Alternative Pack Animals
PUBLISHED IN THE FALL 2020 ISSUE OF BACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL
I was sixteen miles into my first solo backpacking trip in West Virginia’s Cranberry Wilderness when I realized I had no idea what I was doing. My shoulders were sore, my hip bones were chafed, and my load was top-heavy. I was stumbling back and forth across the trail, tripping over rocks and roots like a milk-drunk toddler.
I had grown up in the backcountry of Colorado’s Rocky Mountains and my introduction to sleeping in a tent happened not long after I stopped sleeping in a crib, but my family had always used pack llamas to haul our gear. I was two days into that first solo trip in the Cranberry Wilderness before I realized that backpacking requires a different skill set: one that revolves around counting ounces instead of pounds, of being the beast of burden instead of leading one.
I continued to backpack (and get better at it) while I lived on the east coast, but as soon as I moved back to Colorado, I stuffed my Gregory pack into a black contractor bag and pulled out a saddle. Llamas are fantastic trail companions: a well-trained llama will follow you up the trail, silently and on a loose lead, and carry eighty pounds of your gear without complaint. They also have incredible eyesight and can spot wildlife minutes before you are able to find anything in your binoculars.
Pack animals can completely transform your outdoor experience, allowing you to go further, stay longer, and eat real food while you do it. Horses and mules are the traditional pack stock, of course, but they require more than most of us can manage these days: more land, more equipment, extensive animal husbandry knowledge, a whole lot of feed, and higher vet bills.
Llamas aren’t the only alternative pack animal out there, however: folks are packing with goats and donkeys and even with camels and yaks. Your choice of animal depends upon the type of packing you’d like to do, as the different animals are ideally suited for different terrain and different relationships with their human counterparts. If the idea of outsourcing your backpack to an alternative pack animal sounds appealing, here’s how to get started: READ MORE AT BACKCOUNTRYHUNTERS.ORG
