Llama Packing in the West: Bits of History by Bobra B. Goldsmith or those of us who live in or near the mountains and enjoy refreshing day hikes or lengthy pack trips, llamas are truly great companions. Not only can they carry all our camping gear, but they are, like us, very observant and enjoy their outings. Once they learn the pattern of a work day, sometimes strenuous, followed by a nice rest period over night in a nice mountain meadow, or a return home, they are very willing and easily managed. Another big advantage of llamas as packers is their low impact on the environment, which has been studied formally and is recognized by most offices of the U. S. Forest Service. So when and how did llama packing in the U.S. get started? Looking back, it seems that it was the early commercial trekking outfits that introduced the idea and developed the necessary equipment. In 1977, Francie Greth-Peto, a special education teacher, had taught a unit about Peru and knew that llamas
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had been used as pack animals there for sister and brother-in-law’s place. They centuries. She and her husband, Guy were good friends of my father who had Peto, saw the Patterson Ranch classified retired to that area. In midsummer of 1978, my husband ads for llamas in Sunset Magazine, acquired some llamas there and from and I were visiting at my father’s ranch, Sally Taylor, invented a pack, and started twenty-five miles from Montague up in the first commercial trekking business in the mountains. As a former horse-crazy 1978, named Mama’s Llamas. They led kid for thirty years, I was happily helping their first pack trips in the Sierra the neighbor’s daughter train her threemountains west of Lake Tahoe. They year old colt. One morning I received a gradually expanded their packing areas call from Steve saying that he had nineto include hikes along the Pacific coast. month old llama he couldn’t get to walk Later, they even led two pack trips in in water. I replied, “Bring him up to the Peru and one in Alaska, using llamas ranch. We have water running all over.” That afternoon, Steve came up in a available in those areas. Francie also started the first llama publication in this Toyota truck with a solid, home-built country, which she named “The 3-L camper-top. I opened the gate for him to enter the large area around the Llama” after the Ogden Nash The Lama house and barn. Steve opened poem (inset). Also in 1977, Stephen Biggs, a The one-L lama, the back of the camper, handed sociology professor in a small He’s a priest, me the lead-rope of the The two-L llama, standing and alert young llama. college near San Francisco read He’s a beast, “Here, you teach it,” Steve said. an article about llamas being And I will bet The llama jumped handily pack animals. Steve was an avid A silk pajama out of the truck, and I led it to backpacker, and he knew that There isn’t any a shallow depression in the there was a possibility that the Three-L llama. lawn where the irrigation water small college where he taught might fold, as was happening to - Ogden Nash was flowing through out to a several colleges at that time. So Steve large pasture. I pulled on the llama’s lead decided to leave teaching and start a rope. It balked. I tried again, more packing business. At first he bought a firmly. It still balked. I pulled again so few llamas of various ages and later he firmly that it cantilevered the llama’s also acquired some males from the big back legs off the ground briefly, and then Patterson Ranch near Sisters, Oregon. he jumped over the water. I turned him He kept his first few llamas near the tiny around to cross again, and he came with town of Montague, California, at his me several times with no hesitation. Guests on a pack trip in Colorado with Rocky Mountain Llamas
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Llama Packing in the West
Then we walked out into the pasture where the water was spread out. The llama followed me easily, seemingly with no anxiety about getting his feet wet. Next we went to a major ditch about three feet wide with water a foot deep. I jumped across and the llama came with me, again with no hesitation. We returned through the running water on the pasture to the yard. I was really impressed by how fast this young llama learned and had questions for Steve: “How do you reward a llama? What do they like? What do they not like?” Steve didn’t know—yet. He had never even owned a dog before, not to mention any larger animals. As a result of my encounter with Steve’s llamas, by the end of August back home in Colorado, I had my first three llamas. And by the end of October 1978, I had eleven and was busy training and learning from them. Like Fancie and Guy, Steve acquired more male llamas from Dick and Kay Patterson’s ranch near Sisters, Oregon. As his plans developed and training progressed, Steve moved to his own small ranch in Mt. Shasta, just south of Montague and Yreka and, naturally, he named his new business “Shasta Llamas.” He developed a pack which was a latigo leather saddle with the two cinches fastened with Velcro. There were two brackets on each side to which were fastened tall, human, Kelty-type back packs. He also had a friend who became his partner. Their first pack trip in 1979 started the last weekend in June and, like subsequent trips, he led their guests, mostly professionals from the San Francisco area, into the beautiful Marble Mountain Wilderness. Again in mid-July 1979, my husband and I went out to my Dad’s ranch. In the first days of August, I had a call from Steve. His partner could not go on the five-day trip scheduled to start August 6th. Could I come along as assistant and llama handler? Sure! I was delighted. My husband got me a nice new sleeping bag, and I was ready. It was a good learning experience for both Steve and me. Putting the packs with the two attached loaded panniers on the llamas required both of us to lift The Camelid Quarterly
“Cuzco” carrying bed springs (1981).
the pack onto the llama’s back. Then the person on the right side supported that pannier while the person on the left side raised the left pannier, pulled up the cinches and fastened them with the Velcro straps under the pannier—not the simplest possible procedure. While hiking some of the guests led a llama part of the time, but I was in charge of the last two llamas in line. I
At right: Forest Ranger Craig with “Spook” hauling mulch hay (1981)
tied the second llama’s lead line to the lead ring of the front llama’s halter. This worked and I found that while we were walking along, if the second llama stopped for some reason, the front llama felt the pull back and stopped, too, and so I got the message. This led to my designing our “String-along” leads with a panic snap at the front end. Another thing I learned on this first trip with Steve was that all his llamas were only between twenty and thirty months of age. They were not fully grown, and none of us 2
knew then that llamas would not reach full height until nearly three years of age. Because the panniers on the packs were the tall, vertical-shaped human-style pack bags, they were hanging down near the llama’s knees and swung quite bit as they walked. One day I remarked to Steve that humans are built vertically and the tall pack bags work fine for them, but llamas’ bodies are horizontal. Why not design the panniers to match their shape? It happened. The next year’s packs had saddles longer from withers toward the hips with brackets to hold the separated and redesigned panniers. Now one could put on the saddle first and then fasten on the panniers individually. Further developments included special padding under the saddle to keep all weight off the spine. As my husband and I returned home to Colorado and drove through our mountains on Highway 40, I thought back on how the guests on Steve’s trek enjoyed the scenery, refreshing themselves, appreciating the llamas and especially being out in the wilderness without the burden of carrying their own gear. They particularly enjoyed the fine fresh food that Steve provided using coolers and even some dry ice to keep some items. None of it was the usual dry food mixes that most backpackers carry. It seemed to me that I ought to offer similar treks into our beautiful mountain areas, especially given our higher altitudes. So I spent the fall-winter of 1979-80 planning and researching the areas that would be good for packing. Although I had two good studs and a gelding who would pack, I needed to acquire more male llamas to establish a hearty pack string. There were not any llamas available close by. But with a little research I found a ranch way out on the eastern plains that had a bunch of llamas. I bought three males, four to six years old, that were totally unhandled. They learned as fast as any youngster I raised myself. My folks had friends near Taos, New Mexico, who had some male llamas they could part with, so I went there and got two three-year olds, a two-year old and a yearling. In January of 1981, I went to the local Forest Service Office to ask about permits March 2005
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for the areas I wanted to use for treks. I took my Spook stud along in the van to show them a llama. They were quite impressed and agreed to my having permits for the commercial packing. Several months later, they phoned and asked me if the llamas could carry some re-vegetation supplies up to a lake where over-use had damaged the ground and caused erosion. This involved carrying the seed, tools and bales of straw for mulch. On another occasion, the Forest Service called and asked us to carry quite a lot of junk out of the area around Lost Lake in the Indian Peaks Wilderness. A Girl Scout troop had spent time cleaning up around an old miner’s cabin by the lake. I happily agreed, and we arranged the time. Some of the “junk” turned out to be two old rusty bed springs. We managed to fold them both in half and tie them. Then we loaded them on my large three-year old Cuzco. They had to be balanced by stuffing a plastic bag with a few more pounds of weight into the springs on one side. These expeditions led to the Forest Service leasing my llama, Julio, for several summers to work with a crew of four for trail maintenance
The Camelid Quarterly
Greyfeather carrying rolls of the new anti-erosion matting (2002).
four days a week. They would pick Julio up on Monday morning and bring him home Thursday evening. The Forest Service projects were in addition to the regular commercial llama treks, which I started in 1981. Fortunately for me, a young man, Steve Eandi, who had taken the first “Introduction to Llamas” class I had given at our local Free University in 1979, came to me and said he wanted to go into commercial packing. As a very experienced backpacker, he knew all the areas in Colorado I had permits for, plus Lander, Wyoming. So our commercial llama trekking lasted for six to seven years, until Steve and his wife had twins. Another major player in the development of llama packing is Stan Ebel. From his farm in Nebraska he came to northern Colorado in 1979. He leased a llama, along with the frame pack he had designed, to Jim Hook, who was the Forest Service trail maintenance crew foreman for the Estes-Poudre region in Northern Colorado in 1980. Jim kept a daily log with comments and evaluations on the advantages of lightening the loads carried by his trail crew. He included other information on encounters with hikers and horseback riders. he also providedinformation on the llama’s eating and drinking habits, and low environmental impact because of their soft, padded feet. In 1981, Stan moved to Northern Colorado, founded Great Divide Llamas, offering both commercial treks and 3
leasing of llamas. His Buckhorn Llama Company still provides these services from Masonville, and Durango, Colorado, and Bluff, Utah. One other early commercial llama packing outfit, Oregon Llamas, was started by Tom Landis and his wife in 1982. They offered trips throughout the mountainous areas of Oregon, and like many of us, specialized in raising the classic llama built so well for packing. Although Tom is now retired, Oregon Llamas still functions under its new owner, Barret Lash. Of course, during these developmental years, many individuals caught on to the delights of packing with llamas, sometimes through their experience on a commercial trip. While I no longer do commercial trekking, every summer llama friends and I work with the US Forest Service. Our llamas carry all the necessary supplies in support of other volunteers who do important trail and revegetation work in the nearby, muchused wilderness areas. To this day, when hikers meet llamas on the trail, they are always curious and are often tempted by the possibility of having or leasing a llama to relieve them of carrying all their gear. Llamas are still popular packers, not only because of their usefulness, but also because of their delightful and interesting characters and personalities. CQ About the Author Bobra Goldsmith owned and trained her own pleasure horses for 30 years and began training llamas when she started her herd in 1978. She introduced commercial llama trekking the Central Rockies in 1981 and has been active in developing appropriate equipment for all llama activities. She and her husband, Ulrich, retired from teaching in the humanities at the University of Colorado in 1979. Bobra has a herd of about 90 classic llamas. She gives clinics in basic training, packing, herd management, and cart driving for llama owners, and contributes to llama publications. She is a retired judge of the Alpaca & Llama Show Association. Bobra Goldsmith can be reached at Rocky Mountain Llamas 7202 N 45th Street Longmont, Colorado, USA 80503-8844 Phone/fax: 303-530-5575 llamas@rockymtllamas.com www.rockymtllamas.com March 2005