out before her. (And she could easily see a llama a mile away. ) Now, she still does exactly the same thing — as if she knows perfectly well that the broad valley and the many lakes are all right there below.

20 minutes later, we were a little higher:



And that was our high point for the day. It was the longest and highest hike Mara had done for several months, and I didn't want to push it too much as despite how enormously she loves it up in the mountains I do have to kind of remind myself that she's really quite an old dog now.

~~~

And indeed, here's her age in human terms, assuming she's a Golden Retriever, or an Andean equivalent that's pretty close. According to this site, it'd be quite rare for a Golden Retriever to live to more than 13.

But Mara is nearly 13 and a half. And she's still going VERY strong. This is the age calculation:



Other doggie-age sites put her at over 90(!), but that seems just too ridiculous considering her energy and agility. 84 is plenty, and I'm as sure as I can be that we still have a great deal more high mountain hiking together ahead of us — by which time she really will be well into her 90s and beyond.

[Bill Ryan]

A new short video of us crossing the waterfall, heading up to the high Llama Valley.

(Many have seen this before, and it all looks the same! ) But it still feels like fun light relief to share how we're doing.)

https://avalonlibrary.net/Bill/Mara_..._June_2026.mp4



I was sent this PM:

Bill, that's amazing for a thirteen and a half year old golden retriever. What's the secret sauce in her diet?

I've written about this a little on the Dogs' Health and Wellness thread. In brief, she has a pure carnivore diet: 90% chicken scraps, 10% high-fat minced beef (the cheapest quality!), a little milk now and then, and no cereal ever. I also give her daily supplements including doggie doses of multivits, collagen, fish oil, and hyaluronic acid. (Hyaluronic acid is a pretty effective preventative, or a remedy, for any incipient arthritis.)

[Harmony]

I never get tired of seeing how you and Mara hike through the beautiful mountains. The trust she has with her very best friend is heart warming and the sound of the river brings it all alive, like we might be there too.