The Exotic Case Of Spitting Llamas

    Out of all the adventurous hikes we were going to do, llama trekking was definitely the one I was looking forward to the most. I had never seen nor touched a llama before the hike. My family, the Kamen family, and I drove up all the way to go hike with them. It was a two hour drive to the llama trek area and a two hour drive back. The place was called Wild and Scenic Recreation Area. The problem was that my parents nor Chad's parents had ever seen what our guide looked like. All they knew was that his name was Stuart. Stuart could of been a very fit, young man who could bring all of us back up the mountain if we got tired or if he was an old, out of shape man who would have to be brought up the mountain by us if he got tired. Luckily, he was in good shape and had been hiking with llamas for a very long time. When we finally got to our destination, I looked out my window to find five insanely hairy animals. My mom had to remind me that we were taking llamas down the mountain, not that there were just a couple of hairy beasts outside our window. Right when we got there, Stuart told us about the llamas. What he kept repeating was that llamas spit, and the spit is gross, so don't get in their way when they're fighting. I could already tell that the llama hike was going to be very interesting. 

    The weather was perfect, 65 degrees and a little sunny. The hike was two miles down and two miles up but the problem was Stuart kept on warning us that the hike up actually felt like four miles. A A little later, Stuart introduced us to the llamas. In order from what seemed to be the new private all the way to the wise general, there was Raja (brown), Diego (black), Pichu (white), Machu (brown), and K2 (white). I was paired up with Machu and to lead the pack down and back up the mountain. Apparently, the reason I was in front wasn't because I was the leader, it was because I had to watch out for rattlesnakes. I was a little worried at first but after a little bit, I escalated down the mountain with much ease. Our destination was to go down into a beautiful volcanic rift and have lunch there. The amazing Rio Grande flowed right through the middle of it. On our way down, I saw a couple animal tracks. These included beaver tracks, lizard prints, and a mountain lion den. When we finally reached the Rio Grande, we were told to tie our llamas to a nearby tree and then come eat lunch. Stuart had set out an awesome picnic table with salad, turkey, bread, and organic soda. After I finished eating my toothsome lunch, I went to go check on how the llamas were doing. For some reason, the llamas started moaning so I quickly took out my phone and shot a video of the loud noises. Since nature was so loud, the moaning in the video can only be vaguely heard. I really had no idea llamas moaned or even made a sound.

     After we got everything back together and ready to go, we decided to hike half a mile downstream to look at some ancient petroglyphs. They were all on rocks, the ground, and even on trees. After that we hiked right back up the mountain. During the hike up, I really saw a lot of cool things like turkey vultures, agglomerations of cacti, and sandstone. Next, we stopped at a really cool vista and took some awesome shots of the rift. Personally, I felt like I had the best llama because he didn't have to go to the bathroom every two minutes on the path. As we tried very hard to finish the hard hike up, I couldn't help to think of Rob Hall, as he desperately tried to make it to the summit of Mount Everest. We finally made it to the top of the mountain and we all quickly quaffed down what seemed like gallons and gallons of water. As we wrapped up, we took a couple last second photos, said our goodbyes to Stuart and the llamas, and departed in our cars back to our house in Santa Fe. I thought it was an overall great experience to actually hike and eat with llamas. It was definitely the best activity we had done yet in Santa Fe.

       During the llama trek, I saw a lot of HEI. When we were on the Rio Grande, there were some gold, silver, and copper particles everywhere in the water. Stuart told us that there was once a lot of gold mining done right in the very spot I sat. When we saw the petroglyphs, Stuart told us the Native Americans wrote them many, many years ago. They needed some sort of communication so they decided to write on rocks. Actually, a lot of their writing was very clear. The most common pictures were people, flowing water, birds, snakes, and the Medicine Man. When we were hiking up and down the mountain, I thought of Movement back when the Native Americans and early settlers lived there. They probably needed some strong animal to carry their stuff up and down the mountain so they probably used a horse or cow. These were closely related to llamas, strong in the legs, able to carry a big load, and very perceptive of their surroundings. These llamas are really great animals for this job and I absolutely had no idea that these small, scrawny animals actually had a lot of strength and endurance.

                            So long for now, 

                            This is Asa Hiken signing off and,

                            Stay Classy, Louisville Kentucky