Our daughter went on her first llama trip at four months of age into the Jefferson Wilderness in Oregon. The next two summers we took week long trips into the Marble Mountains of Northern California. Llama packing with children has both its rewards and its challenges. Very young children are much easier than four to six year olds. The young ones you can put into a child carrier and hike down the trail at llama speed. Older youngsters cannot keep up with the llamas so you must adapt. The llama leader can stop every fifteen minutes or so and wait for the group to catch up. My llamas do not like the stop and go method. The llama train can also go on ahead and find a camp. If mom and dad both know where the destination is fine, if not make sure both have a map. Sometimes after setting up camp I would hike back down the trail and meet the group.

With today’s plethora of electronic stimuli devices, it is such a pleasure to enjoy the down to earth activities. Board games, cards, small kites, all are ways to pass the time. One year we made small boats using just what we could find around camp and had boat races in the nearby creek. In 2014 I met a mom and her two sons, seven and nine, at the base of Forester Pass on the JMT. Mom told her boys they could only bring one toy each. The oldest brought a small video game and the youngest had a set of interlocking blocks. They were near the end of a 28 day JMT hike and all were happy. Looking back on those early childhood years, those were some of the best memories of thirty five years of llama packing. Leaving civilization behind with all the modern distractions distills life down to the essentials.

Tip: For the youngest of travelers bring the Osh Kosh coveralls. Strip off the coveralls before going into the tent and your bed will stay much cleaner.

Suggested Reading: Llama Hiking with Katie by Bob Wynia