Dear HCN,
Hal Walter is all wet.
I’ve packed with llamas an average of 300 miles, 65 miles per week
at elevations averaging 12,000 feet, each summer since 1985. The
average weight carried per llama during the week has been 90
pounds. When my llamas want to crap or pee at a creek crossing I
just pull them across before they can stop. Llama feces, in the
form of pellets, looks much like deer and elk feces. Equine feces
looks like crap. Llamas weigh an average of 350 pounds, and I know
for a fact that llamas do less damage to trails than the average
equine because of their lower weight.
Llamas and
their human masters are probably alike in at least one way – some
know what they are doing and some don’t.
John
Fielder
Englewood,
Colorado
The writer is a
photographer and book
publisher.
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Kudos for llamas.
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