From Goat Tracks Magazine
by Marie Seabrook
A year ago, I sent a photo of Andy, my Saanen-Lamancha future pack goat, in his pop-up tent. He outgrew that within a few months so I had to come up with an alternative. I strung up a rope and tarp in his stall and put his bedding under to get him used to sleeping under cover. He adjusted to that with no problem.
In August, now at a year and a half, he did his first overnight trip in Golden Ears Park, ten kilometers in. For several months now, he has walked without a lead and stays on the trail because he started out being led. He would walk on every round log along the side just to be a little higher than everyone else.
We met a group of horse packers three different times with a very curious dog who kept circling the llamas. They weren’t bothered by her; they just waited for the opportunity to stomp on her given the chance. Andy kept turning his head towards her in the head-butt position.
When the trail narrowed, I went out front with my lab dog, followed by Andy to keep him from rushing past loaded llamas. We had to climb over a number of fallen trees, cross bridges with missing planks as well as small streams. He did his very best to walk on every raised bolder to avoid getting his feet wet and even though during the last three kilometers he was getting quite tired, he stayed right behind me. He was only carrying fifteen pounds, but at eighteen months, I felt that was enough. Andy carried my tent, sleeping bag, and pads while the alpaca carried the thirty pounds of my remaining gear. I let four friends use the remaining four llamas.
It was quite hot hiking out so as soon as we arrived, we took the llamas down to the creek but of course Andy was not going anywhere near water. I dragged him over and splashed water under his belly which was met with mere tolerance. We women went for a brief, although very vocal swim, due to the glacial temperature of the water. It was definitely refreshing however.
At camp the llamas were tied but Andy roamed free until he discovered my small tent. He wandered in and stood on my sleeping bag as though he was in for the night. We did a photo shoot but he was then booted out. Everyone had to keep their tents zipped up unless he was temporarily tied at which he was quite indignant.
His next trick was to wander in the cooking area snooping through bags making a nuisance of himself. I had a small squirt bottle of water that I use to spray one of the llamas to keep him cool on hot days. It takes about two drops of water to send a goat fleeing. After that, all I had to do was lift the bottle up and he would cringe and run.
That night, I put up a tent fly as a cover right beside my tent in case of rain but I had to tie him short to keep him from tangling in the trees. He had no idea why we were staying out and not going home so he whimpered all night long, keeping me awake. There are bears in the park so I don’t want him wandering about.
I was very pleased with his behavior on his first trip but had to resolve the sleeping situation. My little tent, even though it weighs only four and a half pounds, has no windows, no vestibule and is not free standing so that was a good enough reason to go buy a new one.
We did a second overnight trip to the same area in September. At our lunch stop, we were greeted by one hundred grade sixes up for the day. Duanne and I immediately tensed up with memories of past school trips with the llamas so we didn’t linger long at that beach. The weather was again sunny but clouded over by evening, with the first hint of drops in the air by bed time. During the afternoon, I had led Andy in and out of my former tent several times and he was quite comfortable although I had not provided him with a sleeping bag or pad. At night, I zipped him into it and after a few whimpers, he settled down for the rest of the night. That made me feel considerably better since our usual packing area is in grizzly country and I would rather have him out of sight. My new tent has not one, but two windows, two vestibules, air vents, net pockets all around, hanging hooks and is so luxurious it’s almost obscene.
We were wakened in the early hours of the morning by a steady downpour which got progressively worse by the hour. We put up a large tarp to huddle under for breakfast but it doesn’t seem to matter what you do, you get very wet. At the last minute, I took out my rain pants to keep my load light since I was using the alpaca and Andy again. I won’t be eliminating those again. I was soaked from the waist down by the time I got home. Andy had his rain cover on while wandering around but stood under a large stump to keep his head dry. He really could use a rain hat. What next?
On the way out, for the first few hundred feet, he seemed to stagger slightly on his back legs. I was quite concerned that I had too much weight on him but he recovered right away. During the night he had made quite a mess of his newly acquired tent so Ingrid turned it inside out and then took it down to the stream to rinse it out. It was probably a couple of pounds heavier being completely wet by then. Maybe he was just a little stiff from the trip out the day before.
By the time we reached the parking lot, all of us, including Andy, were quite oblivious to moisture. He no longer stepped on boulders crossing the streams, he just ploughed through like the rest of us since most of the trail was a stream by then. Amazingly enough, we all recovered and dried out by the next day, none the worse for wear. It took about four days for the equipment to dry out, however.
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