[pct-l] backpacking planning--using stock for a long trek

[mardav at charter.net (Marion Davison)]

Brick writes:  
>From what I understand, using a pack animal on the PCT (mule, horse, 
llama, goat) is more difficult than carrying your gear, becuase the
animal 
needs more care to stay healthy than the human.

I have been llama packing on the PCT for eight years.  Our longest trip
was 26 days and 300 miles.  We have done as much as 45 days in one
summer on two separate section hikes.  This year we did 40 days in 3
hikes with breaks in between.  
A llama does not walk as fast or as far as a person can walk in a day. 
The longest hiking days we have had were 17 miles, taking about 9 to 10
hours.  I do not think a llama could put in 16 hour days and 25+ miles
day after day, as thru hikers do.  Part of the problem is feed.  We give
our llamas a pound of super-high test feed each day, and they must graze
or browse to meet the rest of their needs (which is 5-7 pounds of feed a
day, depending on work).  If the llama is hiking all the daylight hours,
he won't have enough time to graze.  There is no way he can carry enough
feed to meet his needs. He would have so much feed to carry that he
wouldn't be carrying much stuff for you.  Also, a llama needs 2-3
gallons of water, absolute minimum, to drink daily.  Again, he can't
carry that much weight and be much help to you, and the PCT has some
pretty long walks between water sources at lower elevations.  
We hike 12-15 miles per day for a month in the high sierra where water
and natural feed are quite plentiful, and our llamas still lose about 40
pounds in a month long trip.  They gain it back quickly on returning
home.  But if he were to go for several months, the llama would lose too
much weight.  He would probably get nutritional deficiencies and get
long-term damage to his joints and feet on a very long trip.
The longer your hike takes (because the animal can't go as fast as a
person might) the more problems you have.  Because they arrive there so
early in the season, PCT hikers have to deal with lots of snow and ice
in the Sierras, and llamas can't wear crampons or use an ice ax, so they
can't deal with steep snow and ice.  A llama can't be persuaded to do
something that entails a potentially fatal risk, like crossing a steep
ice field with great exposure to falling.
Therefore we don't go into the Sierras until the snow melts (July and
August), and we carry a shovel to deal with snow piles on the trail on
the high passes.  
One more thing.  Hikers can climb over or squeeze around nearly any log
obstacle on a trail, but llamas and horses can be stopped dead by big
logs that haven't been cleared.  We carry a 12" saw (the biggest thing
we have found that is still manageable to carry) to clear logs.  This
year we cleared several dozen logs, many from the PCT, and had to cut
tread or clear detours around logs that were too big to cut.  One log
obstacle on the PCT in Yosemite in July 2003  turned our planned 34 day
trip into a 10 day trip.  We had to turn around and go back because we
couldn't go any further north.  There were no detour trails around the
problem and we aren't allowed to go cross country.
Joanne can tell us about the effects of a long trek on a horse.  I have
seen Hopi and he looked like one very athletic and healthy horse.  But I
know the logistics of long treks with stock is a nightmare, mostly
because of bureaucratic problems.
I absolutely can't recommend using a llama for a thru hike.  I don't
know of anyone that has done it successfully (Mex to Cananda).  If
anyone knows of someone who has, please let me know.  I would love to
talk to that person and learn from them.  The longest llama trek I have
heard about was about 750 miles.  
We do enjoy using llamas to section hike and will continue to do so as
long as the bureaucrats let us, despite the drawbacks I mentioned.  We
love being in the Sierras for a month in August.  It is paradise.
Marion




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