Part 2 - Llama-Packing The San Juans - Part 2

The trip would have felt incomplete to me if we had ridden north and then east along the northern boundary of this jagged landscape of unpolished beauty. We needed to go through its heart and experience the essence of wilderness and—just maybe—a taste of wildness. But what to do with our bikes? We had a couple of options. First, we could leave our bikes and have them shuttled to the beginning of the next bike segment. We’re used to going start-to-finish with our prime mode of transportation, and this option felt too easy and a little like cheating (negating the suffer aspect of our shared adventure values). We could each become a beast of burden and strap them on our backs for a true hike-a-bike across the Weminuche. All three of us have had plenty of experience with lashing bikes to a pack, most recently with last year’s journey across Alaska’s Wrangell-St. Elias range. This choice seemed a little masochistic as it would be at least a three- to four-day hike.

I am not sure from what nook or cranny the third idea emerged, but when presented to the fellas, it was solidified as our most viable option: to use llamas to carry our carbon two-wheeled steeds.