Llama Trek
Boo went on another fun adventure with his Boy Scout troop over the summer. This time the hike involved llamas. One of the scout dads has llamas that he rents out and he led the boys a two-night excursion. Boo wasn’t going to go at first, but I talked him into it. Because seriously, how can you pass up a llama trek?
Here’s Boo with Marshall the Llama right before heading off on the trail. Apparently, there is quite a bit more to leading llamas than you’d think. You need to keep them close, but not too close and hope they don’t sit down. You’ve got to keep them away from the other llamas or they’ll spit. Going uphill was the hardest because the llamas didn’t want to cooperate, so the boys had to tug them.
Malcolm is the white llama with the dark eyes. Somebody brought him too close to Boo while he was holding Marshall and Boo got spat on. Took it right in the eye! The other scouts said it smelled terrible, but fortunately for Boo, he couldn’t smell it. Their owner told the boys to put their cameras away and got Boo all cleaned up.
This all white llama is Copi, who is Boo’s favorite. He was the most gentle and patient of all the llamas, even though he was carrying quite a load. The whole expedition got caught in a hail storm and Copi just kept going, even though he didn’t have any rain gear. Boo says Copi likes to smell people’s hair. You’ll just be standing there and you’ll feel something around your ear and it’s a llama nose. Copi’s nose, specifically. He and Boo were the first ones up the hill and Copi kept turning around and humming to his friends to catch up.
This is the campsite. Lots of room for boys and llamas. Boo said they ate better on this trip than they usually get to – hamburgers and pancakes and lots of snacks! Usually they have to carry in all their own food and the means to cook it, but with the llamas doing all the carrying, they were able to bring up a grill! Something spooked the llamas the first night and they managed to escape, despite being tied to nets filled with 5 or 6 very large rocks. The owner was able to track them all down and return them safely to camp. The next night they were tied to trees.
Despite the hail and the llama spit, Boo had a good time and said he’d go again. I call that a success!
