Hiking With Llamas

In BootsnAll’s backyard, at the southern edge of eastern Oregon’s spectacular Wallowa Mountains, you can explore the state’s largest wilderness area, the Eagle Cap, and you can do it without having to haul all your gear along the trail… just let a llama do it. Amid towering peaks, glacier-sculpted valleys and sparkling mountain streams, llamas will carry all your amenities, for a hiking experience of ease and luxury normally unavailable to backcountry travellers in such rugged places.

You can do this thanks to the folks at Wallowa Llamas, who provide trained llamas at $40 a day. Or you can try out any of their wide array of services… they will pack in your gear for you to a drop camp, or take you on a guided trip and cook fabulous meals for you, or even sell you a llama.

I heard about this place from my friend Sarah, who spent a year there with her aunt and uncle, who run it. “Quite an amazing experience,” she says. “Incredible mountains, knowledgeable guides, and delicious organic meals with veggies fresh from my aunt Louise’s garden at the llama ranch!” This year’s hiking season is winding down, but now is a good time to explore their site and make plans for spring.

If you’ve ever read Tracks, by Robyn Davidson, about her trek across Australia’s outback in the company of camels, you can imagine that trekking with llamas must be an equally colorful experience. (And if you haven’t read Davidson’s book, you should!) There might be an equally engaging story out there about hiking with llamas… if you’ve found one, let me know.