A Sweet Stray Dog Joined A Group Of Hikers On Their Grueling Himalayan Mountain Climb
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Mera, the stray dog who captured hearts on her trek up the Himalayas with a group of unsuspecting climbers.
In more good news from this year, one canine completed a grueling hike up a Himalayan mountain with a group of climbers. The interesting thing was that the dog had seemingly come out of nowhere.
Mera, the 45-pound Tibetan mastiff and Himalayan sheepdog mix, had joined the group of experienced climbers as they were descending from the Mera Peak summit.
The climbers encountered the dog during their 23,389-foot ascent up the Baruntse peak. The dog quickly made friends with the people in the group, who were puzzled as to how the dog climbed up as far as she did on her own.
But she warmed up to group leader Don Wargowsky the most, and he shared shelter inside his tent with the stray pup.
“They’d never seen anything like this happen,” said Wargowsky. “They said she was a special dog, that she brought luck to the expedition. Some even thought she was blessed.” Only time could tell whether the dog would be able to follow the group all the way up the peak.
At one point, when Mera got stuck on a glacier with treacherous winds and had to spend two days and nights by herself, Wargowsky became convinced she might not survive her time on the mountain.
With encouragement from two sherpas guiding the group, Mera was able to get across the challenging section. The dog had no trouble keeping up with her human pack for the rest of the trip, often running along behind their trail.
“I’d never been on top of something like that with a dog,” Wargowsy said. “She was leaning up against me and wanting to be petted. It was pretty surreal.” In the end, she managed to cover 23,000 feet up the Himalayas — a sweet end to a happy tale.
