Llamas on the Trail

[homeranch]

gdurkee, you are a back country ranger in Yosemite?

When we were kids we went to Tenaya Lake every summer for two weeks. my dad would take off to Sunrise Lakes to fish and leave us really little kids to play at the lake and meadow. Ruined me for any sort of real job.

We had a ranger come and give great campfire talks, we would sing songs like "Little Chief Tenaya sat on a Fiya (fire)

Years later I learned that was Carl Sharsmith (did I spell it right)

By chance do you know Olaf Carmel former ranger, or Victoria Brown, former ranger, now at the Inyo in Bridgport (now being sometime in the last 5 years)

[giantbrookie]

Pardon one more dynamite diversion (with fish involved)...one of the greatest Eastern Sierra fishing legends concerns the dynamiting of Upper Horton Lake. I'm not sure when the incident occurred. I'm thinking 70's because the story was told to me in 1981 at lower Horton by Bishop mountaineer Sy Osofsky. Apparently some guy walked into the Bishop Fish and Game office one afternoon and proudly showed off some immense 20 inch goldens he caught in Upper Horton. Story goes that the DFG folks arrested the guy on the spot. They had noticed that the eyes of the goldens were bloodshot, a sure sign of being depth charged with dynamite.

[dave54]

...Anyone know the proper protocol for disposing of a pack animal? I was told by a backcountry ranger and I was shocked. It would be interesting to see what others say....

Actually, the research branch of the Forest Service once published a paper on how to dispose of backcountry carcasses using explosives (early 1990's or late 80's?). I searched online in the tech libraries a few months ago but could not find it. I used to have a hard copy.

It was a serious study, initiated after inquiries from field personnel. The researchers went out and actually blew up carcasses of cattle and horses, using different amounts, different types, and different placements of explosives. Published the results of the recommended methods to get good dispersement and using a minimum amount of explosives. Don't want to use any more than you have to, after all if it is in a Wilderness you have to pack the boom stuff in on your back, and there are Wilderness Act restrictions...

Maybe Mythbusters will pick this one up?

[rlown]

ok,

Any chance this topic can get back on track about llamas, packing, and not dynamite?

Russ

[ERIC]

ok,

Any chance this topic can get back on track about llamas, packing, and not dynamite?

Russ

But it's so much more FUN!

Ok (sigh), you win. Back to the 'other' cool topic.

[dave54]

Sorry for the dynamite diversion, but i'd kinda like to know if my ranger friends out there carry dynamite.

My wife's Uncle Dick, now deceased, was a Forest Service ranger at San Jacinto 1917 to 1919. He had some wild stories. Dynamite was on the standard equipment list when you loaded the pack horses for a month long backcountry patrol.

[homeranch]

Our boys had not been placed into a train and led on a hike in nearly two years. Our lives have been so busy with our move, getting established into our new home etc. The boys had become pasture potatoes, but, I took them to the beach the other day.

Haltered, put them in the trailer, saddled them and walked them. Here is something I like about llamas, they did all I asked as if they had been hiking the day before. They hold their training very well.

There must have been 30 photos taken of them, such an unusual sight to see, llamas on the beach.

http://www.greatbasinguide.com

[rlown]

When you take them to the high-country, how often do you move them around and what do you use to tie them out, so to speak. I know that i'd like to be safe, leaving them for a good 4 hrs while i went somewhere i'm sure they could not follow.

Russ

[homeranch]

First point, I seldom leave them. I do make a decision about lions, If I am above normal lion range I do not worry so much, but they could do something else, tie them selves up, pull a pin and wander off. So perhaps I would leave them for an hour max.

To tie them out I use standard screw in dog pins, aluminum is lightest. to that I clip a 10-15 foot line, 4 mil perlon works great, and clip that to their halter. They can move around in that 20-30 foot circle.

If you did this with a horse it would likely get all tangled and freakout, but the llamas are easier.

Just make sure the circles don't overlap. I want the stake to come out if they are scared by something, beats having them injure themselves

I move the stakes depending on the browse, I prefer to have them at the margins of a meadow where they can munch on a shrub as well as grass, but I don't want to leave a noticeable lack of vegetation. so I might move them three or four times a day if it is a layover day. I look for harder ground, they don't want to be in soggy muddy ground and we don't want the destruction that would occur. I also watch their pooping. twice in one spot is enough, they like to poop in the same spot, so they will build a pile, I prefer small piles that I then scatter.

Llama poop, called "beans" is like deer pellets, dry and odorless, nicer to deal with than horse manure.

For water, I use an REI collapsable bucket, I move it from llama to llama so they all have the opportunity to drink. Sometimes they will go for a day or two without drinking, then down gallons, sometimes they will frequently drink.

[Phil R]

I've been on three llama packing trips in the Sierras. I think the biggest issue with most of the group was the late starting time each day. We didn't hit the trail until 10 or 10:30 because it took so long to organize and pack the gear. The llamas only carried about 10-15 lbs. of gear each. Instead of going lighter we carried more gear and food...should have rethought that strategy.

I think one of the best ways to use llamas is to haul stuff in to create a base camp. Then do a lot of fishing and day hikes.