(KUTV) Brian Latturner, Jerald Olsen, Adam and I have rented three llamas from Utah Valley Llamas near the Hari Krishna Temple in Spanish Fork help take some of the roughin' it out of this outing.
"I wonder if you're viewers know why Llamas hum like this, they hum because they don't know the words," said Chris Warden, Utah Valley Llamas, Spanish Fork.
Thank you ladies and gentlemen, Chris will be here all week...at the trailhead the gear is careful packed and weighed to insure stability on the trail.
"Cheap fish scale goes to 50 pounds, you're never gonna put more than 50 pounds so these Llamas will pack 60 to 80, 80 on big strong one only going five miles, 80 pounds be good. Smaller ones 70 pounds," said Brian Latturner, monstermuleys.com.
Day hikers at the trailhead are intrigued and we give the kids a chance to get an up close look. Llamas love kids.
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“They'll put up with more from kids than adults,” said Warden. "Lead around tree 16 times, second time Llama looks at me and says what's the point."
The Llamas rent for $40 per day, 180 per week for two animals. And they are environmentally friendly. Their soft feet are gentle on the trail and since they're carrying the bulk of the load, our back packs are relatively light.
"The advantage over backpacking is you can go more comfortably, take good food rather than backpacker food, stay longer, sleep on softer bed, advantage over a horse you can go to top of mountain stay a couple of days before you have to come down and give them a drink. Easy to handle? Much well mannered than a horse, calm, not fast walking pace, like that, keep yourself alive rather than killing yourself on the way up," said Latturner.
"We're gonna be living pretty good, always better to eat bacon and eggs, rather than freeze dried backpacker food," said Latturner.
Along the trail more kids get a rare encounter with these unusual critters.
"How does he feel compared to your cat, softer, softer than Jesse ok," said one hiker.
"Tell you what, these Llamas are the deal, this is hands free back country packing. I'm impressed with how well they track, perfect walking pace," said bow hunter Jerald Olsen.
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