On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
I look a the photos when they come in, and I look at them again when I write the short introduction. This time I am left speechless, with no coherent thought. Llamas! The amazing sunset after the storm. Twin Lakes. So beautiful. ~WaterGirl
lashonharangue
My spouse and I enjoyed backpacking and camping in California. However, we reached a point where age and orthopedic issues made that impossible. We switched to car camping and long day hikes but it wasn’t the same. Then we discovered we could pack with llamas, save our backs, and be gone for up to two weeks without resupply. We have taken them throughout the state – in deserts in So. Cal, around Mammoth Lakes, in Sequoia-Kings Canyon, but most of our trips were in or near Yosemite. Our most common outings were in Emigrant Wilderness in the Stanislaus National Forest northwest of Yosemite.
Llamas and people are generally out of shape and not adequately altitude acclimated after a winter’s layoff. So early season short hikes are to get us all ready for longer trips and heavier loads (for them). This is one of our favorite places in the Emigrant Wilderness. When we could get there depended on the previous winter’s snowpack as the llamas can’t walk through snow more than a few inches deep. This trip was in early June. Still snow on the peaks but the trails were almost clear.
One of our llamas grazing. Llamas are browsers and will eat almost anything. A small amount of feed is carried in case we have to camp in a place with nothing for them to eat. Hiking for them is like being at a fabulous buffet after eating hay at the ranch.
These next photos are from a long trip later in the same year at higher elevations. Down below you can see what looks like a small creek. It was a raging torrent due to snow melt. We descended and had to hike several miles downstream to find a place to ford. On the way back the creek had gone down. So we easily crossed in a place that would have been deadly when this photo was taken.
We set up camp here in the late afternoon and then a big storm came through with hail and thunder. This was taken at sunset after things started to dry out. We stayed here a couple of nights as the next day was the solar eclipse (partial).
We didn’t camp here. Just another beautiful view on the trail.
This area is actually in Yosemite NP but the trail to it comes via Emigrant. To get here from Yosemite would require going over that ridge above the lake.
One of the prettiest lakes on our trip. We camped at Lower Buck Lake a little further down the trail.
John Revolta
Wow!
?BillinGlendaleCA
Great shots and a pretty area.
rikyrah
Gorgeous ??
Phylllis
Hands down, best OTR ever. Llamas! That camp with you!
Debbie(Aussie)
WOW ? so beautiful! Thank you for sharing.
debbie
Just beautiful! Glad you found a way to keep on hiking.
BretH
What a wondrous photo story to start my day with. Thanks!!!
lashonharangue
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Thanks. That means alot coming from you. I just used my phone and some photo editing software.
Albatrossity
Wonderful. I have been backpacking in the High Sierras, but it was a long time ago and I have no pictures like these. Nor did we have llamas; what a great innovation!
Thanks for sharing these trips with us,
J R in WV
Great OTR post, thanks! What beautiful back country… and llama camping too, what a combo.
Laura Too
Awesome! Thanks!
Mary G
Hiking and camping with llamas helping to carry the load sounds like heaven, and the shot of Big Lake at sunset is spectacular.
arrieve
What wonderful pictures! I love the llamas.
susanna
I am so ready for a peaceful place with semi-rigorous hiking right now. These pictures are candy for my mind right now.
Wag
Fantastic photos, especially the photo of the sunset. Thanks very much for sharing.
joel hanes
Around 2003, we backpacked out of Gianelli’s Cabin up the Burst Rock* trail to Y-Meadow Lake, and then on to Toejam and Leopold. The meadow between Y-Meadow and Toejam was a mile long and half a mile wide and absolutely filled with waist-high or taller purple lupines in bloom. We encountered a party with two llamas in the middle of that meadow.
I tried to take pictures, but my equipment and skills are not up to compelling photos of landscapes.
—
* The view from the crest on Burst Rock, overlooking Chewing Gum Lake, is one of the finest sights in the Sierra.
MelissaM
Gorgeous photos! And I want more info on this llama hiking. You own them? Rent them? They like the trip, too?
Miki
Wow! Thank you so much for sharing this!
Just. Wow.
kindness
I live in Modesto so I go up to Stanislaus Natl Forest all the time. Less granite than Yosemite but no crowds. I’m not a fan of seeing lot of other people when I go up into the mountains. In the winter I go up to where the close the road on Rt 108 above Sonora and showshoe. Some really nice rivers go through up there.
StringOnAStick
Man, I love heavily glaciated terrain, thank you!
eclare
Wow! Llamas!
Miss Bianca
Awesome.
mad citizen
Thanks for posting–only repeating others–fantastic, one of the best OTRs ever! Llamas are a great innovation. Use a pack animal instead of yourselves.
frosty
Beautiful country, great pix, and what a story!
Another Scott
Just amazing scenery. So jealous!
You’re leaving out the part about the mosquitoes and black flies the size of helicopters, aren’t you?! ;-)
Thanks very much.
Cheers,
Scott.
lashonharangue
@joel hanes: We have started out of Gianelli’s Cabin many times. In fact our first over night trip with the llamas was to Chewing Gum lake.
stinger
Oh my. Such gorgeous scenery. Are the llamas companionable as well as useful? They seem serene.
ziggy
@MelissaM: Yes, need more info on the llamas, that is so interesting! Magical photos.
BigJimSlade
@lashonharangue – Augh!!! You let the secret out!!! LOL
Emigrant Wilderness is the gem of the sierras! The terrain isn’t brutal (like starting from June lake loop and climbing 2000+ feet on day 1 with no shade, or pretty much anywhere in Sequoia/Kings Canyon – you can park at something like 8000 feet and start up high), there are beautiful lakes everywhere… it’s basically an extension of Yosemite with all the granite and you only see a handful of people each day. I’ve done 4 or 5 backpacking trips up there and loved it every time. (Now that I have a good camera and some practice with it, I should try to make back there!)
BigJimSlade
@lashonharangue – also, how many llamas do you hike with? Any problems with bears? Are they ok in a storm outside?
lashonharangue
@joel hanes: We have started out of Gianelli’s Cabin many times. In fact our first over night trip with the llamas was to Chewing Gum lake.
@MelissaM: We started out renting from a ranch in Sonora. They discontinued that a couple of years ago and now only breed and train them to pack.
We liked it so much we bought three llamas from a breeder in Oregon. We then boarded them at the ranch in Sonora. The llamas loved going out with us. Great animals to work with.
lashonharangue
@stinger: One person we met on the trail said they looked “regal.” If well trained they are easy work with but most don’t like to be hugged or petted. They have individual personalities. You have to be aware of their group dynamics if you want to avoid being caught in the cross fire of spitting.?
lashonharangue
@BigJimSlade: We hiked with our three. On shorter trips we don’t have to fully load them but they are comfortable being together. Never any problems with bears. Off leash dogs in national forests – we have had some really bad expetiences with them going after the llamas. It got so bad my spouse would walk ahead on the trail carrying a spare leash to lend to the owners.
BigJimSlade
@lashonharangue: So I’m guessing they allow you to pack a little more comfortably? Like maybe a slightly bigger tent and better mat for under the sleeping bag, or a little pad to put on the rocks or logs that you have to sit on at campsites… and maybe better or more food?
lashonharangue
@BigJimSlade: Exactly!
lashonharangue
@BigJimSlade: The llamas are not easily spooked except by dogs because of their past experiences. Unfortunately some horses are spooked by llamas. So when we meet them on the trail we quickly try to hide out of sight.
cckids
Beautiful pictures, and I love, LOVE the idea of backpacking with llamas. Gives me hope that despite my back and knee issues, I can maybe go again :) Thank you!
WaterGirl
@lashonharangue: We’re going to need a guest post “Backpacking with Llamas”, aren’t we?
soup time
I’ve backpacked in Emigrant in the 1980’s and these great photos bring good memories. I love all the glacier-polished granite in the Sierras. I have a couple boxes of Kodachrome 35mm slides of that area. Also backed in Kings Canyon via Kearsarge Pass on the east side. And when I was young helicoptered into many high places in Sequoia NF to put out lightning fires – it was like backpacking but airlifted into gorgeous meadows with enough supplies for a couple nights. Llamas look like a good thing.
lashonharangue
@WaterGirl: I was wondering about that. Or I could submit photos from one or two other trips and answer questions as they come up. Let’s take this off line. Who knew this would generate so much response?
WaterGirl
@lashonharangue: Send me email?
daverave
In our youth, we’ve done a couple of dozen trips into various portions of the Emigrant. So, so glad that it was never made a part of adjacent Yosemite National Park thereby eliminating foreign and most out-of-state usage. The bank-full upper Cherry Creek is one of the most impressive sights I have every seen. It used to be our personal playground in the spring but now, believe it or not, is one of the most sought-after kayaking experiences on the planet. Requires a heinous several mile boat carry with gear however.