At the Peak of Exhaustion

On my first day off, Mark (the puma researcher) invited me to go along on a hike into the mountains behind the Estancia. He has captured five pumas and is monitoring them via radio-collar. The cat behind the Estancia is named Mojada. When monitoring the pumas, the GPS signals can indicate that a cat is holding a position due to a number of possible reasons, but mostly due to kill sites. Mojada happens to be a very good subject for such kill sites because she generally gets most of her meal taken from her due to Andean Condors. Therefore, she has a kill every couple of days.

I was thrilled to go along, but didnt realize to what extent I was going to punish my body. We departed at around 8:30 or so on what was only supposed to be a two mile hike...Ha Ha. Things were pretty easy going at first. We walked along a fairly easy trail crossing small mountain streams; enjoying the morning sun; talking about all kinds of things, but that was just the beginning. At our first stop, Mark checked the coordinates of the potential kill. "Only a mile left," he said casually.

We packed back up and headed straight for the brush. No more trails here. We were crawling through thorn thickets straight up the side of a mountian, and he was experienced at it. He went through them like it was nothing. I followed close behind, but as the incline got steeper, I started to drag a bit. The trees were thick, and I think it must have only been 200 or so meters long, but it was exhausting. Mark kept saying how he could see the edge, but I kept thinking to myself,"haha Mark, thats only a mirage. Its going to be funny when we have another whole cliff side to go through this needle forest." Well, it didnt turn out that way. He was right, but I think I would have taken more needle bushes over taking the next step in getting to the top. As we emerged from the forest, the mountain increased in the degree it sloped. We stopped for a second to catch our breaths (my breath) and were back on the ascent.

As we got closer to the top, the climate began to change a bit. The warm, mellow atmosphere at the base was none existant approaching the peak. The air had cooled to a crisp chill, and the wind picked up considerably. My legs were in a serious state of being overwhelmed by lactic acid. It reminded me of lactic acid workouts I did during track season. The pain would be so intense, my legs would be on the brink of collapse, but I had to just keep going. As we got closer and closer to the top, I started falling further and further behind. Mark had a good fifty meters on me by the time we got near the last cliff to climb.

On our last approach to the corridor of finishdom, the air became frigid and the wind turned gale force. The wind was so strong, it choked the air from your lungs, then threatened to hurl you over the side of the cliff. That is a terrible feeling to have

We finally made it, but the whole aura of the place changed instantly. The violent turbulence of the side we had just climbed turned eeriely calm, dropping down into a caldron of moss laiden trees with shadows scattered across a glaze of melting snow. We were on the hunt for the puma now. Marks walk became slower and more cautious as we got closer to the kill site. Lion tracks covered the snow, trails leading in all directions. We scanned the trees hoping to catch a quick glimpse of a just fed cat, but no lion could be found.

As we approached the kill site, a kind of rancid smell filled the air. Come to find out, it was the ravaged stomach of a large male guanaco. We continued on, following the drag marks of the once living, breathing animal, now reduced to stomach rubbish. Lions are very powerful animals, and this particular lion showed its brut force by dragging the dead guanaco over a giant log. One so large, even the biggest mountain man could not lift it. On the other side laid the picked remains of the dead guanacos and with, sure enough, condor feathers littered about the ground.

It was a prime site for Mark to get data and he will get his chance probably in another day and a half or so. Mojada has had 38 kills in the last three months, which his pretty outstanding. She has become a specialist, feeding solely on guanacos. She will definately have another kill soon not only because most of her meals get eaten by the condors, but she has two kittens as well.

Would I do it again? Probably. Im probably going to be doing it as often as I can. Pretty soon, I should be scaling the cliff faces like a guanaco, but hopefully not just like one. Wouldnt want to be picked clean by lions and condors.