Skip to main content

Taita Donuts!

Friends,

Tuesday, I took the opportunity to go on a hike I’d been longing to enjoy with my daughter. It had been over a decade since I ventured up the seldom trekked eight mile, 2,500 ft. vertical gain route to 13,000 foot high lake Taita Chugo. The route starts innocently enough with a scenic drive down a stone-paved backcountry road which ends at lake Llaviuco. Walk through the natural vegetation tunnel, past the lake and you’re officially on the trail. The first couple of miles are a stroll up a gently sloping narrow river valley, framed by two rugged mountains. At 11,000 feet, the crisp early morning air and overnight dew soon prove the running shoes and jeans a poor choice of attire. By the time we reach the cliff-framed waterfall that marks the transition to the intermediate stage, we’re drenched from the waist down. Fortunately, the activity keeps us warm, so we venture into the cloud forest, up a thin black mud path that might pass for a game trail. If fairies and elves exist, they surely dwell amongst the thick moss, ferns, bromeliads and orchids growing on every tree and stump of that secluded wood. Sure it’s slippery and our pants are thick with mud by the time we reach the tree line, but the light beaming through the trees and the stream providing a steady backbeat to accompany the occasionally visible singing birds inspire us to move on to the advanced stage. Unlike Colorado fourteeners, at the equator, there is still vegetation at this elevation. Straw, agave-like plants and tiny mountain flowers cover any dirt that does not boast exposed boulders. As fate (and a wrong turn) would have it, the next stretch was close to a vertical climb, grasping on to cracks and any available foliage for leverage. Here breath was becoming a scarce commodity. We struggle over a mountain and rejoin the trail, nested deep in a 3 foot wide canyon, climb over the last hill and, release! The massive kidney-shaped lake poses for us, its sole visitors –it’s past noon and there is not a soul for miles. We gaze for a few minutes and backtrack our steps, making our way to the slightly less craggy “official” trail (no downhill rock climbing for us that day!). Now the trek back! Down. 60° slopes. 30° slopes. Sight downhill. Car. Then Cuenca, Guayaquil, Panama, San Francisco, Denver. It’s good to be back! Joyous and glorious as my visit home was, I missed the office. I missed the hallway conversations. I missed you! And of course, I missed the donuts. While this morning’s donuts don’t have syringes in them (refer photo 13 of an odd Ecuadorian donut shoppe), they should still taste great. Enjoy them while you look at a few pictures from my hike!
Happy Friday!
1. Stone-paved road leading to trailhead

2. Trailhead at lake Llaviuco

3. Gentle stroll upriver 

4. Cloud forest

5. Moss-covered branch (o, yeah, and my daughter) 

  6. Even the "stairs" have ferns!

7. Above the tree line

8. Looking back to the valley from which we came up.

9. Our first glimpse of the goal. 13K ft. high lake Taita Chugo!

10. The trek

11. A final look before going back!
12. The muddied hiker survived!


13. Get your donut fix - straight to the vein!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

BIrds of a Feather

Friends, The early bird catches the worm, however, as the sun rises I’d much rather have a Denver omelet than a diet of worms . Ready to fly the coop, my ducks all in a row, I ponder one more time whether a bird in hand is truly worth two in the bush. Egged-on by my quest to tuck away a nest egg, I’ve decided to change industries and hope that, like the phoenix, my career will also rise from the ashes of change. After all, I’m no spring chicken –my crow’s feet and gray bely my age – however, I have to trust my judgment and believe you can’t catch this old bird with chaff (whether or not folks think me an odd bird for my actions). And so I shall attempt to soar like an eagle, aware that counting my chickens before they hatch would be ill-advised. As I learn to talk turkey in the language of cybersecurity, I will endeavor not to hide my head in the sand, choosing instead to be like a duck – calm on the surface and paddle like hell underneath! And while my excessive use of bird-inspired
Post a Comment
Read more

Ashes to Ashes

  Friends, I don’t know about you, but my household tends to use things a tad beyond their reasonably useful life. Cars, razors, pillows... heck, we squeezed the last BTU out of our home’s 25 year old thermostat —15 years is for rookies. This week we bid our fire pit farewell. Structurally unstable and rusted to the core, this contrivance was well on its way to returning to the soil. Memories of s’mores, cigars and shared spirits come rushing back, as does the six foot tall cardboard peach burned atop it, which caused the first stress fractures in the waning days of 2019. Good times! I suppose nothing lasts forever, but memories can add a sense of permanence to the fleeting. So go, grab a donut and make some new memories!! Happy Friday!
Post a Comment
Read more

To an end to Covid Games

  Friends, As 2021 comes to an end, it’s time to remember and be grateful for another year of life – there’s much for which to be grateful. Sure, some things could have gone better (they always can), but on balance things were good. At the González household, the cathartic process of capturing this year’s essence to burn at midnight is wrapping-up. This year’s theme, “Covid Games from home” uses Squid games (Netflix’s unlikely breakaway hit) as a way to mock the two main Covid variants of concern (Delta and Omicron) and commiserate about working from home with all the weirdness it carries along. Comfy slippers combined with dressing-up from the waist up for zoom meetings (not to mention the quarantine fifteen). As I hope for lots of snow and no wind (lest we need to call an audible on the midnight burn) my thoughts turn to my friends in Boulder county and hopes for a quick recovery. May 2022 bring an end to confinement and lots of opportunities to share donuts. Happy Friday!
Post a Comment
Read more