By Derry Walsh
From the Fall 1999 issue
July 8. Bill and I set off to drive to Lillooett and from there northwest to the Pinkerton’s cabin on Marshall Lake, about 370 km on a lovely sunny day. At the cabin we met Marie Seabrook and Duanne van den Berg who had come via Pemberton and Gold Bridge with six llamas. Kathi Marlowe, David Werstler, and Janet Boyhan (Mount Baker Llama Owners Association), joined us from Washington via the Fraser Canyon and, our hosts, Brian and Jane Pinkerton came with Chris Chow and llama Pizarro.
It’s a lovely cabin on the side of a very quiet lake. The llamas were high-lined to trees behind the cabin. We had dinner and went to bed.
Next morning after a good breakfast we took about two hours to sort and weigh panniers for all the llamas. There were nine people and seven llamas. We had a load limit of 25 lbs per person, anything else had to go on your own back. Needless to say Bill and I were within the limit. We weren’t going to carry anything on our backs besides our lunch and a camera! I think Kathi,
David, Janet and Chris carried quite a bit on their backs — but then they are much fitter than us — and younger! Duanne had an injured ankle and stayed at the cabin with the dog.
At eleven o’clock we’re ready to go. Marie has all the llamas in her truck; three in the front section and four in the back. We just have to take llamas and packs and people to the other side of the lake, return our trucks to the cabin for safety (a neighbour helped out), and then pack up and set off.
Bill and I are the last to leave the cabin and as we arrived at the intersection with the gravel road, there’s a bit of a kerfuffle — the back of Marie’s truck has opened up and four llamas have stepped out onto the roadway!! Whew!! Here we are miles from nowhere with four llamas on the loose. No fences, mountain on one side and forest on the other and the llamas wondering what happened?
Lucky for me, my llama, Silver Hurricane, had a chin strap (hanging from his halter), and I was able to walk up to him and grab it before he had figured out what to do. I popped him back in the truck and tied him there. We set off with long rope and bucket of grain to catch the other three. Well, do think they were coming for grain? No way! ! As we walked down the road they walked further down the road — away from the truck. Hmmmmmm.
Janet and Kathi were able to circle Harry and Highlander and bring them back. Pizarro decided to venture further down the road. He was new to packing, new to his companions, and new to us.
Janet with a long rope in her hand managed to get past Pizarro, and Kathi, Jane and Brian holding the rest of the rope managed to circle and capture him when he decided to head back along the road.
It was a bit of a circus trying to round up all of the llamas. Right after this picture was taken, Pizarro headed off down the road for about half a mile.
Llamas back in the truck and back door firmly locked and off we go again.
We loaded llamas with panniers and people with packs and set off on our hike. The trail is an old mining road up the west side of Jim Creek. We had to cross a creek about 15' wide and ankle deep.
The trail was steep starting out from the main road and kept similar grades most of the way to the meadows which were our objective for the day.
Kathi had a way of stomping her way across so the water shot in either direction and she didn’t get her boots wet. I decided to take off my boots and go barefoot to keep my boots dry. The boulders in the creek were very slippery and I was half way across this icy cold creek when Marie yelled “Derry!! Stop! Don’t go there!!” Marie was behind me and I froze — what was the problem? Was there a big hole ahead of me that I couldn’t see? I stood motionless trying to see what the danger was! Then I turned and looked back. It seems Marie was yelling at Harry, the llama, who was venturing too far downstream!
When I arrived at the far side I thought I could chip my feet off — they were frozen. I was ready to whap Harry too.
We climbed for four hours, huffing and puffing, and then walked through the
predominantly pine forest for half an hour to our campsite in the meadows below Shulaps Peak. Kathi spotted some morel mushrooms. Marshall Lake is at 3762' and we camped at 6200' an elevation gain of about 2440' in four and a half hours. Boy, were we exhausted!
We arrived at the meadows at 4 pm and staked the llamas to the shrubbery and set up our tents. A nap and dinner and to bed.
This is where we camped in the meadows below Shulaps Peak. Everyone heaved huge sighs of relief at coming out of the trees and seeing this spot.
Next morning after breakfast, we set off for a lake which Brian had been to a few years ago. As we’re packing up, we hear a motor sputtering near the creek. A fellow arrives barefoot with his dog walking alongside his motorbike. He came up the trail and is heading for the lake, but his motorbike conked out when he tried to cross the creek. After a discussion with Brian about the lake and the fish in it, he decided to walk from here still barefoot.
We set out with our two llamas-in-training, Pizarro and Silver Hurricane. We’re above the tree line now and Shulaps Peak (9436') is visible at the top of the meadows. The plan was to go north along Jim Creek and cross it wherever we could and head northeast over the ridge and down to the lake. Weather sunny and warm.
We had to go quite far up the creek side and even then the jump across was a bit dicey. There was snow all around. The ground was mushy with newly melted snow, the wildflowers were just starting to come out. Brian, Bill, Kathi, Chris, David, Janet and Derry jumped across and so did Silver Hurricane and Pizarro.
Derry is holding her camera, getting a picture of their llama Silver Hurricane, jumping the creek, while Bill is just holding his breath.
Jane was left pondering the distance of the jump, the rushing icy cold water in the creek and her (currently) dry boots. While we were walking up and down the banks of the creek looking for a better place for Jane to cross, Kathi and Janet went on up towards the ridge. There’s packed snow all over the place. They came back after fifteen minutes — “The snow pack is too deep”. “It’s above our knees and the llamas are sinking to their bellies”.
Neither llama is used to these conditions. We’ve decided it’s not a good idea to go further through the snow.
Whew, Jane is relieved as they all jumped back over the creek.
Derry and Hurricane soon got used to crossing snow patches. The snow was not nearly as deep in this area.
Brian knew that Jim Creek just “came out of the ground” at the base of Shulaps Peak. So we headed there to sit in the sun and have lunch. View was super. We could see the man and his dog traversing the ridge enroute to the lake. Chris is a photographer and took lots of photos. Brian spent his time sketching the scenery while the rest of us ate and chatted. Lunch spot was at 7500' so our total elevation gain was about 3700'.
Janet and Pizarro, following Derry and Hurricane, are almost at the highest point that we reached.
Sunday morning. Another lovely day. Derry and Bill moved the llamas from the trees to a nice grassy spot Bill had found nearby.
Bill and Derry are to “shepherd” the llamas while Marie and others take a short hike. Within minutes Primo was free (third time this trip). So much for our shepherding abilities. We were able to catch him but not without some anxious moments.
Kathi and Marie are enjoying the view before setting off on the return trip.
After lunch, we packed up and set off. It took us 4.5 hours to go up and 1.75 hours to go down.
Postscript:
Last Fall we traded Elstar and Fiesta apples for some oak Marie had been storing in her garage for years. With this oak, Bill has made half a dozen sawbuck saddles for llamas. If anyone is interested in a saddle, let us know.
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