SummitPost.org

Have people seen this?

http://travel.nytimes.com/2009/08/30/travel/30kids.html

Redwood offers full-service pack trips that include guide, tents, llamas and meals for $4,000 for four people, four days, or $1,000 a person per day

$1000 a day per person? No thanks.

In Nepal you can hire 200 porters for that price and would save money even with the plane ticket.

Carrying gear for three kids for a few days isn't that hard (at least not hard enough to pay that much), at least not in summer. Sounds fun; just too expensive.

Wow, we put people on a horse and provide awesome meals and completely set up camps for a whole lot less than that. Maybe we should charge more for people to hike instead of ride? Llamas can be a LOT cheaper than that.

Who noses around Silverton, CO for a few days. Its a few blocks?

It was very common to see llamas on the trails in the Pecos wilderness of NM (on the way to Pecos Baldy e.g.) in the 1980s and 1990s. We also had horse packers on the same trails, and the llamas seemed less messy and less skittish.

There was a big llama farm NW of Bend, Oregon.

those longneck, flatheaded, bug-eyed aliens freak me out!

Redwood offers full-service pack trips that include guide, tents, llamas and meals for $4,000 for four people, four days, or $1,000 a person per day.

$4,000 for four people, four days, wouldn't that be $250 a person per day?

(Is it possible that there are errors in New York Times? )

I think they're trying to say that it's more expensive if it's just you, rather than a group of 4.

isostatic wrote:Redwood offers full-service pack trips that include guide, tents, llamas and meals for $4,000 for four people, four days, or $1,000 a person per day.

$4,000 for four people, four days, wouldn't that be $250 a person per day?

(Is it possible that there are errors in New York Times? )

Gezzuz, might as well go to New York and stay at the Ritz and eat out at Nobu every night. 4K seems wicked expensive...

There's a certain forum member that might even do it for free

Borut Kantušer wrote:How well do Llamas climb?

I'm not sure if the Andean llamas get special training, but...

A friend with 3 llamas says they are very skittish around cliffs.

Borut Kantušer wrote:

MoapaPk wrote:

Borut Kantušer wrote:How well do Llamas climb?

A friend with 3 llamas says they are very skittish around cliffs.

Skittish meaning they don't like cliffs?

In one case I remember, he took a llama up a use trail that skirted the top of a cliff. The trail paralleled the cliff, then cut away 90 degrees up a gentle slope. On the way back down, the llama saw that he was leading in toward the cliff, and stopped; it didn't remember that the trail cut suddenly left. He had to drag the 350-lb animal through the brush on a diagonal route. This fellow was a 240-lb former football center, and the process exhausted him.

We saw these llamas near Bishop Pass, on their way to a 9-day backcountry fishing trip. The llamas were hired from San Diego. The llama "wrangler" said the llamas climb much better than the horses on the trail, but mentioned that the "bar" llama had quick-disconnects on his cargo for river crossings

...and if you're short on water, remember, they spit!

benjamingray wrote:We saw these llamas near Bishop Pass, on their way to a 9-day backcountry fishing trip. The llamas were hired from San Diego. The llama "wrangler" said the llamas climb much better than the horses on the trail, but mentioned that the "bar" llama had quick-disconnects on his cargo for river crossings

Rob, have you ever watched Star Trek: Insurrection? I watched it a few days ago -- I had forgotten how much hiking with llamas there is during that film!